What's new
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

Wilner: P12 would take OU/OSU w/o UT, OU/UT relationship root of B12 problems

Jens1893

Club Member
Club Member
Junta Member
Interesting stuff on the Pac taking the Okies without Texas ....

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday …

Here’s the latest, based on weekend conversations with sources from several conferences and numerous schools:

*** The Pac-12 presidents and chancellors do not want to expand. Their strong preference is for Texas A&M-to-the-SEC to implode and for the Big 12 to remain viable — essentially, they want the status quo for as long as they can get it.

Why? Because they have everything they want.

The conference has stability… it has a football championship game … it has the richest TV deal in college sports history … and it has a wholly-owned network(s) to serve its fans, provide unprecedented exposure for its athletes, promote the league’s academic mission — and generate millions of dollars per school annually once it attains maximum distribution.

The CEOs believe the Pac-12 is the best-positioned conference in the country. They don’t want 16 teams, and they don’t want the SEC and Big Ten going to 16 teams, either.

But …

*** If Texas A&M becomes the SEC’s 13th team, that sets the superconferences in motion.

“The SEC won’t stop at 13, or even 14. And if the SEC is at 14 or 16, the Big Ten will do it,” a source said. ”At that point, (the Pac-12) would be crazy not to entertain the idea of expansion.”

(Multiple sources said the SEC’s 14th team would most likely be Missouri. Combine untapped TV dollars with geography, and the schools that make the most sense for the SEC are Texas A&M, Missouri and Virginia Tech.)

Only if the SEC goes to 13 would the Pac-12 evaluate its options.

It won’t take Oklahoma unless A&M leaves first, despite the accelerated timeline laid out last week by Oklahoma President David Boren.


*** And yes, in all likelihood the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma and Oklahoma State even if Texas were off the table, multiple sources said.

“Right now, it’s wait-and-see mode,” added one. “The happiest result for the Pac-12 is if the status quo is maintained.”

Academics would be a point of contention if the status quo unravels, however.

Sources said that at least five schools (Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA and Washington) have serious questions about admitting the Oklahoma schools, which are not members of the Association of American Universities.

But when I asked a source close to Stanford president John Hennessy, one of the league’s most influential CEOs, if the AAU issue would be a deal-breaker, the answer was: “Probably not.”

Said another source: “If Larry (Scott) thinks adding (Oklahoma and OSU) is the right thing, the CEOs will ultimately fall in line.”

(Utah is not an AAU member. Nor are Arizona State, Oregon State and Washington State, for that matter.)

*** Would Texas be off the table for the Pac-12?

Sources said the implosion of the Big 12 would leave the Longhorns with only two choices: the Pac-12, or independence.

In other words, the Big Ten is not an option for the Longhorns because the B10 doesn’t want Texas Tech — and TTU would be a package deal with UT.

Taking the independent path would be fraught with challenges for Texas, which would have to find a home for its Olympic sports.

As noted on the Hotline recently, and confirmed by sources in the media-rights industry, there is more money for Texas in the Pac-16 than in the Big 12 or as an Independent — perhaps not in the first few years, but certainly once the league’s TV network(s) ramps up distribution and advertising.

But Texas-to-the-Pac won’t work unless the Longhorns agree to the league’s revenue sharing model, and the CEOs won’t budge on that issue.

So UT would have to swallow its pride and take the same cut as Texas Tech.

(Cue chuckles from Lubbock … and College Station.)

*** At the root of Big 12 destabilization is not Texas A&M’s departure — that’s hardly a death blow — but the deteriorating relationship between Texas and Oklahoma.

“Their bond has frayed,” a source said. “Texas overplayed its hand …

“Oklahoma wants into the Pac-12 with or without Texas. The partnership is no longer sacrosanct.”


*** If massive realignment occurs with the Oklahoma schools, Texas and TTU joining the Pac-12 … and with A&M and Missouri headed to the SEC … then Kansas probably goes to the Big East, likely in tandem with Kansas State.

The Big 12 schools in the biggest trouble would be Baylor and Iowa State.

“They might have to go backwards,” said a source — meaning Conference USA or the Mountain West.

*** A critical but oft-overlooked component to the realignment game is the SEC’s financial aims.

The conference cannot renegotiate its long-term deals with CBS and ESPN without membership change, and in order to get maximum value, it needs 16 teams.

From Gainesville to Knoxville to Baton Rouge, and all points along the way, the feeling among SEC athletic directors can be summed up like this:

“We’ve won five consecutive national titles and the Pac-12 has a richer TV deal than we do. What’s the hell’s going on?”

Hence the sooner-than-expected developments with A&M.

*** The Big Ten won’t expand until it’s time to renegotiate the league’s deals with CBS and ESPN, which expire in 2016, according to a source.

At that point, if the Pac-12 and the SEC have grown to 16 teams, then Notre Dame will join the Big Ten.
 
I just wish the damn Big 12 teams thinking of leaving would either **** or get off the pot already.
 
I think it´s concerning when the president of what is widely regarded as the best school in the conference, Stanford, doesn´t think sub-par academics are a deal breaker.
 
I think it´s concerning when the president of what is widely regarded as the best school in the conference, Stanford, doesn´t think sub-par academics are a deal breaker.

^^this^^

I was pretty sure that one of the reasons CU to the Pac-12 was such a good idea was because we shared more academically with the Pac-12 than Big 12. I suppose money trumps academics anymore.
 
The idea that Stanford's academics or academic reputation would be affected by having a school like Oklahoma State in the same athletic conference is ridiculous.
 
The idea that Stanford's academics or academic reputation would be affected by having a school like Oklahoma State in the same athletic conference is ridiculous.

Stanford´s academics most likely wouldn´t be affected, but they may not want to be associated with schools like Okie State and have a conference affiliation with them, either.
 
Stanford´s academics most likely wouldn´t be affected, but they may not want to be associated with schools like Okie State and have a conference affiliation with them, either.

And yet they're perfectly comfortable with Oregon State, Washington State, Utah, Arizona State? Sounds just a tad hypocritical.
 
'The Big 12 schools in the biggest trouble would be Baylor and Iowa State.
“They might have to go backwards,” said a source — meaning Conference USA or the Mountain West.'

cue the AB trolls, singing the praises of the mwc. Of course, adding the 'Clowns and Bailer would make them an automatic qualifier -- for a Sams Club discount card

From Gainesville to Knoxville to Baton Rouge, and all points along the way, the feeling among SEC athletic directors can be summed up like this:

“We’ve won five consecutive national titles and the Pac-12 has a richer TV deal than we do. What’s the hell’s going on?”

The brilliance of Larry Scott is staggering.
 
This is great news...Texas has a very clear and hard choice to make. Join the Pac-12 and kiss LHN goodbye or go independent.

As a native Oklahoman, I am proud that OU is standing up to UT and yanking their chain!
 
This is great news...Texas has a very clear and hard choice to make. Join the Pac-12 and kiss LHN goodbye or go independent.

As a native Oklahoman, I am proud that OU is standing up to UT and yanking their chain!


OU hasnt done **** yet.
 
I only wish CU had as many NCs as OU.

I don´t think he´s talking about what happened on the field, but rather about the realignment plans. And right now it´s all talk from Oklahoma, so he´s correct if you look at it from that angle.
 
Anyone realize that this might be a message from the Pac-12 that if the SEC doesn't expand the Pac-12 will stay intact. If Aggy catches wind of this...the meltdown on the Aggy boards will be beyond epic.
 
If it is true that the SEC can renegotiate their TV deal with an expanded conference, I think it is very likely that the SEC WILL expand.
 
If it is true that the SEC can renegotiate their TV deal with an expanded conference, I think it is very likely that the SEC WILL expand.

This guy says that it's very possible that adding A&M won't trigger a renegotiation with ESPN/CBS.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44329182

ESPN/CBS have to be against any renegotiation - it's just more money they have to pony up after the p12 deal trumped the sec deal. ESPN probably hates A&M to SEC on two fronts because it's threatening the existence of their b12 content as well as the LHN and the above chance of having to pay the SEC more.

This source says that the ESPN contract with the big 12 is dead as soon as membership drops below ten teams. So A&M to SEC could have a huge impact on the B12 even if they have other members lined up. And that's exactly why OU and UT are aggressively looking.

http://outkickthecoverage.com/how-espn-is-complicating-am-to-sec-deal.php

Not sure who the second guy is.... I think he's totally off base when he states that ESPN is inducing A&M to move to the SEC (again, wouldn't they be against it on two fronts), but the supposed clause that kills the B12 TV deal when the conference drops to 9 schools makes b12 existence even more perilous. Any one school that gets tired of the non-sense can make the first move.
 
Back
Top