They've said they aren't interested in the SEC due to academics, but who knows. I know Bob Stoops was really, really excited about the Pac10 last year, but I have no idea what kind of influence he has. Big10 would certainly make sense if they want to rekindle their Nebraska rivalry, but I'm not sure if OU is an AAU member? I think the Big10 only wants AAU members, although I think Nebraska this year was the first school ever to get their AAU membership revoked (oops).
Big 10 puts huge value on having AAU status, or at least that is their press statement. Along with the sports conference they have an academic arm, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation that is designed to easily allow for inter-school research collaboration. It really is a big deal. Having said that, Nebraska being in trouble with the AAU is nothing new. They have been the lowest ranked AAU school for 10 years: Apparently all the Big 12 and B1G AAU schools voted for them to stay, but they were outvoted. Essentially, this is not a new development and was very much known to the B1G and they still offered them a spot in the conference. In the past, they have also strongly courted Notre Dame which is not a AAU school. Essentially, AAU is a big deal to them, but not a deal breaker. Having said that, Notre Dame still has a very strong academic reputation as as does Nebraska, which has a large aggricultural research contingent on top of other things. OU not only has neither of those calling cards but also does not add any large media market to the B1G. You think Sooner fans really care about UM, UW, OSU and Penn St.? Neb yes, but not the other schools. Long term, within a stronger conference, in a post-Stoops era, I find it hard to see OU being competitive in the B1G without a relationship to Texas, and as a result difficult for the B1G to overlook the entirety of their package. Combine that with the likelihood of OU and OSU being a package deal, and I think the Pac-12 is nearly an assured landing spot for both schools. The only other option would be if OU and OSU decided to join the Big East, because if the conference retains AQ status, they maintain an easy BCS road plus schedule flexibility to schedule "prove-me" games and the Red-River Rivalry. Plus they would also have in-conference games with TCU.
For Boren to be so plain-spoken about this, seems like he is bracing everyone ahead of time for OU's decision. I betcha they end up leaving for the Pac 12.
A&M's gonna have to figure out a better plan than knocking on the door. Is LSU really going to let A&M take the Houston television market for itself? How about the Dallas market for Arkansas? I think the lhn makes ut a better option for the LSU and Arkansas to let any big 12 school into the conference. Looks like A&M can fall back in with UH in C-USA.:grin: A&M knows Texas is leaving for the SEC. The LHN is like a big sigh of relief for LSU and Arkansas, to not have to deal with any major televsion scheduling conflicts. You may say, oh wait but LHN is ESPN/ABC affiliated. UT has the hardware and people in place. So what if ESPN tries to sue them, it will fall back on the NCAA to decide what is right and wrong. Oklahoma will be the other big 12 team to join the SEC because they can stay in a UT-less big 12, or jump to the SEC where Arkansas and LSU can both take Texas's and Texas A&M's spot as television scheduling conflictors. A UT network could do wonders for all these schools.
Agreed - you don't say something like this while you're trying to lure other schools into joining your conference unless you're pretty seriously looking to get out. If I'm BYU, why on Earth would I even consider the Big12 right now? I agree that the most likely outcome is OU & OSU heading to the Pac12/14. Then the spotlight is back on Texas and where they decide to go. Pac16 makes a lot of sense; Big10 would be cool, but I don't think they have any interest in Texas Tech, and they might be attached to UT.
Texas will never, ever go to the SEC. They have very publicly stated they have no interest because of academics. UT has, for 15 years, been trying to associate itself with higher end academic institutions, which explains why they showed so much interest in the Pac10/Big10 last year. UT doesn't fit in any way with the SEC - culturally, academically, etc.
Whelp... looks like UT wanted the Kingdom but they didn't want God in it. TAMU went out there... with a bible and a gun. They went out wandering... UT's under an atomic sky now.
A whole bunch of random musings from the west coast: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2011/09/02/bcs-football-the-latest-on-realignment/ BCS football: The latest on realignment Posted by Jon Wilner on September 2nd, 2011 at 12:25 pm | Categorized as Big 12 football, BYU football, Larry Scott, NCAA expansion, Oklahoma football, Pac-12 Conference, SEC football, Texas football *** 7 p.m. update: Here are comments from Oklahoma president David Boren that sure make it sound like the Sooners could be joining the Pac-12 in the next few weeks. Scott will be attending the LSU-Oregon game and I’m sure will have a comment or two in the press box … I’ve made a series of phone calls in the wake of the latest reports (and speculation) about Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, the Pac-12/16 and the future of the free world. Big picture: The end game for realignment hasn’t change, but the timeline for getting there has been accelerated due to Texas A&M’s pending departure from the Big 12. Now, to the specifics, with the caveat that everything could change by the time you’re finished reading this: *** Yes, there have been discussions between the Pac-12 and Texas and Oklahoma, according to sources. Whether that means Larry Scott and UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds have spoken directly, I cannot confirm. But whether it’s Scott, deputy commish Kevin Weiberg (who used to run the Big 12) or one of the league’s media consultants on one end of the phone … and Dodds, Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione or ESPN officials on the other … the lines of communication are open. That does not mean the Sooners and Longhorns are on the brink of joining the Pac-12 — not by any stretch. The Big 12 could very well remain intact for a few years. Something else to keep in mind: Everybody is talking to everybody right now … covering their bases, making contingency plans … because if the Big 12 does implode, it will be utter chaos. Does Oklahoma reach out to the Pac-12 first, intent on bolting without knowing Texas’ next move? Do the Sooners somehow move in lockstep with UT? “The permutations are endless,’’ one source said. *** If the Pac-12 expands, it would most likely be to 16 schools – in terms of travel and scheduling for Olympic sports, 14 (seven-team divisions) is far from ideal. Not unworkable, but far from ideal. If Texas is part of the league’s expansion puzzle, the other teams would be Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. If Texas is not part of the puzzle, I was told, the conference would have to be convinced that there’s a combination of four schools, obviously including Oklahoma, that would not cause the per-school revenue to decrease. *** Several sources indicated that Texas’ Olympic sports are a huge piece of the equation – they must be anchored to a conference the way Notre Dame’s are anchored to the Big East. That’s one reason Texas wants the Big 12 to remain viable and one reason why the Pac-16 might be more attractive than Independence. (Another reason: Money. Over the long haul, there would be more of it in the Pac-16 than in the Big 12, or as a football Independent.) *** I wonder if the latest grumblings out of the South Plains are simply a power play by Oklahoma in order to get more concessions from the Big 12 and ESPN. The Sooners want their own 24-hour TV network and progress toward that end has been slow. ESPN wants the Big 12 to survive. (More conferences = cheaper … and no blood on its hands.) Texas also wants to Big 12 to survive. At the same time, Oklahoma must protect its long-terms interests and, if the Big 12 were to dissolve, it would be much more interested in aligning with the Pac-12 than with the SEC. *** The Big 12’s pursuit of Notre Dame, Arkansas and BYU is mostly a smoke screen – a chance for commissioner Dan Beebe to show he’s being proactive. I have been told by several sources that BYU is very happy with its status as a football Independent and having its Olympic sports in the West Coast Conference – the school and the league share many of the same values. It’s extremely unlikely that BYU would pull its teams out of the WCC. At most, it would join the Big 12 in a football-only capacity – but I don’t expect that to happen, either. *** Several sources said that while the media attention is locked on the Big 12’s purported courtship of BYU, what’s really happening behind the scenes is this: The Big 12 is considering a raid of the Big East for at least two teams and perhaps more. The names I heard from multiple sources were Pittsburgh and Rutgers, but I have to believe others, including Louisville and West Virginia, are in play. The notion that the Big 12 was only interested in Pitt as a package deal with Notre Dame, I was told, is rubbish. *** Over in the SEC, where expansion would enable the league to re-work the league’s TV contracts … One source said the conference is targeting Missouri as the 14th member, which makes tons of sense based on what I’ve been told – and have mentioned on the Hotline. Commish Mike Slive’s approach to expansion is this: Only new states. The conference is only interested in expanding its footprint, and Missouri is the nation’s 18th most-populous state: Approx 6 million people means approx 2 million TV households. Ching-ching-ching. *** With all the focus on the Big 12, SEC and Pac-12, the Big Ten is eerily quiet. Behind the scenes, you know Jim Delany is plotting a counter-strike. Chances are, it will be a whopper.
If OU and OSU are joined at the hip...and everything I've read suggests they are...would the Pac 10 take OU and OSU, alone, without the TX/TT combination going with it? Honestly, I doubt it. That probably isn't enough to mean there's a new media deal coming...which means less money for each university. Plus, the Pac 10 was really not thrilled with the idea of adding OSU last summer. I don't think UT is going to give up on LHN before its first season...so though UT may end up in the Pacwhatever, I just have my doubts about how quickly they'd make that jump. Good news is....we're gonna know something from OU within the next 3 weeks.
http://m.yahoo.com/w/sports/home/ex...id=G.U1OV.cWaVBh3hHRGx_9R8t&.intl=US&.lang=en WACO, Texas – At the end of this exhausting, exhilarating and purely wonderful night of college football, with the scoreboard reading Baylor 50, TCU 48 , with half of Waco dancing on the postgame field, a man named Ian McCaw stood near one end zone and surveyed the madness. It was, the Baylor athletic director said, one of the great nights of his eight years here. "We couldn't have written a better script," McCaw said. It came, he would admit, at the end of a tough day – "the market was down today in the Big 12," McCaw said with a weak smile. This is the reality of college athletics right now, especially here on the edge. Baylor is like dozens of universities across the country surveying the pending tectonic shift that could greatly and forever alter the landscape of college athletics. Earlier Friday Oklahoma president David Boren said the Sooners were weighing all options, including bailing on the Big 12 to another conference, and would try to make up their mind sometime in the next two to three weeks, or perhaps as soon as Tuesday. "I don't think there's any chance OU's going to end up being a wallflower," Boren promised, and that could mean a mass exodus – Texas included – to the Pac-12 that would decimate the Big 12 that's already lost Nebraska and Colorado last year and Texas A&M after this season. A move by the Sooners could dramatically change the way college sports operates from coast to coast. And so here among the schools that actually could wind up being a wallflower is a sense of helplessness, determination, frustration and worry. What they feel at Baylor is what they are feeling at Kansas State and Cincinnati and Iowa State and dozens of other schools like them. Everything is on the table now as college football hurdles to potential mass realignment that is no longer based just on revenue, but on ego and politics and fear and an absence of collective leadership. [ Big 12 future: Oklahoma weighs suitors ] There may only be 64 football programs deemed "major" in a couple years. There may only be four super conferences. There may be even clearer divisions between the chosen and the rest. There may not even be an NCAA. Really, no one knows. Baylor, a Baptist school of 14,000-students just keeps getting better and better. There are new facilities all over campus. The athletic complexes are state of the art, opulent and undeniably big-time in basketball and baseball and softball and track, where they've won and regularly compete for national titles. That even includes a resurrection in football where a sharp coach in Art Briles and a gifted quarterback in Robert Griffin III have made the Bears roar. Everyone saw it Friday in a come-from-behind thriller over its old rival from Fort Worth. Not merely the 43,753 in attendance, the largest home-opening crowd since 1975, but a national television audience no doubt enthralled by this Texas shoot out. "Good win," Briles said. "Great atmosphere." It was. This is was, in many ways, college football at its very best. The night was warm and pleasant. The rivals were meeting for the 107th time. The crowd was festive. Griffin III was brilliant. The action back-and-forth and came down to the final, furious seconds and ended with a good old-fashioned storming of the field. Baylor hadn't beaten a team as highly ranked as No. 14 TCU in 20 seasons. And the way things are headed we could find a day when this is no longer deemed "major college football." When a night like this isn't deemed legitimate because, well, someone said so. That's how the sport currently exists, of course. Harnessed by the powerful, and generous, bowl lobby, college football still defines teams with arbitrary standards of BCS and non-BCS. TCU is from the unwashed (until it joins the Big East next year). [ Recap: Baylor edges No. 14 TCU ] If college sports winds up with four super conferences and nothing else, the number of disenfranchised will grow. Hence, the churning stomachs. Hence the constant work by administrators to try to make sure there's a safe port for the coming storm. "I had four hours of not worrying about conference realignment," McCaw joked afterward. "I feel refreshed now I can get back on the phone and get to work." It's all unnecessary, of course. There is no need for conferences to expand again, especially just a year after the last shake-up. If they need money then they could eliminate the BCS, stop outsourcing the billion-dollar postseason and stage a playoff that's richer than any television conference contract. That would require cutting out crony middlemen who run the bowls, of course, and no one has the guts to do that. So instead they're determined to eat their own. [ College Football Pick'em: Sign up and play today ] The move by Texas A&M to leave the Big 12 last week was just the first domino. The Aggies are likely headed to the SEC, which would then have 13 teams and need more, setting up a food chain that won't be fun for some. The SEC, of course, doesn't need a 13th team or a 14th, 15th or 16th. Same with the Pac-12 or the Big Ten or really anyone. College sports is run by handful of super commissioners and they appear more about muscle flexing and legacy building and all sorts of acts that have stripped the collegiality out of college sports. Around the Big 12, blame is getting spread around. Texas and its personal Longhorn Network gets much of it. Some point to Texas A&M's stubbornness and interest in showing up rival Texas for leaving. On Friday, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel even laid into commissioner Dan Beebe for failing to keep the league together and being outfoxed by his rivals. Then there are the conspiracy theories, including the belief Gov. Rick Perry orchestrated the Aggies' departure (presumably to the SEC) in an effort to aid his presidential bid in the Deep South. Of course, some claim Baylor only got into the Big 12 originally because it was the alma mater of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, although the facts on that remain shaky. Ideally the Big 12 would like to expand the conference back to 10 or 12 members. It's time to strike, to be aggressive, to make a move before a move is made on you. Even Boren said Oklahoma would feel more comfortable with the Big 12 if it went back to having 12 teams. One league source told Yahoo! Sports on Friday that there have been internal discussions about trying to lure West Virginia , Pittsburgh and Louisville from the Big East. There's no way anyone is going to join the Big 12, however, until Oklahoma decides whether it will exist. "It complicates things," McCaw said. For college sports as a whole, it hardly matters. This is a shark fight and if the Big 12 were to raid the Big East, then it would just move the misery to that part of the country where someone will wind up on the outside looking in. And who knows the SEC's plan. Or the Big Ten's. In the end someone is going to get thrown out. And so here on a perfect night for the Baylor Bears, the latest sign in the school's resurgence and growth, the pall of the future returned as soon as the cheers died down. This was a great night for college football. The question is does anyone in power care.
Have to say...the intersection of legal/business/political/sports issues is fascinating to me in all this. I'm mildly obsessed. Also...I promise I posted the above thoughts (at 7:05) BEFORE I read this article This stuff is getting crazy....including threat of lawsuit against SEC creeping back in. (cue Major telling me that's "laughable.") I think it's somewhat telling that the comments out of OU were all about throwing the instability at the feet of A&M's departure. That language sets up a claim (or at least the threat of a claim) fairly well. Chip's sources and the 2 guys I'm talking to (one a UT guy and the other a BU guy) are both talking lawsuit still...and interestingly, it's the UT guy I know that talks about it being impactful the most. Remember, the Big XII members' release of A&M in no way impacts any potential claims (if any) that any one or combination of them have against SEC. Everyone's fine as long as Big XII stays together and FOX doesn't pull media deal...but if they do, what in the world does BU, ISU, Kansas, etc have to lose in chasing a claim for the millions and millions of dollars they will never see again in a lesser conference? That claim might be the only real leverage any of those schools ever have in remaining in or getting to the next major conference. Crazy to think they wouldn't play that card if the alternative is, "good luck in the Mountain West, boys!" If it truly is, "every man for himself, this is to be expected. http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1259825 Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe convened a conference call late Friday afternoon with a handful of his conference's presidents to discuss the increasing possibility that Oklahoma wants to bolt the Big 12 for the Pac-12, multiple sources said. Texas president Bill Powers, Oklahoma president David Boren and Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin were excluded from the call, sources said. But Beebe advised the other presidents in the Big 12 to "work on Texas" to get the Longhorns to stay in the Big 12, sources said. It's Beebe's belief that if Texas refuses to go to the Pac-12 that Oklahoma would not get a bid from the Pac-12, sources said. But another source close to the situation said if Oklahoma and Oklahoma State indicated to the Pac-12 that they wanted to be a part of that league, they would be admitted. Beebe released a statement to Orangebloods.com Friday night that said, "We continue to work hard for the long-term stability of the Big 12 Conference." Boren dropped a bombshell on Friday when he said no one has been more active than the Sooners in surveying their options for the future and that OU would be no wallflower. "At this point in time, I'll be very honest with you in saying I do not know with certainty, or perhaps even can't hazard a totally intelligent guess as to what our final decision will be," Boren told reporters. "But we are carefully looking over all the options. We are ? there's no school more active in the Big 12 more active than we are right now." Sources said the Longhorns have been actively working to hold the Big 12 together. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione are on the five-member Big 12 expansion committee charged with looking for new members to join the Big 12. But if Oklahoma bolts, Texas would consider the Big 12 dead and probably follow the Sooners to the Pac-12. When I texted a key source close to Texas Friday night if the Longhorns were preparing to head to the Pac-12 with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, the source texted back, "Leaning that way." The source later said there was a "50 to 60 percent" chance those schools would end up in the Pac-12. Any move by Texas to the Pac-12 would not be an easy one. First, there is the issue of the Longhorn Network. No schools in the Pac-12 are allowed to have their own network. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has set up a series of regional networks that partner two schools together to share revenue from third-tier rights with each other and with the Pac-12. So Texas' Longhorn Network, which launched on Aug. 26 and still can't even be seen by most of the Lone Star State, would likely have to be turned into one of the Pac-12's regional networks (and most likely partner with Texas Tech). And that could mean Texas basically tearing up the 20-year, $300 million deal it just inked with ESPN and giving up its riches. An industry source with direct knowledge of the Longhorn Network said turning LHN into a regional network in the Pac-12 would be "very difficult." When I asked if it was impossible, the source said, "After last year, I don't subscribe to that word anymore." That source doubted Texas was going anywhere. That source also doubted that Oklahoma would go anywhere without Texas. Sources said Texas officials told them last year the Longhorns were reluctant to go to the Pac-12 because they would lose a lot of the power they enjoy in the Big 12. {/B]The sources said Texas feared being out-voted and muscled in the Pac-12 by the power brokers in that conference - the original Pac-8 (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State). But Texas' move to the Pac-12 would also be difficult because of the legislative heat the Longhorns would likely face. Legislative sources said Friday night that part of the reason Texas A&M was allowed to withdraw from the Big 12 was because of assurances from the rest of the Big 12 that the league would survive. Now that it appears the Big 12 is in serious jeopardy, lawmakers will not be so passive, sources said. Two Big 12 sources said if Oklahoma and Texas are preparing to lead a charge to the Pac-12 there would almost certainly be a tortious interference lawsuit filed against the Southeastern Conference. That's if Texas A&M indeed submits its application for membership to the SEC next Tuesday or Wednesday as expected, according to sources. "Texas A&M leaving has started this whole thing," one source said. "There is a big-time lawsuit here." The potential of such legal action and the real possibility the Big 12 could collapse prompted another Big 12 source to wonder if the SEC would now hesitate to accept Texas A&M, considering the fallout that could befall the Big 12. Messages left with officials from Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech as well as Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott were not returned Friday night. Stay tuned.
I think if OU/OSU wanted to go, they'd be invited. Not because the Pac12 is in love with them, but because if the Pac12 ultimately is planning on 16 schools - and Larry Scott has said that's the vision - their options are limited by geography. The only real schools they could get are Big12 and MWC schools. Given that they need 4, OU and OSU make a lot of sense as two of them. In addition, it then forces the issue for Texas. UT has said they aren't going independent, and this definitely would end the Big12. So what would UT do? I think think the most likely scenario is that they are forced into working something out with the Pac12/14 at hat point, so Larry Scott improves his chances of getting his big prize. This is all conjecture though - I still think there's a 50/50 chance that OU stays and delays the inevitable another few years. Agreed - the faster this process happens, the better. It just needs to be over with. I still will say there is 0% chance of the Big12 suing the SEC. But from a logistical perspective, if OU leaves, wouldn't that be the piece of the puzzle that caused the Big12 to collapse and thus the TV deal to be voided? Could they sue the SEC on the grounds that what they did led to what OU leaving which led to the collapse of the TV deal? It seems tenuous, given that A&M/SEC didn't force OU to leave and that the Big12 seemed to have no problem with A&M leaving. Also, if the Big12 dissolves, can they still sue if the conference has no members? Who would get any money collected?
It wouldn't be Big 12 suing SEC...it would be desperate schools (BU, KU, K-ST, IA ST) that would use that lawsuit for leverage and/or the only measure by which they could ever recover what they lost in terms of dollars. These statements by OU seem to be setting up the potential for all that. Almost as if that was the plan....
I'm not discussing poaching or how psyched the ACC would be to add in glorious pittsburgh. I'm discussing the creation of a superconference centered around schools like Texas, UNC, UVa, ND, Duke etc. No texas techs need apply.
Isn't the whole issue with interference that the SEC contacted A&M as opposed to the other way around? OU's statement implies that other conferences showed interest in them - wouldn't that be the same basic issue then if OU left?
OU's statement supports the idea that, now that A&M has left, the conference is unstable...if it breaks up, OU can say, "we left because A&M's departure created too much instability." If they do, then we have the question of why did A&M leave...that can lead to the interference claim against the SEC by the schools that get left behind. there is nothing more overrated in this whole discussion than the whole, "who contacted who first" in the interference discussion. interference is, essentially, inducement by one party of another to breach a contract. who contacted who first is evidence, but it's not dispositve at all.
