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conference expansion

Interesting take and very different than anything I have seen yet. The projected Pac expansion in this scenario would appear to be really weak on the surface. Additions of Colorado, Nevada, UNLV and San Diego State?
 
That "big idea" story was new info to me and pretty cool in the sense that history repeats itself, but some of their conference shifting is just idiotic.

For starters:

-- If Tulsa is in line for a Big 12 bid, then the league is dying. NEVER happens.
-- Cal and UCLA HATE the Cal State University system and would set the conference on fire before ever allowing Fresno State and SDSU in. The Pac would allow CSU and UNM in before those two got a shot.
-- The Big Atlantic looks like a disaster

Some of those calls were dead on but many just seemed odd.
 
That "big idea" story was new info to me and pretty cool in the sense that history repeats itself, but some of their conference shifting is just idiotic.

For starters:

-- If Tulsa is in line for a Big 12 bid, then the league is dying. NEVER happens.
-- Cal and UCLA HATE the Cal State University system and would set the conference on fire before ever allowing Fresno State and SDSU in. The Pac would allow CSU and UNM in before those two got a shot.
-- The Big Atlantic looks like a disaster

Some of those calls were dead on but many just seemed odd.

Agree some of it made NO sense. Seemed to me they were pretty much trying to shoehorn every current BCS conference team into a new superconference. So the Big XII lands Utah and BYU and takes teams like Tulsa, CSU, Houston, etc. in order to get to XVI, even after losing CU, Mizzou and UNL. And the Big East/ACC survivors joining up for a 20 team basketball league. And the Pac 10 letting Utah go to the Big XVI and taking teams like SDSU, Nevada, Boise and UNLV instead. He's basically assuming a lot of leagues and teams do some very illogical ****, just to allow him to end up with 16 team superconferences out of all the current BCS leagues. He's assuming this realignment will bring more schools to the big party. I think it's going to turn out the other way. A lot of schools will be left behind.
 
Agree some of it made NO sense. Seemed to me they were pretty much trying to shoehorn every current BCS conference team into a new superconference. So the Big XII lands Utah and BYU and takes teams like Tulsa, CSU, Houston, etc. in order to get to XVI, even after losing CU, Mizzou and UNL. And the Big East/ACC survivors joining up for a 20 team basketball league. And the Pac 10 letting Utah go to the Big XVI and taking teams like SDSU, Nevada, Boise and UNLV instead. He's basically assuming a lot of leagues and teams do some very illogical ****, just to allow him to end up with 16 team superconferences out of all the current BCS leagues. He's assuming this realignment will bring more schools to the big party. I think it's going to turn out the other way. A lot of schools will be left behind.

Exactly. This much I'm pretty assured of: If CU, NU and Mizzou leave, the Big 12 will DIE. If that happens, the big four of the South (OU, OSU, UT and A&M -- sorry Tech!) will go somewhere (SEC) as a package. Big 12 could survive losing Mizzou and NU, but not all three.
 
Exactly. This much I'm pretty assured of: If CU, NU and Mizzou leave, the Big 12 will DIE. If that happens, the big four of the South (OU, OSU, UT and A&M -- sorry Tech!) will go somewhere (SEC) as a package. Big 12 could survive losing Mizzou and NU, but not all three.

Unless the core of the b12 south stays in tact and tries to resurrect something akin to the ole southwest conference. They'd have to entice at least TCU and Houston to make it work, imo.
 
True, but I don't think making another conference that's essentially Texas-focused will work in today's TV climate. TCU and Houston add marginal numbers in terms of TVs, since the Big 12 already has Houston and DFW. If I'm the Big 12, I'd rather aim for new markets, even if they're small: Utah/BYU/UNM/Memphis/Louisville.
 
True, but I don't think making another conference that's essentially Texas-focused will work in today's TV climate. TCU and Houston add marginal numbers in terms of TVs, since the Big 12 already has Houston and DFW. If I'm the Big 12, I'd rather aim for new markets, even if they're small: Utah/BYU/UNM/Memphis/Louisville.

I think Tech, ATM, and UT have got a taste of being "national" and a return to some semblance of the old SWC puts them back in a "regional" picture. Sure, UT is one of the top 10 programs all-time but the SWC was very much a regional affair. The Cotton Bowl, their championship jewel, was the hangover game on New Years Day and obviously the Cotton did not make the BCS. More often than not, it was the SWC champ against someone else's #2 or an independent who wasn't in the MNC hunt. If the SWC had been producing contenders year-in, year-out....then that's a whole different outcome maybe. By virtue of the power of (then) independents like Penn St, ND, Miami, FSU....the Fiesta leap-frogged the Cotton prestige-wise in a matter of 10 years maybe.

Texas has a ton of HS talent but I'm not sure 1. the region can sustain a Power Conference on it's own (even with OU and OSU, say) and 2. UT will always be militating to be the feudal lord among the other suppliant fiefs in the kingdom. So, UT's interest is never in growing the conference but more in growing UT's sphere of influence within it.
 
I think Tech, ATM, and UT have got a taste of being "national" and a return to some semblance of the old SWC puts them back in a "regional" picture. Sure, UT is one of the top 10 programs all-time but the SWC was very much a regional affair. The Cotton Bowl, their championship jewel, was the hangover game on New Years Day and obviously the Cotton did not make the BCS. More often than not, it was the SWC champ against someone else's #2 or an independent who wasn't in the MNC hunt. If the SWC had been producing contenders year-in, year-out....then that's a whole different outcome maybe. By virtue of the power of (then) independents like Penn St, ND, Miami, FSU....the Fiesta leap-frogged the Cotton prestige-wise in a matter of 10 years maybe.

Texas has a ton of HS talent but I'm not sure 1. the region can sustain a Power Conference on it's own (even with OU and OSU, say) and 2. UT will always be militating to be the feudal lord among the other suppliant fiefs in the kingdom. So, UT's interest is never in growing the conference but more in growing UT's sphere of influence within it.

Solid thoughts. The only thing I'll defend all day is the Cotton Bowl. I've been lucky enough to have solid access behind-the-scenes twice in the past decade and it is, without a doubt, the BEST-run and most impressive bowl game out there. Many who have seen other bowl operations say the same, adding that it's better than every bowl out there aside from the Rose. The only negative against the Cotton has been the weather of Dallas in January and the creaky old Cotton Bowl itself. Both of those problems are gone, however, with Cowboys Stadium now the permanent host. And with Jerry Jones behind that operation now, the Cotton will find its way into the BCS soon enough. (I predict the fake "title game" will rotate amongst the current bowls and the Cotton, ending the double-hosting format that is a pretty difficult thing to run.)
 
interesting take on conference expansion...super conferences...got it from an ESPN blog story...

http://media.nj.com/ledgerarchives/other/colorBIG10.DT.pdf

Another Media source that has no clue what the Pac-10 is looking for. Why in the heck would the pac-10 go to 16..and add more mouths to feed, just for the sake of going to 16? Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada? Colorado State? I swear media just looks at schools that reside in the Mountain West/West and automatically assume they make sense for a expanded 16.

Those schools do not bring enough $$$$ with them to make it worth while for the pac-16. Again, the feeling I get from everything I have read is..if it doesn't make $$$ sense..then the pac-10 won't expand.
 
Another Media source that has no clue what the Pac-10 is looking for. Why in the heck would the pac-10 go to 16..and add more mouths to feed, just for the sake of going to 16? Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada? Colorado State? I swear media just looks at schools that reside in the Mountain West/West and automatically assume they make sense for a expanded 16.

Those schools do not bring enough $$$$ with them to make it worth while for the pac-16. Again, the feeling I get from everything I have read is..if it doesn't make $$$ sense..then the pac-10 won't expand.

I would be inclined to agree however if the Big 10 goes to 16, that will force the Big 12 and Big East to do something. The ACC will go to 16 by nipping the Big East. That will force the hand of the other conference to realign to a super conference structure and they will do it by grabbing school that will bring the most dollars and make geographic sense. Since there aren't a lot of schools in the West/Mountain that will bring the dollars with them that leaves geography as the last variable for selection. I think letting CSU into the PAC 10 or any other "BCS" conference would be a downgrade IMHO.
 
Another Media source that has no clue what the Pac-10 is looking for. Why in the heck would the pac-10 go to 16..and add more mouths to feed, just for the sake of going to 16? Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada? Colorado State? I swear media just looks at schools that reside in the Mountain West/West and automatically assume they make sense for a expanded 16.

Those schools do not bring enough $$$$ with them to make it worth while for the pac-16. Again, the feeling I get from everything I have read is..if it doesn't make $$$ sense..then the pac-10 won't expand.

Agree. It probably makes sense for most leagues to expand to 12, if the rule about a conference title game only being possible with 12 teams stays in place. Between the extra money for a CCG and the extra eyeballs you add if you can bring in a couple good TV markets, you have a good chance of offsetting the extra mouths to feed. The extra markets should translate into a better deal for basketball, as well...

Expanding to 16 is harder to justify for most leagues. The Big Televen might be an exception right now, because of the Big Ten Network. You can add a title game by adding one team (Mizzou?). Beyond that, you're basically counting on adding markets for a regular TV deal, and maybe more importantly, opening up more markets to carry the Big Ten Network, and more people watching it. To me, that's where schools like UNL and Rutgers probably come in. Rutgers brings you a lot of people, and UNL brings fewer people, but a market where people are very likely to watch the conference network. I'm not entirely sold that it makes sense to split the pie that much more, but it's at least some reason for going that big. If you're the Pac-10, I really can't see it, especially with the kind of markets they'd probably have to bring in to get there...
 
It seems to me that the Pac-10's options are very limited here outside of Texas and A&M, CU & Utah. If the Pac-10 doesn't expand, that conference could die down the road...basically just like the Big 8 back in the early 1990's.
 
I think Tech, ATM, and UT have got a taste of being "national" and a return to some semblance of the old SWC puts them back in a "regional" picture. Sure, UT is one of the top 10 programs all-time but the SWC was very much a regional affair. The Cotton Bowl, their championship jewel, was the hangover game on New Years Day and obviously the Cotton did not make the BCS. More often than not, it was the SWC champ against someone else's #2 or an independent who wasn't in the MNC hunt. If the SWC had been producing contenders year-in, year-out....then that's a whole different outcome maybe. By virtue of the power of (then) independents like Penn St, ND, Miami, FSU....the Fiesta leap-frogged the Cotton prestige-wise in a matter of 10 years maybe.

Texas has a ton of HS talent but I'm not sure 1. the region can sustain a Power Conference on it's own (even with OU and OSU, say) and 2. UT will always be militating to be the feudal lord among the other suppliant fiefs in the kingdom. So, UT's interest is never in growing the conference but more in growing UT's sphere of influence within it.

I respectfully disagree...if the Texas schools plus the Oklahoma schools were in the same league minus CU, MU, and NU; that conference can stand on its own. The only way the Big 12 falls apart is if UT goes to a different conference or goes independent.

The Cotton Bowl plays in Cowboys Stadium and the Cotton Bowl definetly will get an automatic BCS bid...there's no way you pass up a stadium like that and a bowl game with that much history.
 
It seems to me that the Pac-10's options are very limited here outside of Texas and A&M, CU & Utah. If the Pac-10 doesn't expand, that conference could die down the road...basically just like the Big 8 back in the early 1990's.

Well, the Big 8 didn't die. The SWC died and the Big 8 took in some of the survivors in order to become the Big XII. And I don't see the Pac-10 dying, not unless somebody like the Big Ten would decide to become a REALLY huge megaconference down the road and merge with the Pac-10. The LA market and schools like U$C, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, Cal and Washington have too much going for them for that to happen. What I can see happening is for the Pac-10 to be unable to compete with the Big Ten and SEC if they absorb most of the Big XII and parts of the Big East and ACC and the Pac-10 doesn't do something to keep up. The something might very well just be expanding to 12, starting a conference title game, and cooking up some kind of network, either on their own or in partnership with another conference. But standing pat?? Probably wouldn't kill them, but wouldn't do anything to help them keep up with where major college sports seem to be headed...
 
It seems to me that the Pac-10's options are very limited here outside of Texas and A&M, CU & Utah. If the Pac-10 doesn't expand, that conference could die down the road...basically just like the Big 8 back in the early 1990's.

Not if it created a 'eastern' pac-10 geographical division.
 
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