The First College Super Conference - Big 10 and PAC 12 Merge

[Just the facts]

I mentioned this in another thread but it seems the changes in college sports just changed gears. The Big 10 and PAC-12 have agreed to integrate their athletics and academics effectively making 2 divisions of the same super conference.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...ent/52253122/1

The Big Ten and Pacific-12 are extending their partnership well beyond the Rose Bowl, announcing Wednesday that they'll step up interconference scheduling, cross-promote on their respective television networks and even set up academic and cultural exchanges.

Without formally expanding either 12-team league, officials say they expect many of the same benefits from collaboration. Each league will extend its reach. There'll be more to sell to TV. Revenues should rise accordingly.

"It's sort of in lieu of what some other people are doing (with expansion)," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.

"Our idea is you can't stand still. You have to build in an environment where people are competing for attention, where they're competing to have the best competitive assets and to present themselves in the best way. I think both of us believe … this is the most constructive way for us to do that."

Together, the Big Ten and Pac-12 encompass 15 states holding 43% of the nation's population and 22 of its top 50 television markets.

...

The new agreement will tie them throughout the regular season, as well — and in all sports, though football and basketball are the focal points.

Where does this leave conferences like the Big XII who thought they could get by with 10 teams? Expect the SEC to go to 16 or more teams very soon. If OU doesn't jump on an opportunity this time around then I might actually be done with OU sports.

[Snowman]

The Big 10 needed to do something drastic, even though they were getting enough replacement teams to be eligible for automatic qualifier statue, the teams they were gaining they were not on par with the ones they were loosing so retaining AQ statue was in doubt.

It seems like this is a mix between a conference wide money game plan and the Big 10 building in a correction for it's weak conference schedule with a stronger non-conference schedule.

[bluedogok]

Are you confusing the Big 10 (B1G) with the Big East? The B1G only added Nebraska to get to 12 and have had no problems with AQ status as one of the primary members of the BCS. Now the Conference USA and Mountain West discussed a merger, the B1G and Pac 12 aren't really merging like CUSA and MWC. They are just setting up a closer working relationship, now if the super conferences do come about who knows what that could lead to.

[Snowman]

I am

[bluedogok]

I am

I thought so but your statement may become accurate in the near future. I think the conference landscape is far from settled and I still think massive shifts are likely to occur every season for the next few seasons.

[dankrutka]

This is not a merger at all. Just a scheduling agreement. Really not a big deal and should not influence OU's decisions in any way.

[Just the facts]

Really not a big deal and should not influence OU's decisions in any way.

Except it will all but eliminate OU playing any regular season games vs Big 10 or Pac 12 teams in most sports. And yes, while not a true merger, they merged in even conceivable way short of having one conference and two automatic qualifier spots in the BCS. They actually pulled off the best of both worlds. They get a 24 team conference AND up to 4 BCS births. They probably had to stop short of sharing actual revenue because that would have cost them one of their two championship games and 2 BCS births. They merged as much as they could without doing harm.

[dcsooner]

OU and OSU are now relegated to relative obscurity in college football. The big 12 is a boring amalgamation of relatively unappealing 2d tier acacemic institutions and football programs outside of 2 to 3. The level of interest in Big 12 football, I predict will diminish as better and more marquee football is played between teams in the 3 super conferences.

[MDot]

OU and OSU are now relegated to relative obscurity in college football. The big 12 is a boring amalgamation of relatively unappealing 2d tier acacemic institutions and football programs outside of 2 to 3. The level of interest in Big 12 football, I predict will diminish as better and more marquee football is played between teams in the 3 super conferences.

Either I'm smoking crack or you posted the same thing in 2 different topics.

[venture]

Either I'm smoking crack or you posted the same thing in 2 different topics.

Just about. LOL

I don't think this is really a shock. It does say that the Big 12 needs to do something regardless. A 10-team league isn't going to do too well in this environment. You could argue the SEC & Big 12 fit pretty well together, but culturally they aren't there - unlike the B1G/PAC and MWC/CUSA. So what can the Big 12 do...

1) Similar arrangement with SEC, but hurdles will be academics and recruiting methods. Not to mention the SEC is lopsided with 14 to our 10.

2) Big 12 takes over Big East and merges into first super true super conference. Big 12 will be at 10 once WVU issues are resolved. Big East will be at 11. Football wise it wouldn't be horrible. It gets us Boise, Houston, and Cincy. Louisville can be good some years, Rutgers seems to be bowling pretty often. UConn is alright. I really like the addition of two Florida schools and the other big media markets. I think the goal would still be to get to either 22 or 24 teams. The conference would be amazing in Basketball as well.

3) Big 12 / ACC partnering. Normally some good football schools out of the ACC and access to a lot of big markets and good recruiting. Not sure how they match up academically/culturally with the Big 12 though.

4) Big 12 grows internally to 16 teams...adding Louisville, Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Air Force, Notre Dame, and BYU.

5) Collapse and the teams scatter to find a new home where they'll be treated like the red headed step child.

[Jersey Boss]

1) Similar arrangement with SEC, but hurdles will be academics and recruiting methods.

Could you expand on that statement? From what I understand, the academics in the SEC are superior to the "Big" 12 presently. I also could cite many B12 recruiting issues. Also what do you mean "culturally".

[dankrutka]

Whoopty doo. OU can't play as many non-conference games against Big 10 and Pac 10 schools. Those conferences do not have a 24 team conference nor do they share 2 BCS births. They are 2 separate conferences that will play nonconference games. If you think Purdue playing Washington State in football is a big deal then great, but OU has been scheduling big nonconference games for years. So, the PAC 12 and Big 10 are just doing what OU has already been doing.

The Big 12 is still a far superior football conference to the PAC 12 and the Big 10 right now. Everyone needs to quit it screaming that the sky is falling. It's not. This "merger," er scheduling of a some non-conference games, is not a big deal. At all.

[dcsooner]

Don't think anyone vaguely a fan of college football would actually say they think the remaining big 12 interleague contests are more compelling to those of either the big 10 or PAC 12

[Just the facts]

...but OU has been scheduling big nonconference games for years. So, the PAC 12 and Big 10 are just doing what OU has already been doing.

Well they won't be playing any more Big 10 or Pac 12 teams after 2017 unless it is in a bowl game. If the SEC and ACC do the same kind of deal OU (and the rest of the Big XII) will be left out in the cold. Mos teams only have 3 non-conference games and they aren't going to schedule a Big 10/Pac 12 opponent and OU for two of them.

[ljbab728]

Well they won't be playing any more Big 10 or Pac 12 teams after 2017 unless it is in a bowl game. If the SEC and ACC do the same kind of deal OU (and the rest of the Big XII) will be left out in the cold. Mos teams only have 3 non-conference games and they aren't going to schedule a Big 10/Pac 12 opponent and OU for two of them.

Lets think about some examples, Kerry. This year Arizona State played Illinois and Missouri non conference. Stanford played Notre Dame and Duke (OK, well maybe Duke can't be considered a BCS team, LOL). USC played Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. UCLA played Texas and soon to be Big East team, Houston. Iowa played Iowa State and Pittsburg. Ohio State played Colorado and Miami, FL.

It may not be quite the problem that you portray. Granted some schools do mainly feature weak non conference schedules but there are plenty that don't shy away from competition. UCLA probably wouldn't want to schedule Ohio State and OU the same year but there are plenty of weak teams in both the PAC 12 and Big 10 that can be scheduled when you want a more "name" team on the schedule like OU.

[Just the facts]

Lets think about some examples, Kerry. This year Arizona State played Illinois and Missouri non conference. Stanford played Notre Dame and Duke (OK, well maybe Duke can't be considered a BCS team, LOL). USC played Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. UCLA played Texas and soon to be Big East team, Houston. Iowa played Iowa State and Pittsburg. Ohio State played Colorado and Miami, FL.

It may not be quite the problem that you portray. Granted some schools do mainly feature weak non conference schedules but there are plenty that don't shy away from competition. UCLA probably wouldn't want to schedule Ohio State and OU the same year but there are plenty of weak teams in both the PAC 12 and Big 10 that can be scheduled when you want a more "name" team on the schedule like OU.

Good point. Of course, the schedules this year were set long before the PAC12 and BIG 10 expanded. Then new rules don't even take effect until 2017 specifically so the PAC12 and Big 10 teams can clear their schedules. Arizona St will now have an extra conference game to play so you can be sure that it will come at the expense of the Missouri game this year.

[ljbab728]

Good point. Of course, the schedules this year were set long before the PAC12 and BIG 10 expanded. Then new rules don't even take effect until 2017 specifically so the PAC12 and Big 10 teams can clear their schedules. Arizona St will now have an extra conference game to play so you can be sure that it will come at the expense of the Missouri game this year.

I'm not sure how that may work in 2017 but next year Arizona State is scheduled to play Illinois at home and at Missouri. The next year they play Notre Dame and Wisconsin. Different schools will have different philosophies about scheduling.

[Thunder]

I do not ever...NOT NOW, NOT EVER...want OU in the filthy SEC conference. That is the most corrupted conference in the history of the entire universe!!! All those coaches in the SEC conference purposely voted down OSU to illegally put Alabama into the BCS game (and I'm a loyal Sooners Dude). The bottom line, I do not ever...NOT NOW, NOT EVER...want OU to become a corrupted SEC member. We're staying in the Big Random # so hmmph. So, stop trying to wish for OU to join the SEC. What Big Random # needs to do is recruit more colleges, and I think we will next year or so. And if the day comes when Big Random # merge with the filthy SEC, I will be a Duckie Dude!!!

[Hawk405359]

This is still in the very early stages, but I highly doubt they'll exclusively play each other in non-conference games. According to the story, some games could be pre-season events, it could mean some more bowl tie ins in football or a series in basketball, and they're working out the details. They've always had a relationship due to the Rose Bowl, it's just deepening here, as opposed to doing a true merge. It's definitely something that other conferences should pay attention to to see how the cross-promotion works.

But it doesn't mean that we'll never see a non-conference game against a Big 10 or Pac 12 team again. If the match-ups are profitable enough, schools will still arrange it. And as long as we have the BCS system, it'll be to the school's advantage to schedule it if the schools are good enough.

[venture]

I would wonder how well this would work for Notre Dame since they play Stanford and USC every year...not to mention MSU. If the B1G/PAC and CUSA/MWC go exclusive in their 3 to 4 "non conference" games...that could very well force the Independents to get a conference. I would imagine Army would give in and go to the Big East finally. That leaves ND and BYU for us to pick up to sit at 12.

Not sure if the pairings would continue. B12/SEC would probably be the most competitive, though I think SEC would go with ACC for the bigger media coverage. Is there too much bad blood between the B12 and Big East to do a deal? I guess money will always talk. That leaves the MAC, WAC and Sun Belt. A MAC/Sun Belt tie up would definitely make more sense than a MAC/WAC or WAC/Sun Belt. I would imagine we would see the WAC eventually get parted out by other conferences.

[MDot]

^^Just to add, ND also plays Michigan every year as well.

[Just the facts]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...rivalries.html

Utah Utes football: Pac-12, Big Ten agreement could jeopardize rivalries


EL PASO, Texas — It remains to be seen if Wednesday's announcement of a long-term scheduling collaboration between the Pac-12 and Big Ten will bring an end to University of Utah football rivalries with BYU and Utah State.

The plan will lock up 10 games (nine Pac-12 and one against a Big Ten foe) each year for the Utes.

"We have to sit and look at what we're doing with our non-conference schedule that relates to everybody, including Utah State and BYU.