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.

[BWillie]

So whos gonna win the race for the 3rd conference? Big 12 or ACC?

[Infidel Goat]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

And no doubt somebody will.

But for a dramatically reduced amount of travel, that scholarship to Duke is going to look mighty tempting for the top prospect...

It will have no effect on a sport like Cross Country.

Stanford has eight Cross Country meets this year. Two are in Virginia and one is in Wisconsin. In the future, if they want to, they could run all of their meets in California except the ACC championship (which moves from year to year), regionals (they will be placed wherever the western regional is--possibly California), and the NCAA championship (which moves from year to year).

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by Infidel Goat

It will have no effect on a sport like Cross Country.

Stanford has eight Cross Country meets this year. Two are in Virginia and one is in Wisconsin. In the future, if they want to, they could run all of their meets in California except the ACC championship (which moves from year to year), regionals (they will be placed wherever the western regional is--possibly California), and the NCAA championship (which moves from year to year).

Some sports are going to be more impacted than others. So okay, track no effect. But don't many, most(?) sports feature two schools in a home versus away format?

Although perhaps they will try and figure out better ways to reduce the travel burden.

[displacedinMN]

If the conferences were smart, they would look at multiple teams going to the same place.

UCLA playing at Iowa for VB/FB/CC in the same weekend.

[BWillie]

Football conferences should exist differently than any other conferences

[DCTwister]

Originally Posted by Infidel Goat

It will have no effect on a sport like Cross Country.

Stanford has eight Cross Country meets this year. Two are in Virginia and one is in Wisconsin. In the future, if they want to, they could run all of their meets in California except the ACC championship (which moves from year to year), regionals (they will be placed wherever the western regional is--possibly California), and the NCAA championship (which moves from year to year).

I concur, I ran XC at a minor program for a little bit. Nothing like a van road trip to Butler County Community College for some college adventure. But anyway.

For sports like XC and track, distance doesn’t matter as much because the league title is based on one meet and then the other meets can be local or wherever. Not a big deal.

The travel is significant in sports like soccer, baseball and softball where there are lots of games and they must play other teams in the league head to head on the road. I guess it’s nice to play baseball for Stanford on scholarship, it’s a great education. It will still appeal to the kids that want that Stanford degree and can’t afford to pay for it. But for the kid who might play pro, might get some NIL, he’s not going to want to be on the road 50% of the year on the east coast and I guess many will just say **** it and transfer.

Conference realignment is ****ing stupid and I blame ESPN for it.

[Infidel Goat]

Originally Posted by DCTwister

I concur, I ran XC at a minor program for a little bit. Nothing like a van road trip to Butler County Community College for some college adventure. But anyway.

For sports like XC and track, distance doesn’t matter as much because the league title is based on one meet and then the other meets can be local or wherever. Not a big deal.

The travel is significant in sports like soccer, baseball and softball where there are lots of games and they must play other teams in the league head to head on the road. I guess it’s nice to play baseball for Stanford on scholarship, it’s a great education. It will still appeal to the kids that want that Stanford degree and can’t afford to pay for it. But for the kid who might play pro, might get some NIL, he’s not going to want to be on the road 50% of the year on the east coast and I guess many will just say **** it and transfer.

Conference realignment is ****ing stupid and I blame ESPN for it.

ACC soccer only plays eight regular season ACC games and four of those games will be played at home. Assuming they let Stanford and UC Berkeley play each other every year, they'll only have three or four cross-country flights until the ACC tournament. For what it's worth, UC Berkeley has actually already traveled and played Wake Forest in men's soccer this year anyway.

Baseball typically plays a regional midweek game and then a three-game series (Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon). It is a 10-series ACC schedule so that will have the baseball team flying across the country four or five times in the spring until the ACC tournament. That being said, they probably won't miss any more class than other baseball players in the ACC, they'll just be getting up really early on Friday and getting back a little late on Sunday.

[displacedinMN]

The big ten will have 18 teams and the ACC will have teams on the West Coast.
Colorado cant decide which side of the mountains it wants to be on.

[KingPriest2]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

The big ten will have 18 teams and the ACC will have teams on the West Coast.
Colorado cant decide which side of the mountains it wants to be on.

Huh?

[fullyfull]

Thanks for the information!

[FloridaMan88]

BREAKING: Florida State has scheduled an emergency meeting of its Board of Trustees for Friday morning.

This is the first concrete step needed in any effort to enable the school to take legal action against the ACC to challenge the grant of rights: https://t.co/yMqciYLE3K

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 21, 2023

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

BREAKING: Florida State has scheduled an emergency meeting of its Board of Trustees for Friday morning.

This is the first concrete step needed in any effort to enable the school to take legal action against the ACC to challenge the grant of rights: https://t.co/yMqciYLE3K

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 21, 2023

Lol. Where they think they're gonna go?

Doubt the SEC is interested after all the bitching and moaning they did with the CFP.

And that's the only conference that makes sense regionally for them.

[Old Dog]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

And that's the only conference that makes sense regionally for them.

Respectfully, I don't think that's even close to a necessity anymore

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

Respectfully, I don't think that's even close to a necessity anymore

Ya, "Regionally" went out the window a decade ago.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

Respectfully, I don't think that's even close to a necessity anymore

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

Ya, "Regionally" went out the window a decade ago.

Not at all. You've got a school in the butthole of Missouri competing in the South East Conference for goodness sake