So much for Mizzou's loyalty!

[Stiff Arm Frog]

I have a radical solution, but I think it's the best one under current circumstances. The Big East is about fifteen minutes away from death. We need a new home.

Call up the SMU and the Pac12. Tell 'em they can get the two DFW schools along with Oklahoma and Okie State to get them to 16 if that's the way things start heading. Seriously, who else is the Pac12 going to go after? They don't want Boise, they don't want any other MWC team. The Pac schools still care about academics, and they'd love to get a foothold in Texas without bringing in Texas Tech, who they were only willing to consider last year as part of a deal with Texas.

SMU and TCU have great academics, we're in a great market. I think this is the best way to go. One of those times where it might be just crazy enough to work.

 

[Boomhauer]

I have a radical solution, but I think it's the best one under current circumstances. The Big East is about fifteen minutes away from death. We need a new home.

Call up the SMU and the Pac12. Tell 'em they can get the two DFW schools along with Oklahoma and Okie State to get them to 16 if that's the way things start heading. Seriously, who else is the Pac12 going to go after? They don't want Boise, they don't want any other MWC team. The Pac schools still care about academics, and they'd love to get a foothold in Texas without bringing in Texas Tech, who they were only willing to consider last year as part of a deal with Texas.

SMU and TCU have great academics, we're in a great market. I think this is the best way to go. One of those times where it might be just crazy enough to work.

Unfortunately the Pac-12 will never invite a religious school. That's why they invited Utah and Colorado last year to prevent Baylor from being included in the discussion (only left 4 slots for UT, Tech, OU, and OSU).

 

[WIN]

I have a radical solution, but I think it's the best one under current circumstances. The Big East is about fifteen minutes away from death. We need a new home.

Call up the SMU and the Pac12. Tell 'em they can get the two DFW schools along with Oklahoma and Okie State to get them to 16 if that's the way things start heading. Seriously, who else is the Pac12 going to go after? They don't want Boise, they don't want any other MWC team. The Pac schools still care about academics, and they'd love to get a foothold in Texas without bringing in Texas Tech, who they were only willing to consider last year as part of a deal with Texas.

SMU and TCU have great academics, we're in a great market. I think this is the best way to go. One of those times where it might be just crazy enough to work.

You must know more than the rest of us, I have yet to see a&m to the sec confirmed.

 

[Gunner]

VERY funny reply! Many on here will not get the full meaning of that, even if they think they know the 'story', but thats OK.

You gotta' love GoHornedFrogs' comment. Windegger was so asleep at the switch.

 

[Gunner]

VERY funny reply! Many on here will not get the full meaning of that, even if they think they know the 'story', but thats OK.

 

[Pharm Frog]

Prediction: Sometime in the not too distant future, the appeal of having large state-funded universities (aka: tax-funded) as members of a conference will not be as desirable as it is presently. Just a prediction....

 

[helcap]

This whole situation ,just like last year, is a textbook example if how the Internet spreads misinformation faster then information. I just listened to report on ESPN and they are reporting that Missouri is denying they have any interest in the SEC. Also in interview with reporter Joe Gotlieb they put up list of "Potential SEC members" which is FSU,Missouri,Clemson, along with A&M. But he states that "if" the SEC decides to go to 16 teams, these are the ones in a perfect scenario(for the SEC) an unnamed source tells him they would like to have. But most interesting is the following quotes from the story

All but one of the SEC's school presidents will meet Sunday to discuss A&M's admission to the league, The New York Times has reported, citing a high-ranking conference official with first-hand knowledge of the talks.




The SEC official said there was still a 30-to-40 percent chance the Aggies would not get enough votes for an invitation to the league, The Times reported. And the issue of a 14th team that would need to also be added in addition to A&M remained, the newspaper reported.
"We realize if we do this, we have to have the 14th," the SEC official said. "No name has been thrown out. This thing is much slower out of the chute than the media and blogs have made it."



The official told The Times that Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin called SEC commissioner Mike Slive three weeks ago and said the Aggies regretted not leaving the Big 12 for the SEC last summer. A week later, Slive and SEC lawyers met with A&M officials, when the league requested that the school work out the possible legal ramifications surrounding its contract with the Big 12, the report said.

"They have a contract now," the SEC official said, according to The Times. "We're very sensitive about being part of breaking a contract. What we asked them to do was to go settle their issues and not have us be on the table as the agent of causing them to leave."

Espn

 

[JimSwinkLives!]

I have a radical solution, but I think it's the best one under current circumstances. The Big East is about fifteen minutes away from death. We need a new home.

Call up the SMU and the Pac12. Tell 'em they can get the two DFW schools along with Oklahoma and Okie State to get them to 16 if that's the way things start heading. Seriously, who else is the Pac12 going to go after? They don't want Boise, they don't want any other MWC team. The Pac schools still care about academics, and they'd love to get a foothold in Texas without bringing in Texas Tech, who they were only willing to consider last year as part of a deal with Texas.

SMU and TCU have great academics, we're in a great market. I think this is the best way to go. One of those times where it might be just crazy enough to work.

Put down the crackpipe.

 

[HUT-Frog]

Don't buy the FSU/Clemson thing for a second ... Either is a candidate only as a last resort to avoid splitting Alabama and Auburn.

A&M adds a lot of TV value. OU (which would require OSU) and Missouri add too. Texas Tech would be a viable chance to lock up more of Texas market.

The SEC ideally wants four from the west (kicking Alabama and Auburn to the East). Once an eastern team is invited, OU is out of the picture (because of OSU), or else you split the Alabama schools.

Even then, the ACC likely looks to add two more teams. That would come from the Big East. (The saving grace is that the ACC just signed an enormous TV deal and might be satisfied, especially if the SEC went to a full 16, taking away the likelihood of a future raid.)

But the Big Ten isn't -- and won't be -- satisfield. It's next two teams come from the Big East (UConn, Rutgers or Syracuse). Then, it may go for the coup de gras, pressuring ND to get in before they get locked out permanently with 16. (Maryland would be the other target, making the ACC go back to the Big East after all.)

 

[Dogfrog]

I have a radical solution, but I think it's the best one under current circumstances. The Big East is about fifteen minutes away from death. We need a new home.

Call up the SMU and the Pac12. Tell 'em they can get the two DFW schools along with Oklahoma and Okie State to get them to 16 if that's the way things start heading. Seriously, who else is the Pac12 going to go after? They don't want Boise, they don't want any other MWC team. The Pac schools still care about academics, and they'd love to get a foothold in Texas without bringing in Texas Tech, who they were only willing to consider last year as part of a deal with Texas.

SMU and TCU have great academics, we're in a great market. I think this is the best way to go. One of those times where it might be just crazy enough to work.

Why would any conference with no Texas presence be interested in SMU when they can get TCU? Why would they want two DFW private schools when they can accomplish their goal with one? Why would TCU be interested in having SMU as a tag along?

 

[Trelvis]

Just dont see the Big 10 going to 16 teams just to do it. There has to be some benefit there and the only team that would benefit them at this point is ND. If one conference goes to 16, it doesnt mean all the other ones have to also.

Also, this was tweeter earlier

@TeddyGreenstein Delany also confirmed to Tribune that SEC expansion would not affect Big Ten -- for now: "We have closed down active expansion."


Maybe I am being to optimistic, but I think TCU and the Big East is fine.

 

[Horny 4 Life]

I still don't understand why everybody assumes that the Big East would just stand around and wait for a death sentence. They could just as easily go after ACC or Big 12 schools.

 

[Boomhauer]

I still don't understand why everybody assumes that the Big East would just stand around and wait for a death sentence. They could just as easily go after ACC or Big 12 schools.

The Big East can't do anything without a new TV contract. Which can't even be negotiated until Sep 2012. Big East is a sitting duck until then.

 

[dawg]

The key entity in all this isn't the ACC or the PAC-12, the SEC or the B1G. It's ESPN. Because we all know ESPN no longer reports the news, it MAKES the news. The same ESPN that has an expiring contract with the BE. The same ESPN that has the ACC locked up for years into the future. Which of these two conferences would ESPN like to see go away?

Let's say the SEC makes the bold move and goes to 16 (Aggy, MU, FSU, Clemson). That's a killshot on the Big XII, everyone of any value gets out, and ESPN loses a conference property (or the B-whatever reforms at a greatly reduced value). That leaves the ACC needing to fill between two and six slots (if they decide to follow the SEC to 16), and their most logical place to get teams is from the Big East. Or the Big East and B1G could strike and raid the ACC into oblivion.

IMHO, the key here is that ESPN is going to lose the BIG XII and one other conference. In their minds, which would they rather have stay at the highest level of college football? I'm afraid the answer is the ACC. If the Big East loses six to the ACC, it ceases to be a player in football but, with the eight basketball-only schools, still remain a somewhat viable basketball league (ESPN loses football, which they were probably losing anyway to NBC/Comcast, and the price tag for renewing Big East basketball goes way down.) If the ACC gets raided by the BE and B1G, then ESPN loses a BCS football conference AND a top-teir basketball league. A conference under contract to them for years and no threat to leave to a rival network

It is in ESPN's best interest to have the ACC fire the killshot into the BE as a football-playing conference. This prevents NBC/Comcast from acquiring a strengthened BCS football conference, and the unquestioned strongest and most valuable basketball league. And it strengthens their own property. What's to stop the ACC and ESPN from mutually agreeing to rip up their current contract and negotiate a new one, once six current BE members accept membership in the ACC, seeing as the landscape has changed massively? It greatly pains me to say, but nothing. The BE cannot negotiate with any other networks till 2012, and ESPN ensures those negotiations are only for a shell of conference.

GO FROGS

 

[Endless Purple]

I started to post a simpler thought, but I agree.

One issue is how long does the BE have until they can open negotiations with others? 2012?

Then it leads to whether this could allow ESPN to pressure the BE into accepting a lower contract than the open market could get them. Sign now or risk being pulled apart.

 

[HUT-Frog]

I still don't understand why everybody assumes that the Big East would just stand around and wait for a death sentence. They could just as easily go after ACC or Big 12 schools.

The only reason the Big East would have to wait is pecking order and what you can guarantee ...

Big Ten can guarantee the most revenue. ACC with its new deal can guarantee about $15-17M The Big East can make projections, but doesn't have a locked down contract yet, so it can't make guarantees yet.

Remember, MWC tried to be pre-emptive by getting Boise, and looked what happened.

 

[BABYFACE]

Dawg, you just contradicted yourself on the ACC appeal to ESPN. I agree with ESPN liking the ACC because of being locked into a deal that is cheaper than the upcoming Big East deal. But then you say ESPN will be happy to rip up the ACC contract and give them a new deal so they expand. Well, that just took away the advantage of the ACC being cheaper for ESPN. If I am ESPN and they are willing to tear up an existing contract, it might come down to which conference will give ESPN more TV sets. I am interested to see how the BE and ACC compare on this. Also, I am of the belief that because the media power is in the North East, the Big East will survive because of this. If that hadn't been the case, the BE would have been dead after the prior ACC raid IMO.

 

[Gehörnter Frosch]

If the SEC was truly visionary, then they would invite TCU along with A&M.

THAT would be a killshot to the Big 12, and would seriously undermine the behemoth that is UT.

For the SEC to establish a very secure foothold into Texas...and play 8-10 games within Texas...would be HUGE.

Add in some "neutral" site games (at Jerry World and in Houston) and all of a sudden, the SEC is out-recruiting UT...in Texas.

I truly believe in the mantra, "If you build it, they will come."

People like to point out that TCU offers nothing from a media perspective.

I say they're idiots. All of a sudden, TCU vs. LSU in November could have huge implications on the SEC Championship. Think people aren't going to watch?

I said it two years ago, and I'll say it again. Don't sleep on the Jerry Jones factor. He knows that adding TCU would be a boon for him...and the SEC.

 

[Dogfrog]

If the SEC was truly visionary, then they would invite TCU along with A&M.

THAT would be a killshot to the Big 12, and would seriously undermine the behemoth that is UT.

For the SEC to establish a very secure football into Texas...and play 8-10 games within Texas...would be HUGE.

Add in some "neutral" site games (at Jerry World and in Houston) and all of a sudden, the SEC is out-recruiting UT...in Texas.

I truly believe in the mantra, "If you build it, they will come."

People like to point out that TCU offers nothing from a media perspective.

I say they're idiots. All of a sudden, TCU vs. LSU in November could have huge implications on the SEC Championship. Think people aren't going to watch?

I said it two years ago, and I'll say it again. Don't sleep on the Jerry Jones factor. He knows that adding TCU would be a boon for him...and the SEC.

Agree, and I've thought this all along. The SEC is by far the strongest brand in college football. They don't really NEED any schools in Texas, all they need is to add Texas to their market footprint. The addition of the Texas recruiting and TV market would be very successful for them based on their own brand strength (LSU, Bama, Auburn, Ark, etc, etc). The local Texas team only needs to be window dressing to allow the mighty SEC to offer their fabulous product and profit here in so many ways. It wouldn't hurt that DFW would add more media than they could ever imagine as opposed to College Station. But you're right, this would all take some vision and they seem to be pretty set in their ways.

 

[asleep003]

I can see FSU but Missouri? To me, Oklahoma would be a much better candidate for all sports. Why are they never mentioned in any of the discussions?

Most likely because OU shares a population of 3.5 mil population with OSU and Tulsa... yet Missouri doesn't share a 6 mil population with anyone else. Guess why Mizzou was a Big 10 candidate last Summer. Again, why WVU(1.8 mil state population) is not near the top of most lists, though an impressive athletic program.

Cheers!