a p16 where they added ut, atm, tech, ou, osu, and CU?
is this just your speculation or have you heard anything like this from anyone credible?
man, that division would be tough... asu and ua, plus the above = rough, rough, rough. i am not seeing how the cultural and academic hurdles could be overcome. and political, too, if baylor gets left behind...
tech and okie state in the p10? i think i can hear p10 academic types fainting already.
atm and cal in the same conference? heh.
ou's very spotty history of ncaa violations in the same conference with ucla (which believes itself to always be pristine and pure)? hmmmm.
usc having another superpower in the conference in ut? one that may even have more $$$ than they do? questionable.
i dunno, man. it is a bold proposal, but color me skeptical...
Mostly my just my thoughts on a possible 16 team Pac-10 that includes the Big 12 south + Colorado - Baylor.
However, one of the "tidbits" of information that creates some basis for those thoughts is:
Washington Athletic Director Steve Woodward:
Washington athletic director
Steve Woodward shared this interesting tidbit over the weekend with The Seattle Times.
Woodward also talked about expansion and said the Pac-10 and the Big Ten have reached out to officials at Texas and Texas A&M. "I'd be surprised if our office is not in contact with them," he said. "I'm sure those conversations have happened and are taking place."
When asked if the league might expand beyond two teams, Woodward said that's a possibility. "
It could be two, four or a merger of Big 12. ... There's a theory that at the end of the day there's only going to be four super conferences. Now that it's going to look like, God only knows."
Academically, the Pac-10 made compromises when it allowed Arizona State. They continue their relationship with Washington State and Oregon State, despite academic deficiencies. Oklahoma is at least on par with thos schools, as is Texas Tech (who has a plan to become an AAU member, even though it will probably take 10 or 20 years). Oklahoma State is the only academic "stretch" of the bunch, but I think there will be enough political clout to get them in, if things come to a 16 team conference.
Baylor does not have any of the high ranking governors and legislators that it had back in the mid 1990's; their clout will be severely diminished.
I could see Utah still getting in on a Pac-16, at the expense of either Texas Tech or Oklahoma State, but that is the type of behind-the-scenes wheeling-and-dealing that none of us hear about until years after the fact.
Culturally, the impact would be minimized by having 8 member divisions and the focus being on playing/competing with divisional rivals, in effect it would be two 8 team conferences that have their champions meet in a "bowl game/championship game".
Still a far-fetched notion, but I figured I would add it to the article as the "super-conference" concept has a lot of buzz about it. The main point of the article is the divisional breakdown for a 12-team conference.
Your thoughts are certainly in-line with mine, we just won't know the Pac-10 "break-even" on academics versus market power/revenues until they make an announcement!
