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.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

Nebraska had flirted with the Big 10 for 20 years now. I wanted out because the Big 12 conference sucks. I had to pay 40 bucks to watch Nebraska play Western Kentucky? Aside from that I like the history and traditions the Big 10 has. Would much rather player in the Rose Bowl than the Fiesta Bowl. Also haven't seen many people on the Big 10 boards talking about basketball in September.

Wait you were serious about the basketball thing? When any program gets a 5 star recruit to commit, people are going to talk about it then and there. I thought you were just trolling at the time, but wow, dude...

[Rams Fan]

Big 12 Conference commissioner Dan Beebe is working on an agreement to leave his position, the Kansas City star reported Wednesday night.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...er-report-says

Buh Bye.

[chefs fan in omaha]

Will any conference take Mizzery?

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Pants

Wait you were serious about the basketball thing? When any program gets a 5 star recruit to commit, people are going to talk about it then and there. I thought you were just trolling at the time, but wow, dude...

I wouldn't worry about trying to convince a Nebraska fan what its like to land a 5 star recruit.

Nebraska doesn't get any of those.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Anyway, I said money is not really the issue, now that everyone has agreed to share Tier 1/2, so lets break it down. (I'll also assume we expand to 10)

We currently have a weird situation where our tier 2 contract is a lot bigger than our tier 1 contract, because we made our deal with Fox recently. That tells us that our tier 1 deal will probably be massive. (maybe we can renegotiate after dropping A&M and adding BYU?)

Tier 1 (ESPN): expires in 2016, $60MM/year, $6MM per school

Tier 2 (Fox): expires in 2025, $90MM/year, $9MM per school

Money each school gets from TV if they don't make a dime on Tier 3: $15MM/year

Tier 3 (owned by each school): 2009-2010 school year

Texas: ~$15MM/yr (not 09-10, based on future from LHN)
Kansas: ~$7.3MM
OSU: ~$6.4MM
MU: ~$4.1MM
KSU: ~$3.3MM
ISU: ~$2.6MM
OU:~$300k
TTech and BU: basically zero

average: ~$4.3MM

If everyone splits evenly, each school gets about ~$19.3MM

If no split, Mizzou gets about ~$19.1MM. Baylor gets ~$15MM

I only have a vague understanding of the Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 business. Why does OU get so little Tier 3?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I only have a vague understanding of the Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 business. Why does OU get so little Tier 3?

That could be a one-year fluke, or maybe the sooners were lazy on developing their radio and TV rights, I have no idea.

Tier 3 is primarily non-con football games (though UT is cheating on that!) that don't get picked up in T1/2, and non-con basketball games.

I can understand why no one wanted to watch sooner basketball, and maybe they are a victim of their own success on having all their football games get picked up, so not much help from TV, but surely even given all that I'd think their radio and internet rights were worth more than a few hundred K? Maybe not. Maybe they are fixing that issue.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by alnorth

That could be a one-year fluke, or maybe the sooners were lazy on developing their radio and TV rights, I have no idea.

Tier 3 is primarily non-con football games (though UT is cheating on that!) that don't get picked up in T1/2, and non-con basketball games.

I can understand why no one wanted to watch sooner basketball, and maybe they are a victim of their own success on having all their football games get picked up, so not much help from TV, but surely even given all that I'd think their radio and internet rights were worth more than a few hundred K? Maybe not. Maybe they are fixing that issue.

Good theory

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Good theory

I think we've cracked the code. The secret is to be pretty decent in football, but not TOO good. If you are too good, then con ESPN into giving you way too much money without a guarantee that they'll get a good football game.

[beer bacon]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Bebee to be fired tomorrow morning.

Scapegoat with no power to be removed from his position so the conference can look like they are making changes.

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I think we've cracked the code. The secret is to be pretty decent in football, but not TOO good. If you are too good, then con ESPN into giving you way too much money without a guarantee that they'll get a good football game.

Kinda.

The exposure nationwide of having all of your games on ABC or ESPN primetime is immeasurable. Recruiting, boosters, etc are all skyrocketed with a program like OU because they're on TV so often and in such important time slots.

[LiveSteam]

Originally Posted by beer bacon

Scapegoat with no power to be removed from his position so the conference can look like they are making changes.

Ehh Bebee was his own worst enemy.

[Frazod]

Beebe never really existed - he was just a Dodds' ventriloquist dummy. He's not being fired - just put in box and stored.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by frazod

Beebe never really existed - he was just a Dodds' ventriloquist dummy. He's not being fired - just put in box and stored.

He was a Texan puppet! Whatever Texas wanted, they got.

[FD]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I only have a vague understanding of the Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 business. Why does OU get so little Tier 3?

Theres only a handful of TV's in Oklahoma. Their Tier 1/2 are worth a ton because almost all of their games are shown nationally. They were in discussions to make a network in the style of the LHN but it was determined to not be economically viable.

[duncan_idaho]

Well, yesterday was interesting. Second straight year the PAC steps back from the ledge JUST in time to keep from really blowing things up.

I am actually fine with staying in the Big 12 for a few more years, biding time for the eventual collapse, and reaping some benefits. I think some concessions need to be made re: the Longhorn network - mostly that no high school games/highlights are shown on it, and that they are limited in the number of Big 12 games that can be shown on it.

The revenue sharing piece doesn't really bother me. Texas already has way more money than anyone else (Same with OU). And Missouri actually shakes out towards the top in the unequal distribution. So no real problems for me there. Plus, with the TV rights staying where they are (unless there's a renegotiation if BYU/Louisville/etc join), the money will be competitive for the next few years (basically, the same amount of time that UT and OU have committed to).

There are some real positives to staying in the Big 12, if it survives.

1) Being No. 3 in the pecking order behind OU and UT. This is not a bad place to be from a money standpoint, or a competition standpoint. Football will have a great chance to win 9-10 games a year in this conference.

2) Texas recruiting. Go ask Arkansas - a school that is closer to Texas, has more history in Texas, and used to recruit Texas like crazy - how much they like recruiting Texas from the SEC, while the Big 12 puts a dome around the state. It would fall off - perhaps significantly - if Missouri goes to the SEC while the Big 12 still exists.

3) Missouri can improve its attractiveness. Look at what has happened and how the perception of Missouri football has changed in the past five years. What would another five years of Pinkel-led 9-10 win seasons do for program prestige?

The main things that make Mizzou attractive to other conferences - population, TV markets, single state-level school, research university - aren't going anywhere.

Missouri will have the same - if not better - options when this does finally blow up. Until then, I've got no problem sitting tight, watching the Tigers challenge a lot in football, and waiting for conference armageddon to revisit the scene.