NCAA Conference Realignment

[BrettM2]

Exactly. That was my first though was "why in the world tell somebody to hold on after you basically accepted them and they had a press conference planned to announce their membership", I mean it's sorta like a guy who had been dating a girl for a long time then they break up and he can't get over her, then this other girl comes along who really likes him and is really sweet to him and would do anything for him and he starts liking her back and the same day he was gonna ask her out he decides he still has a shot with the girl that just broke up with him when in reality she's already fully committed to another guy. (I know I coulda used a better example but that one's the easiest to type out lol)

I read that Senator McConnell got involved (high-ranking Republican). That might explain some of the "hold up."

[metro]

So we want Missouri, unless they leave; in which case we want West Virginia, unless they don't want to come or if we get a better offer from Cincinnati; in which case we want Cincinnati; unless of course, we decide to go to 12 teams, in which case we want both of them, and Missouri, unless of course Missouri decides to leave, in which case we also BYU...


That doesn't sound desperate or unstable at all.

They need to stop screwing around and decide if they want 10 teams or 12 teams and stop all this scenario/what if crap. If the conference can't even decide how many teams it wants then we are all wasting our time. Once the Big XII decided how many teams its wants it need to put out an RFP and stop all the behind the scenes stuff. Just have any team that is interested submit a proposal by Nov 5, 2011 and pick how every many teams you need from that list.

Exactly, there is no leadership in the Big 12 nor with the NCAA. The NCAA should be taking the reigns of this whole discussion and putting the smack down on all this nonsense

[Just the facts]

I read that Senator McConnell got involved (high-ranking Republican). That might explain some of the "hold up."

I started a new thread in the politics section related to this.

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.ph...548#post479548

[Snowman]

Exactly, there is no leadership in the Big 12 nor with the NCAA. The NCAA should be taking the reigns of this whole discussion and putting the smack down on all this nonsense

Maybe if any of the organizations you mention were set up to do things logically, they are set up so that the colleges not the league has the majority of the decision making power. The NCAA rule book is a clear example of this, it takes the requests of thousand-ish of members and makes a rule book that is almost impossible to know the entire contents and impossible to follow to the letter. The best they can hope to accomplish is make it so that schools are treated equally; mostly geared to on the field, recruiting and preparation.

[venture]

More news today...

SEC working on 13 and 14 team schedules: http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/32961199

Senators lobbying for Big 12 slots: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/e...70202/32959597

[MDot]

Venture, College Football Live just tweeted that the Big XII formally invited West Virginia today and they accepted. Have you heard this is yet?

[venture]

CBS is reporting this as well. Welcome WVU to the Big 12-2-1+1-1(?)+1

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/32981848

The thing that is interesting, WVU is stating they will play in the Big 12 NEXT season, even though the Big East has a 24 month waiting period. I have a feeling something else is going on...which isn't a shocker since the Big East now has 5 football schools.

Missouri needs to officially say they are leaving now so they can invite Louisville and Cincy and be done with this. That also gets the door opened to accept Notre Dame in as a non-football member. Now is probably the time for the Big East to consider merging with the CUSA/WAC alliance.

[MDot]

Now maybe Louisville will get an offer to join the Big (?) hopefully.

[Martin]

looking past geography, i think wv is a good addition. i wonder if louisville is off the table? -M

[venture]

It is sounding like this was a decision between UL and WVU and UL was told no. Still think they should get in either UL or Cincy (or both) to help increase the viewer market.

[MDot]

Seriously. 10 teams was so 2 years ago, we need to modernize and expand. Lol

[venture]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ed-join-big-12

ESPN story does seem to solidify that we are staying at 10 teams. Can't really agree with this.

This was funny...someone at the SEC jumped the gun: http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....ouSEC_Full.jpg

[MDot]

I hope the person who wrote that feels like a douche. Lol

[dankrutka]

Hopefully the 10 team stance is just legal posturing. There's been a lot of that lately. Hopefully 2 more teams are on the way.

West Virginia will probably just pay the Big East fines for early withdrawal. The extra money they'll make in the Big 12 will probably pay off the fines within a couple years alone....

[Native Okie]

Okay so maybe I was not too far of in my Boren this is not the US Senate comment. We are called the Big 12, should we not somehow someway get to 12 teams?

[CaptDave]

I am a casual college football fan at best. The closest thing to any local college affinity I have is my son goes to OSU. But it seems to me these school specific networks are silly at best. A Big 12 network makes sense just like the Big 10, PAC-12, and ACC. The Longhorn Network is nothing more than another manifestation of greed in college sports at the expense of the many good aspects of athletic competition. If OU is really trying to get a Sooner Network started, then they are part of the problem and may explan some of the idiotic actions of the last few months.

Someone has got to find a way to restore sanity and reason in all these conference alignments. I think a conference should be regionally based if for no other reason than the team and fan travel, not to mention natural rivalries. The NCAA should decree that teams in a given conference shall be located in a state that borders at least one other state with a school in that conference. Is this too simple a concept? Make too much sense?

[Snowman]

Someone has got to find a way to restore sanity and reason in all these conference alignments. I think a conference should be regionally based if for no other reason than the team and fan travel, not to mention natural rivalries. The NCAA should decree that teams in a given conference shall be located in a state that borders at least one other state with a school in that conference. Is this too simple a concept? Make too much sense?

The fan travel is the biggest thing hurt by regionally (natural rivalries are somewhat arbitrary and wain when teams not reasonably close in performance), for most of the money making teams it is around another half hour in a jet as part of the travel. The non revenue sports generally have to partner with more than one conference so have longer travel than football and basketball anyway. The problem is that the schools are the ones in the driving seat here and they are the ones that want the ability to put themselves in the conference that they believe will help them the most. Alumni(boosters) and politicians can have some sway in certain instances but fans and the NCAA have no say in what happens.

[venture]

Tramel at the Joklahoman seems to be keeping expansion rumors going. CBS picked up on the story today.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/33047734
http://newsok.com/dont-count-out-lou...medium=twitter

Essentially the whole thing says that Louisville is still in play and an invite might come soon. This would take the conference to 11 schools (12 if Mizzou decides to stay) and would allow for a 10 conference game schedule...if they wanted to. It could also allow for them to have 12 schools in sports like Basketball by bringing Notre Dame in as a non-football school.

Personally, I like the option of just invites Louisville and Cincinnati now, as well as ND in other sports, and just finish the Big East off. Yes it sucks to kill a conference, but the Big 12 was getting raided too. If we go in and take 3 of their remaining 6 football schools, that should force the conference hand to get them out before the 27 month waiting period. We could also still pull in ND in other sports and just load up a bit on the basketball side. If ND ever did decide to bring football in to conference play, then the Big 12 could eventually go to 14 teams then and match the SEC.

That gives us a footprint in TX, OK, KS, IA, OH, KY, and WV. With ND that brings IN - and probably more. That sets up a nice cluster for a "Midwest" division and then a "Great Plains" division. Not sure who would work for the 14th school.

- Houston is playing very good right now, but we don't need anymore TX schools.
- Memphis would be a gap filler - great in basketball, ehh in football.
- Tulsa would put all state schools in one conference, but they bring zero value to it.
- BYU gives a decent media market but just imagine that travel from WVU to BYU. LOL
- Air Force I think is a good fit and relatively close to the Plains schools.
- Boise State would be alright, but small media market and way out in Boise.
- Colorado St...see Air Force.
- Arkansas would still be great, but the Big 12 needs more cash.
- South Florida isn't really close, but gets the Big 12 into Florida which is always good.

[venture]

WVU is suing the Big East to get out of the 27-month wait period to leave for the Big 12.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssport...32522/33054284

Big 12 needs to go forward and invite Cincy and UL and make this easier on everyone. Especially before the Big East goes about and starts inviting more people to leave their conference.

[dankrutka]

I've really liked Tramel's covereage of the expansion stuff. He's brought a lot of well reasoned ideas to the discussion...

[bluedogok]

The fan travel is the biggest thing hurt by regionally (natural rivalries are somewhat arbitrary and wain when teams not reasonably close in performance), for most of the money making teams it is around another half hour in a jet as part of the travel. The non revenue sports generally have to partner with more than one conference so have longer travel than football and basketball anyway. The problem is that the schools are the ones in the driving seat here and they are the ones that want the ability to put themselves in the conference that they believe will help them the most. Alumni(boosters) and politicians can have some sway in certain instances but fans and the NCAA have no say in what happens.

I really don't know that many people who go to very many away games, the one that I do could afford to go to games anywhere. The majority of us will travel to games nearby, like when I lived in Austin going to games in Waco, College Station or the CCG in San Antonio or Houston. A game out west or back east is going to draw those that go to every game but mainly those in a somewhat close proximity. One thing that intrigued me about the Pac would have been the OU or Tech games nearby here in Boulder with Colorado, that ain't happening now.

[dankrutka]

Well, I've been to Tallahassee and Lawrence already this season. Probably going to Waco and Stillwater too.

[MDot]

Well, I've been to Tallahassee and Lawrence already this season. Probably going to Waco and Stillwater too.

The only one I may go to is Stillwater and that's not a given.

[Jchaser405]

- Houston is playing very good right now, but we don't need anymore TX schools.
- Memphis would be a gap filler - great in basketball, ehh in football.
- Tulsa would put all state schools in one conference, but they bring zero value to it.
- BYU gives a decent media market but just imagine that travel from WVU to BYU. LOL
- Air Force I think is a good fit and relatively close to the Plains schools.
- Boise State would be alright, but small media market and way out in Boise.
- Colorado St...see Air Force.
- Arkansas would still be great, but the Big 12 needs more cash.
- South Florida isn't really close, but gets the Big 12 into Florida which is always good.

The best pick would be ARK, but I cant imagine them leaving the SEC! I hope we dont add teams that follow the same fate as Colorado & Utah to the Pac, and add 0 competition but merely fill space.

[venture]

Big East made their move today.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/33072149

- WVU will be fought to keep them in for the 27 months. WVU made a statement that things aren't going as well as they had hoped.
- Football Only Invites: Navy, Air Force, and Boise State are still projected.
- All Sports Invites: UCF, Houston, and SMU are also still projected.

Considering the issues WVU is going to have, the Big 12 could be down to only 9 schools now through 2013. The 10-team league BS that Texas is forcing on everyone else is not going to help things.