We can stay at the current 8. Play 7 conference games and schedule 2 non conference games against schools equivalent to Texas and OU like Ohio State and Clemson.
What Should the Remaining Big 12 Schools Do?
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It seems that momentum is picking up for the B1G raiding the Pac12. That would leave some pretty darned good P5's for a merger with B12. By spanning 3 time zones, that could prime the B12 for a great position going forward. Of course the B1G would be spanning the entire country. If this happens, look for the SEC to start bridging the entire country with their conference as well. North vs South.
Here is the field of non conference teams that are near to being the same quality as OU and UT:
Oregon, Washington, USC, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, Fla State, Miami, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M.
There are 18 teams here. They won't all be available to schedule so the new Big 12 teams would schedule the next best available Power 5 schools.
I know there has been a lot of chat board banter, but is this being reported in the media?
Yes. I saw it as a Google News referral this morning. Which is, by default, a news service. That, in no way, means it's happening, but the rhetoric is picking up on that. I just tried to find that source again, but have been unable to. But, a Google search shows a lot of that type of speculation and the why of it all makes a lot of sense to counteract the SEC power move.
Here's what I see going down...it basically comes down to what the Big Ten and the "power schools" of the Pac-12 want to do, since the Big Ten and Pac-12 media deals are up in 2024.
If they like the NFL-lite route that the SEC and ESPN are pushing:
If they like the NFL-lite route that the SEC and ESPN are pushing:
- The big four Pac-12 schools will join the Big Ten
- The Big Ten will probably shift more/all of its media rights to ESPN, and NFL-lite is well on its way
- The Big 8 and the Pac-8, as stated earlier in the thread, can form a conference; their money will be significantly less than Big Ten and SEC, but well above G6 levels
- As 2035 approaches, when the ACC GOR is up, the SEC will start to shed its bottom feeders, since there is no GOR in the SEC
- The power schools of the ACC will join the SEC in 2035 (or maybe sooner). As ESPN controls the ACC media rights, they can probably connive some way to get the power ACC schools into the SEC quicker.
- The Big Ten/SEC NFL-Lite then breaks away from the NCAA. Players get scholarships plus an additional stipend.
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I think it still hurts though to not have any “signature” school in your conference besides KU in basketball.
It will make the conference have a lower prestige. A lot of solid schools though, sure. Would stillbe miles better than an AAC. You could make the argument it’d be darn close to an ACC besides Clemson (with Florida State on the down level right now)
Just one minor correction: the G5 wouldn't turn into the G6 with the Big 10 trying to go NFL Lite.
The new Great Plains Conference would work with NDSU.
If we want to be in the Big 10, it's time to rebuild the bridge.
If we want to be in the Big 10, it's time to rebuild the bridge.
Agree. It will be interesting if b10 sees it this way and what they choose. To build a "partnership" of the conferences it will take a different kind of leadership than we have seen in the past. The B10, ACC, PAC will need to come together and define the future of the sport - what they want it to be. They need to take the power back from ESPN and define the structure of CFB going forward. It may require adding streaming services to the mix to drive competition, increase revenue payouts, and change the negotation.
The key challenge I think they will have, is if no one fills the void / competes with ESPN for the content in a meaningful way, they could be challenged to get the revenue needed per school.
Once they go down this route however, the key will be to create more equity between the conferences and define the rules for paying players, transferring, etc. to keep a competitive balance. For example, if they "partner" with acc, pac but allow revenue gaps to grow, no transfer rules, and paying players anything you want... you could see a huge number of the best players leaving lower revenue schools and moving to high revenue schools. So, these will likely be some of the key decisions in the future.
The other options is they become the counter weight to the SEC by adding top brands from PAC, ACC and create a 32-48 team league with the base 30 teams from the current SEC, b10 membership plus 2-18 more (hope it is 18 for our sake).
If they do not see this at all, and simply believe their conference will always stay together and will be strong enough on it's own... they could see SEC adding the rest of the key brands and then start to make significantly more per school and refuse to follow any of the salary cap, free agency type of rules that the b10 would need to compete... SEC becomes more dominant and teams like Mich, OSU, PSU will need to decide if they want to be historically significant like army, navy, yale, harvard... or if they want to join the SEC super conference (or whatever it would be called at that point) and compete in football in the going forward.
Big 12... of an actual 12...
Big 12 East
---
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
West Virginia
Big 12 West
---
Baylor
BYU
Houston
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
Settle with ESPN with them required to keep paying for the media rights at a rate at least similar to the present one (e.g., 80% of present rate per program) and the above conference is an auto-qualifier for the playoff. Not the best outcome for Iowa State, but certainly not the worst one I could imagine.
Could still have the Big 12 tournament in KC with the above. Football could still be Arlington.
Big 12 East
---
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
West Virginia
Big 12 West
---
Baylor
BYU
Houston
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
Settle with ESPN with them required to keep paying for the media rights at a rate at least similar to the present one (e.g., 80% of present rate per program) and the above conference is an auto-qualifier for the playoff. Not the best outcome for Iowa State, but certainly not the worst one I could imagine.
Could still have the Big 12 tournament in KC with the above. Football could still be Arlington.
This or any version of this sounds horrible every time.
When I think of an AAC school individually, I feel like, "OK, I guess so" -- when I see all of them listed together & mixed in w/ B12, that's when I cringe.
Grieving takes time. Some of us are better than others.
I think for recruiting the Texas schools would be split across the divisions but I think those four schools you have are the most likely additions. I could see a West of BYU/Tech/TCU/KU/KSU/OSU and an East of ISU/BU/UH/UC/WVU/UCF for example.
All four of these new teams have been ranked in the top 10 at one point or another within the last five years. These are good football programs. It's going to be a lot less money but it would still be very competitive football. With a 12-team playoff with conference champion autobids, this is a relevant league with a seat at the table.
And yes, it's even better if we keep the hoops tournament in Kansas City permanently and maybe the football CCG rotates between the Cowboys and Texans stadiums. Another fan-friendly option for this with UCF in the footprint is Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
You could get rid of E/W and do a podded system of...
ISU / UC / UCF / WVU
four Texas schools
BYU / KU / KSU / OSU
Play the rest of your pod every year = 3 games
Play three of the teams in the opposite pods each year = 6 games
Basically a full round-robin but you miss two teams (not in your pod) per year
This would guarantee everybody has (at least) one Texas road game per year
Put the two best teams in the CCG -- no divisions.
Basketball...? Well, why not a double round-robin of 22 games?
