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.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I'm gonna need to hear someone other than Greg Swaim reporting it. Not that I wouldn't be OK with UL, Cinci, and BYU, and maybe he's good at recruiting news, but this guy has just gotten too many things wrong on conference realignment, to the point where he's at non-credible rumor status.

The Big XII is reduced to luring city schools? Damn, do I ever want out of this shit-hole, has-been conference.

The Big XII is a dying mall that is trying to fill vacant storefronts with youth group meeting spaces.

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

The Big XII is reduced to luring city schools? Damn, do I ever want out of this shit-hole, has-been conference.

The Big XII is a dying mall that is trying to fill vacant storefronts with youth group meeting spaces.

I'd love to add Louisville, with their BCS win, Final Fours, and National Championships into the Big 12.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Wickedson

I'd love to add Louisville, with their BCS win, Final Fours, and National Championships into the Big 12.

A BCS win over Wake Forest in the 2007 Orange Bowl =

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

A BCS win over Wake Forest in the 2007 Orange Bowl =

You're forgetting who you just responded to.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by frazod

You're forgetting who you just responded to.

I know. I shouldn't shake the dim light bulbs.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

I agree that Mizzou switching to the SEC will harm their Texas recruiting.

I vehemently disagree that TAMU moving to the SEC will hurt their recruiting and that it wont improve the rest of the SEC's recruiting in Texas.

As long as the Big 12 stays together, I think you're wrong about TAMU, but you might be right about the rest of the SEC.

[KChiefs1]

Big 12 will be dead within a decade. MU has to decide if they want to go to the SEC or B1G or staying with the sinking Big Texas conference.

Seems to be an easy decision to me.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

The Big XII is reduced to luring city schools? Damn, do I ever want out of this shit-hole, has-been conference.

The Big XII is a dying mall that is trying to fill vacant storefronts with youth group meeting spaces.

The Big Texas should try & raid teams from the B1G or SEC area like Cincinnati, Louisville or UAB! I hear SMU is relevant again too. I think TCU is a no brainer for the Big Texas.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

The Big XII is reduced to luring city schools? Damn, do I ever want out of this shit-hole, has-been conference.

The Big XII is a dying mall that is trying to fill vacant storefronts with youth group meeting spaces.

Yup, that's where I've ended up as I started looking at the available replacements.

To get to 12 will almost certainly require at least 2 city schools and to stay at 10 is simply not doable; this conference can't survive like that, IMO.

They clearly don't have the muscle to bring in a legitimate powerhouse like ND and they don't appear interested in a service academy.

Mostly the conference is screwed and MU needs to GTFO before it really implodes.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

The Big Texas should try & raid teams from the B1G or SEC area like Cincinnati, Louisville or UAB! I hear SMU is relevant again too. I think TCU is a no brainer for the Big Texas.

TCU adds very little value.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yup, that's where I've ended up as I started looking at the available replacements.

To get to 12 will almost certainly require at least 2 city schools and to stay at 10 is simply not doable; this conference can't survive like that, IMO.

They clearly don't have the muscle to bring in a legitimate powerhouse like ND and they don't appear interested in a service academy.

Mostly the conference is screwed and MU needs to GTFO before it really implodes.

This is what I want KU to do...

[Pants]

Originally Posted by ReeTodd_KC

This is what I want KU to do...

And I want to be a billionaire.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Pants

And I want to be a billionaire.

...so frickin bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

Wait what? Where am I.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

TCU adds very little value.

Adds more than Louisville, IMO.

I think they could do an okay job salvaging this if they went with TCU, Air Force and BYU, but they won't. They're dragging their feet and those schools are likely to get snapped up before the XII decides to expand back to 12.

Look for 3 city schools, if you're lucky.

Or watch them just take one and try to hold at 10, which is just conference suicide, IMO. I understand the folks that try to say that 16 is too many (and it might be), but 10 is too few. I think you need that conference championship game.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Adds more than Louisville, IMO.

I think they could do an okay job salvaging this if they went with TCU, Air Force and BYU, but they won't. They're dragging their feet and those schools are likely to get snapped up before the XII decides to expand back to 12.

Look for 3 city schools, if you're lucky.

Or watch them just take one and try to hold at 10, which is just conference suicide, IMO. I understand the folks that try to say that 16 is too many (and it might be), but 10 is too few. I think you need that conference championship game.

I don't think adding 1-2 to get back to 10 is conference suicide if all the schools pledge their media rights as has been suggested. Adding schools to get back to 12 decreases each school's slice of the TV revenue, and I don't think the Big 12 is in position to bargain hard at the negotiation table right now for big new tier 1 and 2 deals.