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.

[KC_Connection]

You could argue WVU has been more successful since the Pittsnoggle years.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Conspiracy time:

The Big IIX is pitting Louisville and WVU against one another. First one that agrees to play in 2012 gets the seat at the table?

Additional conspiracy: there is another poster who is trying to steal my online identity by creating a clone of my online persona and double-posting my ideas...

don't see how that would work, both are obligated to give 27 months notice.

I do think OU is leveraging this to ensure expansion to 12 teams, as UT only wanted 10.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Alabama board thread on re-alignment.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=14&f=1016&t=8154620

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Alabama board thread on re-alignment.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=14&f=1016&t=8154620

Yea... don't really feel like registering on yet another board just for one thread.

I've been lurking on Shaggybevo for the last month. Mizzou is referred to as Kitten Aggy and have been thoroughly derided as not worthy of Big XII membership and most Longhorn fans agree that WVU is a huge upgrade.

[evenfall]

http://www.mrsec.com/2011/10/tuesday...arget-for-sec/

Great summary of where things sit.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by evenfall

http://www.mrsec.com/2011/10/tuesday...arget-for-sec/

Great summary of where things sit.

Good stuff!

TUESDAY EXPLODES WITH RUMORS AND TWEETS, BUT MIZZOU STILL ON TARGET FOR SEC

October 26th, 2011 11:09 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt


Things got nutty yesterday, didn’t they?* Way too nutty.

We in the media have a tendency to feed like sharks.* If there’s a drop of blood (or truth, in our case) in the water, everyone starts working to get their piece of it.*

The media feeding frenzy is matched only by fans’ desire for immediate information and a pulpit from which to share their own views, theories and wishes.

Example: Website tied to school files report from left field.* Media jump on report.* Fans take report as gospel.* Fans post thoughts and theories on messageboards.* Reporters tweet about thoughts, theories and rumors they’re seeing on messageboards and blogs.* Fans mistake tweets from reporters as dispersals of fact, not “hey, here’s what’s being said.”* Circle continues, etc, etc, etc.

It’s a mess.* And as someone who works in the media, it’s shameful.*

We didn’t post our own follow-up last night because we wanted to check with our contacts before chiming in on yesterday’s rumor frenzy.* And because we know when stories build and build and build on one another in rapid succession — as happened yesterday — there’s usually more hot air than fact involved.

So after finishing our radio and CSS duties yesterday, we hit the phones.* The word we’re getting in simplified form: Not much changed yesterday from an SEC perspective.*


* Missouri still wants into the SEC in 2012 and is working to make that happen.* MU chancellor Brady Deaton wasn’t blowing smoke last Friday when he told a press conference that any move Mizzou makes will be made with next year in mind.

* The Big 12 has thrown up more resistance than expected — including the declaration that the league cannot play with nine teams next year (even though some schools and coaches had campaigned for that very thing) — and that resistance could slow down an MU-SEC announcement, but the SEC office knew there would be some snares.

* It’s still possible Missouri and the SEC will announce a union this week, but MU will have to clear the legal hurdles being tossed around — just as Texas A&M did — first.

* Could this lead to a 2013 SEC entry for Missouri if all goes wrong?* Yes, but the SEC had anticipated that, too.


The feeling I get from talking to people around the league is one of calm.* If Missouri’s in by 2012, great.* If they’re in the following year, the SEC will survive one season as a 13-school league.* (But it’s clear landing a 14th school for next season would be the preference.)

There also didn’t seem to be a whole lotta fear regarding talk that the Big 12 might grab Notre Dame which might convince Missouri to stick around.* We said yesterday that that plan had a large number of moving parts that would all have to interconnect perfectly if it were to come to fruition.* As one SEC administrator told me last night via text: “Too many egos, too much redtape.”

Our gut feeling?* We believe the Big 12′s latest protests might slow the announcement process down by a week, but we still feel the Mizzou has a pretty good shot of exiting by 2012.

If a contract states that a school must remain in a conference or pay a buyout fee, there are two ways to fulfill the contract — stay in the league or pay the buyout fee.* If Missouri pays the buyout fee, it should be clear to leave.

The problem, however, is whether or not Big 12 schools (like Baylor) would sue Missouri for damages should the league lose network television dollars.* But speaking to a friend of mine who happens to be an executive in the sports side of one of the Big 3 networks, the assumption is that if Fox or ESPN were to pull money from a nine-team Big 12, they would pull back only Missouri’s share… which would leave the other members at their current levels of income.

We’ll see where things shake out moving forward, but here’s a whole wave of expansion reports from around the country, complete with our take on most of them:


1.* Here’s the Orangebloods.com report (behind a paywall) that sent the media world into a tizzy yesterday afternoon.* It claims that Notre Dame “is seriously considering” moving it’s non-football sports to the Big 12, which — coupled with a promise of Irish-Missouri football games — could lead Mizzou to stay in the Big 12.

2.* Yesterday, Mike Slive spoke to the Huntsville, Alabama Quarterback Club and jokingly told the audience they weren’t going to get the information that they wanted — a yes or no on Missouri.*

“I realize you’re anxioius to know what happens next with regard to conference realignment.* There’s a lot happening over the intercollegiate landscape, especially the last several weeks.

But with respect to the SEC, I don’t have anything new to report at this time.”

Slive also reiterated a point that we have made on this site many, many times.

“We were very happy with 12 (members).* When Texas A&M contacted us, it’s a great institution and we were willing to take them.* We’re willing to be at 13 for a short period, if that’s what it takes.* Obviously 14 is much easier, but it’s never been for us a goal to move to 16.* It’s never been about numbers for us.”

Despite what you read elsewhere, the SEC is not planning to go to 16.* That would only happen if the college football landscape changed further.* Slive does not want his league to be the first league to 16.* Not when it’s making so much money and having so much success in the present.


Missouri News

3.* MU’s chancellor spoke about his school’s expansion plans during a radio interview yesterday (some of whichwe’ve already covered on the site).* Among them:

“We’ve reached firmness in where we are headed, where we want to analyze and focus our attention.”* (If that were the Big 12, the school would have simply said, “We’re staying!”)

“Our head has to outweigh our heart in achieving some of the objectives because the heart won’t necessarily in this case lead to where the University is going and needs to be going.”* (Kinda obvious what that means.)

“These issues, such as stability, take on very, very important long-term meaning.* We’re trying to look ahead at where we’re going as a university, and where the Big 12 is going, or the SEC is going, and where the world of sports entertainment is going.”* (Again, when it comes to stability there’s an obvious choice.* Deaton might as well have said, “We want to surround ourselves with people who speak with a drawl.”)

Mike DeArmond of The Kansas City Star further discusses that interview here.


4.* Vahe Gregorian of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was also listening in on Deaton’s radio interview and picked up on these comments:

“Our hopes (for making an announcement) were days, possibly a week or two.* We’re hoping the sooner the better.”

“Involved in these steps that are being taken at this point are two conferences, two boards of directors, two sets of legal counsel, two sets of financial analyses, or three, if you count the University separate from the Big 12, and then you have a commissioner in whichever conference you’re dealing with.”


5.* Deaton was asked by the radio host if he would make his announcement on that show.* We’ll let Gregorian take it from there:

“Deaton declined (the host’s) invitation to announce it during the show, albeit with a slight slip.

‘I’d loved to come back, as soon as we annou. …’

He caught himself before completing the word and added, ‘as soon as we’ve reach conclusion on this, I’d love to be back here with you.’”


6.* Sam Mellinger of The Kansas City Star took a shot at the SEC yesterday stating: “Missouri is as good as gone, of course, off to the Southeastern Conference and its voluntary class schedules for football players and disregard for the NCAA rulebook…” The league has brought rulebook cracks upon itself, but when it comes to class schedules, the SEC will soon have more AAU schools than the Big 12.* Time for the Dust Bowlers to drop the academic barbs.


West Virginia News

7.* Meanwhile, it was widely reported yesterday that West Virginia — passed over by the ACC and the SEC for its small population and academic reputation — will replace Missouri in the Big 12 at some point.* The Associated Press reports that the Big 12′s board of directors unanimously approved inviting WVU “when Missouri’s spot comes open.”

8.* Taking business issues out of the equation — and of course that’s why conferences actually expand — this writer believes West Virginia is a more than adequate replacement for Missouri.* (Of course, he also states that WVU to the Big 12 is no more “absurd” geographically than Missouri joining the SEC.* I’ll agree just as soon as someone shows me where West Virginia borders Kansas, Iowa, or Texas.)

9.* A statewide radio network in West Virginia reported yesterday that WVU’s “move to the Big 12 will happen regardless of whether Missouri stays in the league or applies for membership in the SEC.”

10.* That contradicts The New York Times story by Pete Thamel which claimed a “West Virginia official said the Big 12 would remain at 10 teams.”* (The Big 12 has been pretty clear that 10 teams was its first goal and that 12 might be a possibility down the road.* If it’s adding WVU now, that means it knows — as does the rest of the world — that Missouri is SEC-bound.* The chances of anyone ever seeing a Big 12 featuring both Mizzou and WVU are extremely remote.)


Notre Dame News

And here’s where things get interesting.* Orangebloods.com — which often puts out just what Texas officials want put out — started this ball rolling with its initial report on a possible Irish-Big 12 union.* Several people have since picked it up and ran further with it…

11.* Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman says Notre Dame joining the Big 12 as a part-time member is “probably a long shot” and that it would be “in many ways a dubious arrangement,” but it could save the league.

12.* Lenn Robbins of The New York Post says that the Irish are weighing the Big Ten (full-time membership), the ACC (full-time membership) and the Big 12 (non-football membership).*

13.* Former Notre Dame AD and ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan — whose son coaches lacrosse at UND — believes the Irish and the ACC would be a perfect fit and that Notre Dame has to take full-time membership in a conference seriously at this point.* (Bottom line: A Notre Dame entry into the Big 12 is a long shot and even if it eventually comes to pass, it will have no impact on Missouri’s move to the SEC.* Despite what’s being tossed around by Big 12 websites.)


We’ll stop on 13 — coincidence? — and make just a couple more observations to conclude:

* Missouri’s exit and exit fees would be helped if West Virginia could extricate itself from the Big East.* Ironically, both schools are all but set to move, are trying to negotiate their exits even as we speak, yet can’t really say that they’re on the move.*

* From a short-term, football-only perspective, the Big 12 will get more kudos than the SEC if expansion finally breaks as it appears to be breaking.* TCU and West Virginia are viewed as a stronger combo — right now — than a Texas A&M/Missouri combo.* Of course, conference realignment involves more than just drafting football teams.* Compare the universities, their alumni bases, their television pull and the SEC is getting the better deal.* But that won’t matter to the messageboard crowd.

* I keep seeing Big 12 fans ripping Missouri for trying to leave.* Hopefully, these aren’t Texas, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State fans because all three of those schools have tried to escape the Big 12 in the past 20 months.*


We’ll have more as real news develops.* Hopefully this breakdown condenses everything into a nice, neat, clear package for you.

And as we stated at the top, from speaking with our sources, we still believe it’s likely Missouri will find its way to the SEC for 2012.

[KChiefs1]

Clay Travis to Kevin Keitzman:

Craig M. writes:

I heard a Kansas City talk show host mention that Florida has a broadcast deal with the Sunshine Network for something like $100 mil/yr to show Florida games on Sunday mornings, "Breakfast With the Gators." He compared this to the LHN and said there was no way Florida would give that deal up for an SEC network. Since this is a rebroadcast agreement, I don't see how it would affect a SEC network. Couldn't both exist?

Assuming you heard this correctly the Kansas City radio show host is an idiot. Florida has a $10 million a year deal with the Sunshine Network. But that's not a tremendous obstacle to the coming SEC Newtork in partnership with ESPN.
What will happen with all of these local multimedia rights deals is that as each expires it will be rolled up into the existing SEC Network platform.
I've got a column on the SEC Network financials that is going to blow y'all's minds. It's coming later this week. But in the meantime be careful who you're listening to talk about expansion. Most people aren't doing a good job making sense. OKTC has owned expansion thus far. One of the reasons is because the people we talk to trust us to understand all the complexities of expansion. Let's be honest, the vast majority of sports reporters have trouble writing game stories in under*an hour even when provided with every quote and stat from a game that just happened in front of them. You think these same*people are*going to be able to get a grip on conference*realignment when politics, legalities, academics, athletics, and more are all*in play at the same time? And the*proper analysis*requires considering all of these factors while playing them forward and adjusting yoru analysis*on an hourly basis as the situation changes?

Good luck to ya. (Uttered just like Willie in Swamp People).

[Trevo_410]

Look like we're not the only ones who realizes how kansas feels about mizzou leaving...

By another Bama Fan

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. He sounds butt hurt to me.

[Saul Good]

If there's one thing Kansas doesn't care about, it's Mizzou. If they have to go to every message board in the country to talk about Mizzou and how much they don't care about them, so be it.

[Crush]

Originally Posted by Spott

I love how all the fans under 30 think that there was never a Big 8 conference and that the Orange, Fiesta, Rose and Sugar Bowls didn't exist until the BCS started in 98.

The world was also entirely in black and white until the 1960's.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by mnchiefsguy

KK did not really say, he said something about other coaches of Texas schools targeting aTm, but nothing specific was cited by KK.

Apparently all of the other Texas schools are refusing to play A&M in the non con. As far as most of TX goes they are the black sheep that doesn't even exist. It should be interesting to see how that effects recruiting over the next several years.

[KChiefs1]

This question is for the KU/KSU fans:

We've all heard that Texas wants WVU & OU wants Louisville. Who do you guys want? Has anyone even asked you or is this all on Texas/Oklahoma? Do you have any balls to standup to the big boys or do you just hope they lube you up when you bend over everyday? Do they even give you a reacharound before they shove the Big Bevo up your ass?

[KcMizzou]

I'm done with KK. Wright's show is better, and has been for a long time anyway.

I'll tune in to 810 in the morning though. St. John and Bukaty > ****ing Fescoe.

[kcfan82]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

I'm done with KK. Wright's show is better, and has been for a long time anyway.

I'll tune in to 810 in the morning though. St. John and Bukaty > ****ing Fescoe.

I don't really have any feeling good or bad towards either show, but Wright talks about football most of the year. When it gets to Spring and Summer, Kietzman will spend a 15 minute segment talking about a golf outting he had last weekend.

Who gives a sh*t

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by kcfan82

I don't really have any feeling good or bad towards either show, but Wright talks about football most of the year. When it gets to Spring and Summer, Kietzman will spend a 15 minute segment talking about a golf outting he had last weekend.

Who gives a sh*t

Racin' boys, golf, grilling segments....

Nick Wright's had the better show for a long time. Just takes a while for people to change. And KK has alienated the Mizzou fan base.