12/03/24
June 10, 2010
Colorado To Pac-10: The first domino falls, as Colorado makes their conference switch official. Combined with Nebraska's likely departure, is the Big 12 about to completely implode?
posted by TheQatarian to general at 12:48 PM - 23 comments
I think that the rest of the rumored Big 12 shift to the Pac 10 will happen and it is only a matter of time before it gets announced. Looks like the Pac-10 is going to have to come up with a new name.
I'm really interested in seeing if the Big 10 only takes Nebraska or adds two or four more teams to create a bigger conference. With the Pac 10 likely expanding to 16 teams I'd say the Big 10 expanding to 16 becomes that much more likely.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:59 PM on June 10, 2010
Why exactly is all of this happening?
posted by insomnyuk at 01:37 PM on June 10, 2010
Why exactly is all of this happening?
Money. Television contracts, to be specific.
posted by grum@work at 01:39 PM on June 10, 2010
Dan Hawkins in the same conference with Kiffin and Neuheisel. It's getting downright cozy and wholesome over there.
What Hawkins gives away in looks to the other two he more than makes up for in the mental instability department.
posted by beaverboard at 02:35 PM on June 10, 2010
Buffaloes will have an easier time the next two seasons going bowling since USC has finally gotten payback for Reggie Bush's hijinks.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:26 PM on June 10, 2010
...and the tail at CU wags the dog harder than ever...
CU is a disgrace of an athletic program.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:26 PM on June 10, 2010
Money. Television contracts, to be specific.
Yea, but doesn't that mean they also have divide the money more ways? I understand more teams = more money, but does adding 6 teams really add enough money so the original 10 teams make more money since you're now dividing the pot among 16 teams? I haven't seen this answered anywhere.
posted by jmd82 at 03:38 PM on June 10, 2010
If the Pac 10 becomes the Pac 16, doesn't the BCS eligibilty rule that limits any conference to only two schools have to change? Personally, I don't like the expansions that have occurred over the years. Conferences used to be based of regions of the country, but not anymore.
posted by Shotput at 03:49 PM on June 10, 2010
When was the last time such a seismic shift in conferences happened?
posted by irunfromclones at 03:57 PM on June 10, 2010
CU is a disgrace of an athletic program.
Yeah. Especially their skiing program. Sheesh.
posted by mjkredliner at 04:29 PM on June 10, 2010
The largest remaining question is whether or not Texas decides to bolt. If they do, they take: A&M, Tech, OU & OSU with them. That leaves KU, KSU, ISU and Baylor without homes and MU most likely going with Nebraska to the Big 10. KU & KSU can surely land safely elsewhere, the ACC is taylor made for a team like KU aside from geography. As one who grew up on the Big 8, I hate to see this happen over TV revenue. It's a sad day.
posted by Tinman at 05:36 PM on June 10, 2010
Does the Big 12 just stay together with 10 teams (and maybe trade conference names with the Big 10 so both would be accurate)?
The Big 12 is a dead conference walking. Colorado moved early to avoid getting left behind if Texas and Texas Tech were forced by the state legislature to take Baylor with them in a conference move. Oklahoma State has also reportedly agreed to move to the PAC-10.
No matter what happens, the PAC-10 will keep its current name as will the Big Ten (which already has 11 schools).
Yea, but doesn't that mean they also have divide the money more ways?
Yes, but the TV deals for the biggest conferences are enormous, and the conference championship games make them even bigger. There's also the holy grail of a plus-1 playoff deal among four megaconferences, which would be a huge amount of money not going to bowls.
The SEC has an otherworldly TV deal. Teams are getting $17 million a year from it, which is far larger than any other conference's deal. The Big Ten's TV network grossed $66 million for the league last year.
When was the last time such a seismic shift in conferences happened?
When my beloved SWC died.
At this point, the big conference teams have become so money grubbing and disloyal that I'm fed up with all of them. The Big 12 is being destroyed like the SWC was destroyed, Texas and other schools don't give a tinker's damn about conference loyalty, and they will never ever give the non-AQ schools a break.
I'd like to see the non-AQ schools all enter into a playoff system with the Football Championship Subdivision. Let the BCS cartel have their phony poll-chosen title. I want to see college football champs who win it on the field.
posted by rcade at 06:11 PM on June 10, 2010
The Big 12 is being destroyed like the SWC was destroyed
Being said in some bar in Texas right now, I'm sure:
Yumpin' yiminy, lets form the Red River Conference! UT, TT, TCU, SMU, A&M, UH, UTEP, Baylor, and to round it out OU and OSU! We'll be the scourge of college football, I'm tellin ya! If we can just keep all our high school boys in-state and just let a few get to Oklahoma, why them other conferences ain't got a chance!
*sheds tear in beer for old SWC *
posted by mjkredliner at 06:44 PM on June 10, 2010
Mountain West plus Boise State plus what is going to be left of the Big 12 (maybe Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and could or could not be Missouri).
Mountain West name goes away; keeps the name Big 12 as well as the BCS automatic bowl bid. Would have 14 or 15 teams depending on where Missouri goes. Probably 14 actually more manageable than a 16 team conference, but could still divide into two divisions with a championship game. And would include the three non-BCS conference teams that have been selected to play in BCS games. (and starts out with $70 million from the defecting schools in payoff)
posted by graymatters at 07:06 PM on June 10, 2010
Why, when the Big XII is bigger than the Big 10 or the Pac 10, can't they stand strong?
posted by bender at 08:11 PM on June 10, 2010
No matter what happens, the PAC-10 will keep its current name as will the Big Ten (which already has 11 schools
Is this just speculation on your part or is this true? Link?
Has anyone heard when the Buffs will actually start Pac10 play in any sport.
posted by sgtcookzane at 11:52 PM on June 10, 2010
I can see it being called the Pacific Southwest Conference. Will the Pacific-10 take the Texas schools if they demand the right to create their own TV network.?
posted by Newbie Walker at 02:06 AM on June 11, 2010
Is this just speculation on your part ...
Yes. I think the conventional wisdom now is that the BCS conferences have too much invested in their names to change them, as evidenced by the 11-team Big 10.
Why, when the Big XII is bigger than the Big 10 or the Pac 10, can't they stand strong?
I wondered that too, but everybody knows that the route to the big money is a 16-team conference with a playoff. At that point, it's dog eat dog. The Big 12 seems to have weaker and less aggressive management when it comes to establishing a TV network and pursuing a TV deal.
Yumpin' yiminy, lets form the Red River Conference ...
As a UNT grad, I'd love to see all of the non-AQ Texas schools form a conference with neighbors in Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana. With the exception of TCU, I don't see any others getting into the BCS.
posted by rcade at 08:46 AM on June 11, 2010
Mountain West plus Boise State plus what is going to be left of the Big 12 (maybe Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and could or could not be Missouri).
I can't imagine Missouri going to the Mountain West, I'm convinced they've got a deal elsewhere.
Worst case scenerio: Missouri + Texas schools leave, the remaining get folded into the Mountain West. Kansas becomes the Memphis of the division. Recruiting is hurt as is the ability to pay and retain coaches like Bill Self. The Border War rivalry disappears, and I can't really see any sort of meaningful rivalry developing in the Mountain West. This is from a basketball team who had a large portion of their regular season games getting ESPN broadcasts. I can't see anyone tuning into see KU v Brigham Young.
It is not as if Kansas' football program is that bad, they won the Orange Bowl in 2008. Damn all those Texas schools. There's a couple of scenarios where Kansas and KState could end up in the Pac-10/16, though I really, really doubt it.
There's some collateral damage too. Kansas City built the Sprint Center for the Big 12 tournament. It was questionable whether or not it was needed (it wasn't), but having such a nice, new facility used only to host the occasional Miley Cyrus concert is sad.
posted by geoff at 11:09 AM on June 11, 2010
Why is a 16 team conference better than a 12 team one, since 12 is the minimum required by NCAA for a playoff? I don't see how there'll be more TV or overall money per team.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:50 PM on June 11, 2010
More TV markets.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:14 PM on June 11, 2010
Missouri has no chance at the Big 10 or the Pac-10. They were specifically played by the Big 10 conference in order to start the process of breaking up the Big 12, then left to out to dry when the Big 10 got the fish they were looking from the Big 12 pond, (i.e. Nebraska). All because they thought the grass would be greener somewhere else instead of waiting for the contract renewal which would of netted them in the range of $17 mil per year.
They'll wind up in the Big 12Mountain West merger or wind up somewhere with Kansas pulling them, Kansas State, and Iowa State along. It'll likely be the Big East or C-USA if there is no merger on the table with the Mountain West. They have no chance on their own since as a football school they're no bigger fish than the others who are left, but at least Kansas has a top 3 basketball school that can add some cache to a conference in the lesser revenue generating sport.
It's kind of sad that Missouri's future now entirely depends on Kansas though. But that's what you get when you start chasing mirages.
posted by jmauro2000 at 04:37 PM on June 13, 2010
I guess this settles the speculation about whether Baylor would get to stay with the rest of the Texas teams or not if the massive shift to the Pac-10 happened.
The question is: Now what? I doubt the Pac-10 is going to stay at 11 teams. Does the Big 12 just stay together with 10 teams (and maybe trade conference names with the Big 10 so both would be accurate)? And if so, what does the Pac-10 do? Does the rest of the rumored Big 12 shift to the Pac-10 happen, thus leaving Baylor and the rest of the Big 12 North to rot? Will the Big 10 expand within their logical geographical territory to pick up the remaining Big 12 North teams, or will they continue to seek eastward expansion? (I think they'd like the other Manhattan market over the one in Kansas.)
So many possibilities. It makes for interesting speculation if nothing else, though I'm not exactly thrilled about what this is going to do to football schedules.