4, 16 team super conferences are really just 8, 8 team conferences with a BCS elimination game at the end of the year.
If anything, it would seem an active network partner like ESPN is a necessity to making it happen because someone's going to have to pay all these schools that get left out and a JV broadcasting deal, so to speak, to carry the non-64 teams schools would likely be a nice consolation prize. I haven't read the article, and I have no idea who Solomon is tight with - but these conferences aren't currently expanding for fun. Expansion = increased TV revenue. That's the only driving force. I can't imagine the three power conferences would not be interested. They're all likely publicly quiet for fear of setting off armageddon. But I would be shocked if, behind doors, they're not all moving full-steam ahead toward it.
Exactly; it's essentially a playoff: 4 conference championship games, 2 semi-final games, one national championship game. It would be pretty, pretttty, prettttty awesome.
Who's next in line for an SEC invite? Clemson seems like a logical fit... makes sense geographically, it's a land-grant institution, primarily recruits in SEC country, has a rabid fanbase and SEC-like venue, despised rival is already a conference member.
If they do go 4/16, UT *can't* go independent. If they all go super, ESPN will buy-out TLN because the money being made in the new college football landscape would trump it significantly, I would imagine.
likely West Virginia. they really want VA Tech, but VA Tech isn't interested from what I've heard. schools already in SEC don't want another team from their state in the SEC. from what i've heard, Georgia, Florida, and S. Carolina have agreed to vote in lockstep against any move that would add another university from their respective states. so GA Tech, FL State and Clemson would have uphill battles.
SC, Georgia, and Florida are all opposed to adding any schools from their own state. The one I've heard the most was VaTech, but they seem uninterested. The other one that seems to be commonly mentioned is West Virginia.
This speaks to cultural and academic fit Sam has been talking about... Greg Hansen: Pac-14 (or 16) not a smokin' idea Story(18) CommentsGreg Hansen: Pac-14 (or 16) not a smokin' idea Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Monday, September 12, 2011 12:01 am | Comments Pardon me as I mount my soapbox and raise a voice in opposition to Pac-12 expansion. Just say No to the O. That's O-klahoma. That's O-klahoma State. That's no to a possible expansion spinoff to Texas and Texas Tech. Can you picture the Pac-12 (or 14 or 16) basketball tournament being played in Oklahoma City? Yuk. Can you imagine the Pac-12 (or 14 or 16) football championship game staged in Lubbock? Say it ain't so. Just say no to a Pac-16 Eastern Division that would surely sentence Arizona and ASU to a grouping with Colorado, Utah, OU, OSU, Texas Tech and Texas. The whole idea about the Pac-12 is that it has the Pacific Ocean as a boundary, a coolness quotient that makes the landlocked conferences spittin' with envy. My Lord, did you know that Oklahoma State has an equestrian team but no swimming team? Just say no. "One of the reasons - and there are a lot of reasons - we got in the Pac-12 is to play regularly on the West Coast," Colorado president Bruce Benson told the Denver Post last week. "When I hear things like East-West divisions, we're going back to the Big 12 again. I sure don't want to get shorted out of the West Coast." If the Pac-12 becomes the Pac-16 (or 14), it is likely the UCLA-Arizona softball rivalry, the best in the sport, and a treasure in Tucson, will vanish. Every old Pac-10 school would lose a similar attachment. If the Pac-12 becomes the Pac-16 (or 14) - "repositioned" is the word commissioner Larry Scott uses to scare people - Arizona will be geographically marginalized from Los Angeles, which is where it gets the majority of its basketball, baseball, football, volleyball and softball players. "I just don't want to change this dynamic," said CU's Benson. "Every year we're in Northern and Southern California. We want that. Every year we're in Arizona. We want that. We're in Washington. We want that." Nobody says, "We want the Rio Grande." Nobody says, "We're on the Great Plains. We want that." Expansion would require a change of sensibilities. The culture of football in Oklahoma and Texas is such that Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, he of the "I'm a man, I'm 40," infamy, recently fired a carpenter because the man showed up wearing an "Oklahoma Baseball" T-shirt. Seriously. According to court documents, Gundy called the carpenter a "stupid idiot" for wearing an OU shirt on "Cowboy soil." The carpenter, Brent Loveland, was so offended that his attorney claimed Gundy went "beyond the bounds of decency." Had a carpenter showed up at Oregon coach Chip Kelly's house wearing an Beavers T-shirt, Kelly would've felt not outrage, but sympathy. He would've presented him with several green/yellow/ black/camouflage Nike shirts and given him a $250 bonus for not saying anything about the Willie Lyles scandal. After years lost in the wilderness, the Pac-12 suddenly has it all. It has a $3.1 billion TV deal. It has a football championship game. It has a geographical neatness. It has academic institutions that suggest ivy on the walls, not mud on the wheels of a big rig, or oil men with more clout than university presidents. "I believe that we should have a robust academic atmosphere among all schools in the league," CU's Benson told the Denver Post. "What schools have cinch courses or gut courses? We don't have any and never will. The Pac-12 doesn't. Some Big 12 schools do." The practicalities of an expanded Pac-14 (or 16) do not work for the greater good. How much class time would a women's tennis team from Washington miss while traveling 2,216 miles for a showdown with the women's tennis team from Texas? And how about that much-anticipated rowing showdown between the men's rowers from Cal and the men's rowers from Oklahoma State? (Does that imply there is actually a body of water in Oklahoma?) The Pac-12 office released this statement from commissioner Scott 12 days ago: "I have made clear my vision that the health, stability and future of college athletics will likely include further consolidation and realignment." But a few days later, speaking at the ASU-Missouri football game, Scott had a different message, saying "all conferences that are 12 should stay 12. That would get our vote." And ours. There isn't a bad fit in the new Pac-12. Utah seems to be a natural. Colorado makes available the Denver market, which never seemed to make sense in the Big 12. Can you picture Oklahoma State going to the Rose Bowl before Arizona? Can you imagine the Oregon State wrestling team flying 2,024 miles for a dual meet against Oklahoma? How do you justify that expense? "I'm not happy at all if we go that way," CU's Benson said. "I'm sure I'll make a lot of noise." Just say no to the O, and say it loudly. Read more: http://azstarnet.com/sports/footbal...819-5493-b281-01c43d67bbae.html#ixzz1XkxfW7G2
(While I agree with him about Oklahoma.....coughcough) Reads like a typical 'coaster with typical middle America disdain. Still, hanging your hat on a softball rivalry seems like a great course of action - keep beating that path, Greg!! You'll soon be joined by literally... 2, 3 people.
Just put in four divisions. It makes the most sense for a 16 team conference anyways and fits perfectly in the Pac-16. Cali teams in one division, Oregon/Wash in another, Arizona/Utah/Colorado, and then the Big XII refugees.
it just seems weird. if the super conferences are the future, why would they be that vocal about it? who else would the pac 12 add if their hand is forced and they have to go to 16? if that is the future, the pac 12 will most likely have those teams, or other teams that fit the criteria of teams he wants know part of, added to the conference.
Sort of amusing, given that the original plan was for all of them to go together. The CU guy's quotes are silly - they left the Big12 to play on the West Coast, but the original set up they were going to get was actually what is being proposed now? That said, I understand AZ's concerns of being disconnected from Cali. I think in a 16 team setup, the smartest way to do it is still the pod system, so you get to play at least one game in every region every year (Pacific NW, California, TX/OK, and AZ/CO/UT). You split the conference into: Pacific NW: WSU, UW, UO, OSU Cali: USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal Mountain: AZ, ASU, Utah, Colorado TX/OU: UT, TT, OU, OSU You play 3 games vs your region, and one home, one away in each of the other regions for 9 total conference games. Each school gets constant exposure in each area and plays in every state over any 2 year period. The one thing I don't know that anyone has sorted out is how to do the conference championship game in the above scenario.
From Kirk Bohl's twitter. Nothing really of note except if that the AD's are now travelling, something serious is probably going down one way or another. kbohls kbohls A UT group including its president and two ADs flew to Norman on Sunday for last-ditch effort to try to keep OU in the Big 12. kbohls kbohls Texas didn't notify Texas Tech about trip to Norman; OU, OSU hungry for Pac-12 membership, but A&M-to-SEC move must come first. kbohls kbohls @DFo66 UT women's AD Chris Plonsky and men's AD DeLoss Dodds made the trip yesterday afternoon.
I enjoyed reading that article. My favorite hits: Yeah, I'm an Oklahoma-homer. And CU is mad. :grin: *Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state, with over one million surface acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.
Done! Cap total # of games at 10, maybe 11, max (meaning two of out conference games). Group the divisions into two conferences, play a sub-conference championship game and then a conference championship game between the two sub-conference champions, winner moves into the 4-team semi-final with a chance to play in a real, live national chmapionship game. Who doesn't love this idea?
