New Conference re-alignment thread

[Saulbadguy]

The old one has AIDS.

Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.

Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.

Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.

The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.

Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.

If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.

There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.

Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.

Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.

Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).

If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.

Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.

Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.

There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.

Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.

It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.

Stay tuned.

[alnorth]

Kirk Bohls from the Austin American-Statesman is basically confirming this in a short and to the point blog entry. Not looking good for the Big 12 to survive.

Texas, OU meet

About a dozen administrators from Texas and Oklahoma, including the presidents of both schools and some regents, met in Norman, Okla., on Sunday to discuss potential realignment and get a better understanding of the possible destinations for both schools.

Texas made it clear it wants to preserve the Big 12, but sources say OU made it just as clear it plans to pursue membership in the Pac-12 Conference along with fellow league member Oklahoma State.

The Longhorns’ plans remain unclear, but it appears they will have to choose between becoming an independent to keep their Longhorn Network or joining the Pac-12 or possibly the ACC as a last option.

OU and OSU do not have invites to the Pac-12.

Texas president William Powers flew with athletic director DeLoss Dodds and women’s athletic director Chris Plonsky for the meeting but were unavailable for comment.

[vailpass]

Nice that UTerus lets the women's AD tag along though I'm guessing he isn't allowed to speak unless spoken to. Do any other schools have separate boys and girls ADs?

[alnorth]

On the scale of reliability for rumors, I'd rank this at dead last, but this thread is fair game for any half-assed hare-brained rumor, so what the hell I'll throw it in. Look at this as nothing more than an amusing diversion unless someone serious is jumping on this.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=146&f=2445&t=7914295

Citing nothing but "chatter", someone from Sooners Illustrated is basically saying that 1) UT thinks the Oklahoma schools are gone, so 2) they are trying to convince everyone else to go to the Big East, while 3) UT goes independent and joins the Big East only in non-FB sports. Also said 4) UT is trying to bribe KU to go along with the plan with a $4MM check from the LHN to televise the KU-UT game.

[mcan]

Originally Posted by BmoreBills

Kansas, Iowa State and Missouri should come to the Big Ten. We really need more of a midwest representation to combat the Pac 12/14/16 menace :P

http://www.big12hoops.com/2011/8/11/...west-longhorns

Throw kstate in and this move makes sense from a region and rivalry perspective.

[LiveSteam]

Some type of meeting reported happening tonight at Missouri to discus a move to the SEC
No link. Just herd it on ESPN 1620 radio

[Backwards Masking]

College Football : we can't have a playoff or get rid of the bowl system because it's tradition and we have too much pride to break tradition, traditional comes first.

But we'll rearrange the conferences as often as possible if it helps the bottom line cause we're not making enough money.

[eazyb81]

Interesting rumor from the OU premium board. Supposedly the guy is credible and this is picking up steam around the interwebz. Take it for what it's worth.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=187&f=2639&t=7915231

GEA89
[Scout Subscriber]
Admin/Moderator
Rating: 4.1/5 this site
29803 posts this site

Posted: Today 3:56 PM
Monday 9/12 Afternoon Update
If you think OU and Texas are in bed together in this thing you could not be more wrong. Hop alluded in the Premium board something I heard over the weekend from a prominent Sooner booster that OU has had their fill with the sips and are on the verge of heading West. What caused it? Well my source told me it was a trust issue but Hop took it a step further, he stated that the whole deal with Texas partnering with Notre Dame to put together a proposal to go to the Big 10 seemed to be the rub here. OU had meetings with the people in Austin talking of saving the Big XII and committing to that very thing. But when they found out the leaked info that Texas had been in talks with Big 10 people what trust that was there is now on life support.

As you all have seen, we have used a term "fluid" here a lot. The reasons that something like conference realignment being "fluid" are because of situations changing like cited above and the fact that lawyers are involved and so predicting things like timing are very difficult. This situation is very fluid regarding OU, could they repair their trust issues with the Horns? Very unlikely at this point. Could they announce a move to the Pac 12 very soon? Probable if you ask me but they do have some concerns regarding scheduling, travel, etc. and thus the reason I use the fluid term. In talking to my OU source who is very strong and very reliable he told me the following about a half hour ago "we are almost out the door, just looking for our keys." I asked if he would put a probability percentage on it and he told me 98%.

So let's suspend the thought that it might not happen, the situation gets fluid, and my friends 2% comes in to play. Let's say they are ready to pull the trigger and move right now, the next question being the pink elephant in the room of when? Will OU/Pac 12 jump out and cite there is enough conference instability that Baylor we dare you to pull your pathetic desperation attempts and sue the Pac 12? Will they wait for A&M to get an unconditional acceptance into the SEC? We are hearing A&M lawyers are presenting to every SEC school's legal team and Presidents and have been since Friday their case in hopes of alleviating any concern regarding Baylor's weak case. Or will it take A&M declaring independence, re-writing the letter they wrote to the Big XII that said we are gone if we get an invite to the SEC?

Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, there sure is a ton of activity going on right now and this very well could end soon if OU is indeed one foot out the door.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Backwards Masking

College Football : we can't have a playoff or get rid of the bowl system because it's tradition and we have too much pride to break tradition, traditional comes first.

But we'll rearrange the conferences as often as possible if it helps the bottom line cause we're not making enough money.

The money funds the school and education. It's not a completely bad thing.

[Backwards Masking]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

The money funds the school and education. It's not a completely bad thing.

Hyprocrisy is always a bad thing. Justifying it and teaching it future generations is even worse.

[alnorth]

quote today from PAC 12 commissioner. (ie, forget about all that gas about how they don't want to expand)

If schools are going to leave the Big 12 and there's going to be a paradigm shift, or a landscape change as people like to describe it, we'll go ahead and step back and look at our options, then reconsider (expansion).

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Backwards Masking

Hyprocrisy is always a bad thing. Justifying it and teaching it future generations is even worse.

It's not hypocrisy in reality. It kills me the way people think that the colleges owe them a playoff system like in profootball.

[RustShack]

Originally Posted by alnorth

quote today from PAC 12 commissioner. (ie, forget about all that gas about how they don't want to expand)

So the Big12 isn't going anywhere unless Oklahoma leaves. But Oklahoma would be going to the Pac. But the Pac isn't going to look at adding anymore schools unless the Big12 falls apart first.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by RustShack

So the Big12 isn't going anywhere unless Oklahoma leaves. But Oklahoma would be going to the Pac. But the Pac isn't going to look at adding anymore schools unless the Big12 falls apart first.

You are forgetting about Texas A&M. The quote was in response to Texas A&M going to the SEC, and his response was basically, "well hell I guess it would be game on, then!" The PAC 12 commissioner is publicly interpreting "big 12 falling apart" as "Texas A&M left"

[RustShack]

Originally Posted by alnorth

You are forgetting about Texas A&M. The quote was in response to Texas A&M going to the SEC, and his response was basically, "well hell I guess it would be game on, then!" The PAC 12 commissioner is publicly interpreting "big 12 falling apart" as "Texas A&M left"

I'm not forgetting aTm. We already know they are gone. Its up to Oklahoma now. If they stay we add BYU and we are in better shape than we were with aTm.

[RustShack]

Also I'm starting to think that if conference armageddon does happen, ISU is B1G bound.