UT and OU Reaching Out to Join SEC

Art history dropouts from the art institute on 59 don’t count as experts
@Os Trigonum

 

Not really. This top heaviness was a uniquely Big 12 problem.

 

This is a small step towards the Big 12 remaining together until at least 2025.

 

Yeah, that just seems like stubborn silliness at this juncture. Keeping UH out has been a luxury to this point. You need a presence in Houston given what just happened to you.

UT has 52K alumni in Houston
Oklahoma has 6K
Baylor has 12K
TCU has 4K
TTU has 17K
OKState has 5K

So, TTU, BU, OSU, and TCU combined barely equal half of what they just lost in Houston alone. Now, I know the casual fan is not represented here, but this is hard data that should give an objector pause.

Besides all that, depending on how you big you want to go, giving yourself 4 "Texas bloc" votes vs. 3 may make a big difference in terms of your representation/governance going forward.

Totally agree. If the Big 12 goes berserk and stretches from Utah to Florida that will ruin its identity. They need to get back to 12 and just see how it goes, provided they make it to 2025 for renewal. If you lose more schools, keep backfilling. It's not like someone is going to scoop you on adding UCF/USF or BYU/Boise.

 

Take Clemson/FSU from the ACC and the "competitive viability" goes with it. Could basketball hold it down? Honestly not sure but from a football standpoint, Miami would be their only draw. Same for the Big 10 and Ohio State/Michigan, they would still have some big brands and markets left but don't think there would be enough without having to poach other P5 schools to replace them. Don't get me wrong, it is not to the extent of the Big 12. But hard to say top heaviness is solely a Big 12 problem.

Thamel put out a decent piece on this. The ACC is stuck in their deal until 2036 which will undoubtedly be outdated within the next year or two, let alone 10-15 years from now. The Big 10 is up next and the thought is that they need to add teams to leverage a deal in light of the SEC's moves. Imagine imagine them going to the table without Ohio State alone.

 

ACC: Take out Clemson and FSU, and you still have big national brands like UNC, VaTech, Miami. (not talking football specifically, but brand recognition/allure).
Big10: Take out OSU and Michigan, and you still have Penn State, Wisconsin.

Big12: Take out Texas and OU, what's your top brand remaining in the conference? Okie State? Kansas?

Edit: I guess the way I'd think of it is if a conference lost its top two schools, how many other schools would have a problem finding a new home. Penn State, Wisconsin, UNC, etc would have no troubles being poached by another conference. Most of the Big12? Not real clear anyone is jumping to take most of them.

 

Why even though? Lulz. Who cares.

Besides... SEC wont even care about the NCAA anymore. Don't need them at this point. NEXT.

 

Right. Its not to the extent of the Big 12 as I said. But there are already rumblings that mergers may need to happen now that SEC has made their move. Let's say the SEC went scorched earth and poached those 4 teams, is there any doubt that a merger of some sort wouldn't happen effectively killing one the conferences? The only other option would be to stay put, going to Fox next year with Penn State/Wisconsin as your bargaining chips or poaching the Big 12, going to Fox and saying okay, "we have Oklahoma State instead of Ohio State," let's make a deal.

 

Can the SEC grow to 30 teams, partner with the NFL, and drop the NCAA completely? They can right? No mandates or anything?

 

I guess both. My head went to ALL sports. With the remaining schools still being under NCAA regulation. As far as money goes, outside of a few teams, basketball doesn't matter that much. SEC doesn't care about Duke...

If OU/UT came to the SEC, as an Aggie, I'm annoyed. If its eventually growing into its own league 30+, I'm fine with it.

 

Ya have read this is a possibility. From a football standpoint, it'd almost be a like a farm league. Offer insurance and other benefits without the antiquated rules and regulations of the NCAA.

 

For me, basketball has always felt somewhat conference-agnostic. You're good or you're not, you have a strong strength of schedule or you don't. Playing in tournaments, scheduling big games and rivalries is where the fun is. None of that really has to change.

Give me 28 permanent SEC teams and 4 regulation spots, that'd be FUN. 4 teams from the remaining "power" conferences get a shot to join every year.

 

It just feels like... we're on a path where good schools and good fans are eventually going to get hurt (even more) and there's just no way around it. Baylor just won a BB title. And Texas decides to all but dissolve the conference. Dark days are coming.

Mizzou is like a poor lower deck person that snuck onto a rich people raft while the Titanic was sinking, lulz. *to their credit they won some SEC E. titles. But STILL. Lol.

 

This would be one of the key factors. I would imagine they would have to disband LHN to get in--SEC isn't going to want schools with competing networks, not to mention that would then lead to other SEC schools wanting the same. Would that be a raise? I know LHN wasn't meeting expectations, but would losing all LHN revenue be better than getting some of the SEC network revenue?

Hmmm, quik Google search:

"Texas gets approximately $15 million annually straight from ESPN for LHN. That contract runs through June 2031. A Big 12-branded ESPN+ channel will launch this fall featuring Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State."

"The SEC announced Thursday that the revenue distribution for 2019-20 fiscal year totaled $657.7 million. The average amount distributed to each of the 14 schools, excluding bowl game award money, was slightly over $45.5 million per school."

So, here we have the core of the matter; indeed, all about $$$. Anything else they say is lip service. It might expand their recruiting, etc, but this is the issue driving the conversation.

Not sure if OU and UT would have more of an inside track (especially given the potential desire to create a 16 team super conference?), but how long did it take A&M to get in? It was many years, I know.

The flip side of this is UT needs to seriously consider how well it would do in the SEC. Assuming they would be in SEC West...that is a BRUTAL division. You could be 10th in the country, and 5th in that division. Is going maybe 7-5, 8-4 there better for them than where they are? They would have to seriously step up their game to compete there.

 

I think another factor driving this was the Big 12 being excluded from the college football playoffs. With the expanded (FINALLY, good grief that took at least 10 years longer than it should have!) playoffs, they stand a MUCH better chance of making it in Big 12 than they would in SEC. They could lose to OU and still possibly make it in Big 12. They might be the 4 or 5 seed in the SEC West....not getting them there.

Longer term...maybe Alabama takes a big drop off when Saban retires, and them see themselves as assuming that mantle then. But a LOT would need to happen to get them there...every other school in the SEC is thinking the exact same thing, and many are ahead of UT in getting there.