The latest in college realignment ... Reply ________________________________________ Sources say one of the options being looked at by Texas A&M right now would be to delay their departure from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference one year. Instead of joining the SEC in 2012 the Aggies would join the SEC in 2013. It’s not what A&M wants, nor is it what the SEC wants (although there is more consensus than people think in the SEC about having no urgent need to expand - so potential SEC targets such as Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Missouri can really process their next move). What could essentially amount to a year-long pause in realignment would give the Big 12 two years’ notice and get the Aggies and the SEC out of the legal crosshairs of the schools whose futures are most in doubt if the Big 12 dissolves, led by Baylor. But just imagine what that means. After all the rhetoric and rancor expressed in the league the past few weeks (the list of shots is growing so quickly, you almost need to expand your hard drive), it would mean two years of tension beyond description in the Big 12. Between Baylor and Texas A&M; between Texas A&M and Texas; between Oklahoma and Baylor; Texas and Oklahoma; Oklahoma State (Boone Pickens) and all comers; as well as Texas A&M and the other Big 12 schools who have said they won’t waive their right to sue the SEC. It would be two years of MMA type hype before every game because there would be REAL hatred between the fan bases of the combatants. And it would also give the BCS conferences two years decide what they really want to do with college athletics. Sources say the Pac-12 has indicated it would not expand unless the SEC moved first. So if Texas A&M-to-the-SEC is off the table for two more football seasons, there is a real chance the massive realignment that appeared so imminent just a couple days ago in college athletics could actually be thought out - for better or worse - over time. All the scenarios about whom the SEC might add to get to 16; about whom the Pac-12 might add and how Texas and the Longhorn Network could or could not fit into a conference structure could be mulled over for weeks and months and not hours and days. If the Big Ten came to Texas and said we will take you as a member and you can bring the Longhorn Network - with the only caveat being that Texas could not share in any of the revenue from the Big Ten Network, that could be deliberated and discussed thoughtfully. If the brightest minds in the most powerful BCS conferences wanted to hold a private summit at the Broadmoor or Pinehurst and decide how they wanted to break away from the NCAA and form their own governing body to supervise whatever configuration the super conferences will look like, it could be done meticulously. For the second year in a row, college athletics is facing massive realignment. This time it’s been, in large part, because the boards of regents at Texas A&M and Oklahoma decided enough was enough. A group of nine people - made up of professionals such as dentists and convenience store owners - were making the decisions about who would be playing in what conference and when. Not a commissioner. Not a group of athletic directors. Not a group of people who spend every day thinking about the business of college athletics. A group of non-paid volunteers who are appointed to a regents board by that state’s governor. Think about that for a second. Sometimes these regents move at the behest of a governor’s agenda as opposed to an athletic director’s agenda. Nonetheless, they are the ones moving the chess pieces in realignment because there is no one watching over college athletics with EVERYONE’S best interests in mind. In college athletics, it’s been every BCS conference for itself, ever since television in college football broke away from the NCAA’s purview back in 1984 in a landmark lawsuit. If there is going to be mass chaos and rearranging in college athletics, why not take an extra year and draw up something solid for the future - if there is such a possibility? Take Texas for instance. In the past two months, the Longhorns have gone from thinking life would be routine in the Big 12 with its new Longhorn Network to thinking they’d be in a 9-team Big 12 until a 10th member could be found. Texas was on the Big 12 expansion committee charged with finding a replacement(s) for A&M (along with OU, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Kansas State). The list of potential targets for the Big 12 included BYU, Pittsburgh and Louisville with some discussion of how Notre Dame and/or Arkansas might possibly fit into the Big 12 down the road. Then Oklahoma president David Boren sounded five alarms on Friday about OU possibly bolting the Big 12, and everyone left in the conference went from looking for replacements for A&M to making sure they’d have a chair when the music stopped. Texas quickly surveyed what life would be like in the Pac-12, the conference it nearly joined a year ago (and, at the time, the personal preference of UT president Bill Powers, a Cal graduate). But it was clear Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott was not going to allow the Longhorns to move west with LHN intact. So there was a cursory glance at the Atlantic Coast Conference if ESPN could possibly help make a marriage in which Texas could keep the LHN and join the ACC (because ESPN holds the TV rights to both the ACC and LHN). But after looking at both the Pac-12 and ACC options, Texas’ administration became adamant about UT holding onto LHN, so the options turned to independence or perhaps something completely outside the box. An outside the box option would be something like a conference such as the Big Ten allowing Texas to join the league and only make money off of LHN and not share revenue from the Big Ten Network. File that one away. But when you have to make decisions that could impact your university for the next 100 years and have only a day or two to process it all, it’s crazy. Sources close to Baylor say the Big East reached out to BU along with Kansas and Kansas State. Maybe so, maybe not. But the Bears didn’t want to take their chances. They have plans to renovate Floyd Casey Stadium with the millions they are promised starting next year in the Big 12, when their TV revenue jumps to between $17 million and $20 million. Schools make as little as one third of that in leagues like the Mountain West and Conference USA. You’d be desperate too, to hang onto what you’ve got when you’re facing that reality. Baylor wasn’t going to let that Big 12 paycheck go easily. And now they’ve been joined by the likes of Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State in refusing to agree to a waiver of legal claims against the SEC. So here we are. If Texas A&M is seriously looking at an option that would have the Aggies give the two years’ notice of departure to the Big 12, it would most likely just hold the Big 12 together long enough for everyone in college athletics to decide what the landscape should really look like. Not the landscape dictated by the impulses of dentists and convenience store owners appointed to regents boards on a volunteer basis. Stay tuned.
I'm channeling my inner swoly-D to deal with just how MAD I am about something that happened before I was old enough to even know what college was.
well, if your opinion is they should just bend over and take it, that's a unrealistic opinion, not to mention downright laughable.
Oh, we've got to hold on, ready or not You live for the fight when it's all that you've got Woah, we're half way there Woah, livin' on a prayer
My opinion is that they should try to be proactive instead of reactive. There's more than one way to take care of yourself.
I'll preface this by saying I don't particularly believe it - especially the part about TLN. But it would fit with mrdave's article suggesting the Big12 is trying to buy some time. But it's still way out there given that no one anywhere has mentioned it. http://northwestern.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=57&tid=162506546&mid=162506546&sid=901&style=2 Terms Presented by Notre Dame and Texas Earlier this evening, Notre Dame and Texas jointly presented the Big Ten Conference with their proposed terms of entry into the conference. These terms resulted from lengthy discussions among both schools and the Big Ten over the past several months. The major items include: 1. The preservation of an eight game (plus championship) conference football schedule. Both ND and Texas wish to preserve rivalries with non-Big Ten universities on a regular basis. This would require the Big Ten to abandon its current plans of a 9 game conference schedule. 2. The staggering of the schedule to allow for mid-season scheduling with non-conference football opponents. 3. The preservation of the status quo conference makeup until approximately 2014, unless the Big XII fails to retain key (NOT including A&M) conference members. This will provide the member schools, acting in unison, with the greatest leverage negotiating ongoing television contracts, particularly with ESPN. 4. Should Texas depart the conference for the Big Ten before ND due to the further disintegration of the Big XII, ND will remain independent until approximately 2014 5. The Longhorn Network would remain independent until approximately 2014, at which point the network would become a part of an expanded Big Ten Network (specifically referred to as "BTN2"), likely either in partnership with Fox, NBC, or less likely ABC The Big Ten just wrapped up a meeting to initially consider all of the terms presented by the schools, including the aforementioned. Notably, there is a general discontent with the reporting of the situation by ESPN with specific regard to Texas. ESPN has, for self-serving purposes, drastically exaggerated the lean of Texas to the Pac12 conference in nearly all commentary. ESPN has essentially waged a propaganda campaign to drive support among the Texas stakeholders to the Pac12 conference. ESPN has gone so far as to attempt to accelerate the disintegration of the Big XII to pressure Texas into making an immediate conference change decision. Texas has steadfastly resisted change, and will do so until the appropriate time occurs for Texas to stand in a strong position to renegotiate television contracts, including with ESPN. In reality, the preference expressed by Texas' relevant leadership is to depart the Big XII for the Big Ten at the time that gives Texas the greatest leverage in negotiating a new television rights deal. The Big Ten and Texas agreed that Texas should do what is best for Texas, which they also both agree is a move by Texas to join the Big Ten Conference. Delaney's top priority has been to create an environment for Texas and Notre Dame to join the conference on mutually benefical terms. Notre Dame has an interest in preserving its traditional rivalries, three of which occur already in the Big Ten, and creating a new national rivalry with a traditional powerhouse. The Big Ten believes that ND prefers independence, but realizes that it will soon have no choice but to join a conference. The Big Ten also believes that ND is trying to position itself so that if it must join a conference, it does so on the most favorable terms possible. Hence the return to the 8 game schedule and a protected game with national power Texas. The Big Ten will attempt to create a mutually beneficial environment for ND that allows it to preserve a great deal of independence to retain all its traditional rivalries within the conference context. The initial mood at the Big Ten to the terms provided by the two schools is "receptive."
what would your opinion of a proactive course of action be, donny? baylor signing a waiver with no assurances from anyone would be pretty reactive, dontcha think? i think they're being proactive by not signing anything until they know where they're going to end up.
What proactive option is currently available to get them even half of what they are set to get now? What would you do in their shoes if it were your money on the line??
Over the long term, the Big 10 or whatever it calls itself now probably needs Texas more badly than anyone. Though nobody really questions its stability, the fact that its power base is in state schools in declining population rust belt states (and the fact that its two traditional powers have both struggled of late, onfield in UM's case and off in OSU's case) seems to be not a positive omen.
I'm all for this. It keeps the tensions roiling and delays the inevitable a couple of years. Whenever things finally fall into place, it will be deflating and I'll miss the drama of the dead Little 12. Major, UT and Notre Dame joining the Big Ten would be a coup of major proportions. ND is a natural fit. UT not so much.
That is the definition of reactive. Waiting until the last minute to start litigating for your fate. They should have been trying to find landing spots for themselves, making themselves appealing enough to be wanted by another conference, or figure out a way to keep the Big 12 viable without coercing people/burning bridges. Of which they have done neither apparently. You could argue that Baylor is such an ugly duckling that they literally had no ability to be proactive in this instance. But once again, "Baylor stands to lose a lot of money" isn't going to make anyone suddenly change their opinion about Baylor's chosen path here. You either think it is justified or you think it isn't. No amount of boo-hooing is going to change that. It's an impasse, and we're just going to have to... Spoiler
Agreed - and Texas, if it really does see academics as a driving factor, would LOVE to be part of the CIC and all the money that comes with that. When this all started last year, the Big10 seemed like the most obvious destination for them. Taken alone, the article makes a lot of sense. And it fits the early talk about ND & TX trying to ally together in some way. It just doesn't seem to fit anything else we've heard since.
