Report: OU & Texas reach out to join SEC

[cyIclSoneU]

Are all of the rumored “4 to 6” AAU schools?

Every school in the Pac-12 is AAU with the exceptions of Washington State, Oregon State, and Arizona State.

 

[AlumfromAmes]

Are all of the rumored “4 to 6” AAU schools?

When was the last time the Big 10 made a “good” move to improve the quality or prestige of its athletic power?! That’s a conference with a totally different philosophy. SEC is about collecting the most trophies and Big 10 is about collecting the most eyeballs. In the end, they’re both making money for their schools.

Just checked. They are all AAU.

 

[surly]

Every school in the Pac-12 is AAU with the exceptions of Washington State, Oregon State, and Arizona State.

Well, that's 25% of the league and Utah just got AAU certs, so it was a third of the conference when they came in.

My fear is that the P12 will move quickly to take BYU. If they put something together before the B12 acts, it will crater this league for sure. BYU is the one outside key to this league staying together.

 

[Cloneon]

the future of college football is the super brand conference. None of the rest of the schools outside of that small conglomerate matter.

they didn’t consider any blowback because they have created a media reality that no one cares about the rest. They will accept the scraps their offered because they know that’s all they deserve.

it’s trended this way for years, this was the big play to set the rest of the wheels in motion. It’s why people talking about conference affiliation are totally off base

Everyone started out as a lower brand. Especially the SEC.

Heck, even the so called 'experts' are not consistently right on talent evaluation. So, how are we to expect the SEC to have a preponderance of great teams to entertain us week in and week out? To eliminate universities who are dramatically improving themselves and their brand (ISU) is nothing more than a power strategy to dilute the quality of the sport.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

My fear is that the P12 will move quickly to take BYU. If they put something together before the B12 acts, it will crater this league for sure. BYU is the one outside key to this league staying together.

The Pac-12 will not take BYU while the California schools are intact.

But if the B1G poaches their top six programs including the CA schools, we could end up with a league that looks like this:

West
Washington St
Oregon St
Utah
BYU
Arizona
Arizona St
Colorado

East
Iowa St
Kansas St
Kansas
Oklahoma St
TCU
Baylor
Texas Tech

If WVU wants to stay involved despite the geography we should let them and also add Boise State, UNLV, or San Diego State to the West.

 

[Cloneon]

Yeah it's either a troll job, an attempted veiled insult, or someone that just doesn't quite know what they are talking about.

Unless the SEC throws in a fair amount of interconference big boy games, they'll soon be relegated to their media might.

 

[Cloneon]

If we stick together and add BYU and Cincinnati, could we remain relevant in the postseason discussion by restricting our members' nonconference games to FBS teams? Or is that too expensive?

I believe for this to succeed other conferences need to publicize any/all attempts at scheduling interconference games with the SEC. Eventually, it'll become an embarrassment for the SEC to shun other quality conference opponents for their horrible bottom tier game.

 

[surly]

I said it was my fear that the P12 would jump ahead and take the Cougars. I hope the leftist nature of those universities prevents that from happening given BYU's religious connotations. But at this point, I'm not betting on anything other than this is going to be, if not fun, fascinating to watch unfold.

 

[CyLyte2]

The Pac-12 will not take BYU while the California schools are intact.

But if the B1G poaches their top six programs including the CA schools, we could end up with a league that looks like this:

West
Washington St
Oregon St
Utah
BYU
Arizona
Arizona St
Colorado

East
Iowa St
Kansas St
Kansas
Oklahoma St
TCU
Baylor
Texas Tech

If WVU wants to stay involved despite the geography we should let them and also add Boise State, UNLV, or San Diego State to the West.

I'd do this if adding two or going to the BIG don't pan out.

 

[OnlyCyclones]

The uncertainty won’t drag out that long. Just like UT and OU did, if a school secures a conference, they too can announce their future. If the Pac accepted ISU today, I can guarantee you we’d put something out talking about how we’re excited to join in 2025. The future of most of the schools will likely be decided by late winter. The “when” will be the thing that might be the toss up.

You make a lot of sense, and I’m not a lawyer, but what if the remaining eight have agreed not to share future plans until after litigations are settled? If all these schools have soft landings, it’s harder to appear as damaged.

 

[CarrollCyclone]

Time to schedule every OU game for 11 AM

 

[JM4CY]

Are all of the rumored “4 to 6” AAU schools?

When was the last time the Big 10 made a “good” move to improve the quality or prestige of its athletic power?! That’s a conference with a totally different philosophy. SEC is about collecting the most trophies and Big 10 is about collecting the most eyeballs. In the end, they’re both making money for their schools.

SEC didn’t exactly pursue adding trophies by adding Texas. That was 100% about eyeballs

 

[Cloneon]

You are correct that neither ISU or Iowa or well positioned IF things head the way of a select 30-40 team league. But then again, I very strongly believe that no college team will ultimately do well in that scenario, and it will take only about 5 years from that point and college football will be a very niche sport, and financially will start a decline as well. One of the big mistakes people are making is seeing that the contracts for media are still very large, but need to understand that 1. Attendance pre-COVID most places was dropping, 2. Last year viewership absolutely tanked in CFB, 3. Every football product non-NFL and non-college football has been an absolute and utter failure. 4. Participation in football in youth and HS has been absolutely plummeting for years.

MLB teams are making TONS of money, but nobody in their right mind would think that MLB is healthy right now.

It is a simple matter of product differentiation. CFB is a very different product from the NFL, and that is a requirement for it to be successful. If you make a league that is essentially an NFL but with less talent and skill, it is going to ultimately fail. Same goes for college basketball, but I think a lot of people in CBB seem to get this.

But people are right to call you out on thinking ISU is going to be relegated to the MAC. A team that in a 7-6 year (2019) was 21st in the nation in attendance, and had the TV viewership ISU did last year has far too much value to be in the MAC, MWC, or be absorbed by the AAC. That's why the ESPN plan was so ******* stupid. The remaining Big 12 teams at worst are absorbing the best of the AAC. That's worst case scenario, unless this sort of NFL-lite plan kicks into action in the next couple of years.

As always, great post...
Some slight amendments:
5. ESPN has leveraged their position to inflate these high prices. Even more so in the cost of borrowing which, most definitely will be going up soon.

Any league requires built in parity rules. Whether it be in product building (eg draft) or in fiscal fairness (eg salary cap or distribution), it's still a requirement. Otherwise, interest wanes.

 

[Cyched]

Time to schedule every OU game for 11 AM

I’d like to see a breakdown of how many OU 11 am games were on Fox, given the Big Noon game is their prime time slot

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Well, that's 25% of the league and Utah just got AAU certs, so it was a third of the conference when they came in.

My fear is that the P12 will move quickly to take BYU. If they put something together before the B12 acts, it will crater this league for sure. BYU is the one outside key to this league staying together.

The Pac 12 in the past have been against taking religious based schools, even though USC was at one time religious based. That is why the took Utah and not BYU when they expanded last time. I have read they might take TCU, as they have moved away from their religious leaning much like SMU has, but not the hard core religious schools like Baylor or BYU.

 

[Die4Cy]

I'm just not sure the "take teams now or you never will" argument holds up. It assumes a market for conference adds now that won't be available later. If the result is a reconstituted Big 12 in 2025 with a lower payout and a couple fresh members, what's keeping the cash money leagues from poaching teams at any time they see fit?

Point is, we've bought time until 2025 to figure something out. While it might be to our benefit to tie this all up in a bow and be done with it by then, the outcomes we most want may not align with that.

 

[Cloneon]

A big question with pods for the Big Ten is do you group Michigan, OSU and Penn State together because of geography geographically or separate them because it can even the balance of the league.

A pod of NW, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois is not good unless it gets Michigan, ND or OSU added to it. At least the western pod could have Iowa and Wisc as two consistent football programs.

I do see how the Big Ten could work with a 5 or 6 team pod from the Pac and filling in with a few teams like ND, ISU, KU or an ACC team if that becomes possible.

It's now likely impossible any conference can match the SEC on the field. Big Ten/Pac merger alliance probably beats them in some other ways.

They tried being a little loose with geography on the leaders/legends thing and settled at east/west instead.

I saw a post earlier theorizing 'promotion/demotion' to more fairly balance pods. While geography is important I can see how a league can justify pod adjustment within a division (eg west/east) to balance the pods. Just an out-of-the-box idea. No need to pounce.

 

[CloneGuy8]

Time to schedule every OU game for 11 AM

Whiny ass *******

 

[surly]

Jason Kersey

@jasonkersey
·
35m

OU President Joseph Harroz said it became apparent that the Big 12 had become "last in line" in terms of priority for media rights agreements. And, he said, not just last in line as far as the P5 conferences go, but as far as *everything*

 

[theshadow]

I’d like to see a breakdown of how many OU 11 am games were on Fox, given the Big Noon game is their prime time slot

Remember, they're allegedly pissed about HOME games being so early because they contend that it impacts official recruit visits.

These are their last 5 home games that kicked at 11:00...
KSU 2020 - Fox
Tech 2019 - Fox
WVU 2019 - Fox
Florida Atlantic 2018 - Fox
ISU 2017 - Fox