Pac-12 Will Not Expand... For Now

There is still a lot out there.

SEC and A&M, how does this change things? Baylor Lawsuit is gone now?

OU looks elsewhere?

Big 12 Expands? whaT??

Man, I was hoping we would see the end soon…but now this could go on until the contracts are up and stuff…blah!

I wanted to move west, but seeing the Sooners with so much egg on their faces is satisfying in the short term.

I guess, in theory, they could go to the SEC. That would end up being a huge mistake for Larry Scott.

The part about having a “culture of equality that they are committed to preserve” tells me Texas wasn’t budging on the LHN. Great.

I still think this could just be a political/strategic move/statement. The conference landscape has radically changed. Conferences are already moving toward 16 teams. He may not have a choice but to expand.

I have to be honest…I never thought a move to the PAC would be that easy…they hate the success of the TEXAS program, but at the same time, wanted it desperately, for their very own…TEXAS was the only leverage OU had in the discussions with the PAC…PAC has never been impressed with OU…nothing in common, AT ALL! Unlike Austin, there was no common thread between the PAC and Norman. OU plays good football but demands respect and loyalty from NONE of the top 10 television viewing regions in the country. At the end of the day, OU is stuck living with its rich (and more business savvy) brother in Austin…good for them! Now, let’s absorb the Big East and get on with it! Hey, at least we got rid of the whining middle of the pack performers in Nebraska and A&M.

I don’t even know what to say because there are so many moving parts so constantly changing that any type of predictions or speculation or answers are so subject to change that it’s not even worth it.

…to me is, is the “decision” from the Pac-12 announced tonight the real deal? Or is it a smokescreen/power play/diversion/bargaining chip in order to give them an upper hand in negotiations?

If the Pac-12 is serious, and they really truly will not expand, then OU has lost a huge bargaining chip. And if, in light of the statements earlier demanding Beebe getting fired and so forth, if the rest of the Big 12 says “no way”…where does OU (and OSU) go? To say flat out, “We will not remain in the Big 12 unless the following concessions are made” is pretty clear; if the concessions aren’t made, then they have committed themselves to leaving. But if the Pac-12 doesn’t want them, then what? SEC? Big 10 might take on OU—even that is somewhat doubtful—but no way in a million years they take OSU. And if the SEC isn’t interested?

Then again, I think the general premise in all of these things is….“everybody is lying.” You really can’t believe anyone anymore, in fact the cynic in me basically says whatever someone is saying publicly, the reality is probably the 180 degree opposite. In which case, the Pac-12 really intends to expand, and OU/OSU are as good as gone.

Just really hard to try to figure out what is going on…

If Ok St and K-St dropped, the BIG will invite the Sonners and the Jayhawks. ND and Texas present the same problems for any conference to deal with, more perception about their value in light of lower relevance.

…if we stay at 8 or 9 teams, depending on Mizzou, now do we make a move at the Big East leftover football schools — combo of Cincy/Lousiville/Rutgers/USF/UConn/WVU?

I think the answer is no, but if we have Mizzou and can add WVU/Louisville/one other, I could be convinced. I think.

HIRE LARRY SCOTT

I like that one. We’re now in the BZC.

I hope everybody can be pragmatic and keep the Big 12 together and then expand.

…but with the Big East imploding, I wonder if the Big 12 now offer Notre Dame a better place to park all of its sports besides football? Especially if we help kill off the Big East as a football conference…

…is BYU already in our crosshairs?

We Schedule ND on Thanksgiving….replacing A&M.

We then let them win sometimes, then they start to think, “hmmm, maybe playing in a conference with Texas would be good, I mean OU got their street cred beating Texas, we could too”

I’ve gone back and forth about Big12, Pac16, etc. But now I just think it’s time we go independent. I think the LHN is going to be a huge success for the University of Texas, the teams, and our fans down the road.
Scheduling will be tough at the start but with all this conference shuffle, future schedules are being modified all the time. Why not schedule OU, ND, BYU, OSU, Tech, Baylor, TCU, KSU, etc in football. Then basketball, have our schedule include those above home/away, the usual small Texas schools, but align ourselves with agreement to play 8 Big East schools each year. Baseball the same, but stick with some ACC schools instead of BE.
Maybe it sounds naive, but I think we can schedule to the strength of each sport.

And the Big 12 would be rocking again. After all, we’ve already, finally gotten rid of Aggy. Now we can move on with our lives. And TCU must be pretty itchy with the Big East imploding out East, and Boise would jump to move up to the Big 12, I would imagine.

…go check out this post at CCM:

This was an indictment against Texas and not Oklahoma.

Oklahoma remains in the driver’s seat here.

Texas no longer has the Pac-12 to fall back on.

What planet are these guys living on? One with lots of doublewides and little common sense, I’m guessing.

Everyone else has gone home, passed out, found a hook up, or are getting to know a large hairy man named Glen in the drunk tank, but I’m lingering around and asking people if they want to have one more drink or if they know of a late night anywhere. Unfortunately, everyone raged entirely too hard, and I’m left alone, half drunk, lost in my thoughts, contemplating my existence for the remainder of the night.

Seriously, this has been the center of my sports life, and now that it’s on hold, especially in a bye week, I don’t know what to do with myself. Is this what an addict feels like?

It’s about equal revenue sharing like the “real” conferences do. Anytime there is a conference where there are different rules for a few, the conference will be unstable. The Big XII will always be the Corvair of conferences as long as we refuse to share equally. It’s ridiculous and making Texas look pretty bad imo.

While the $EC has clearly shown that a united conference is a strong conference, IMO Mizzou is too smart to jump into an affiliation in which it will have absolutely no control and be on the short end.

No reason for them to go now. I hope.

They want to kick Texas out of the Big Xii and believe that Scott’s message was to Texas that they won’t allow special deals on LHN, instead of it being a message that OU and Okie Lite on their own is not happening.

DAMN….Why did I get banned from that site earlier. I could have saved my big mouth and been posting plenty today to actually say something ban worthy.

OU has been Missouried!!!

…over the past year+, I’ve been a fairly regular defender of OU and its fans. Unlike the whiny bitches in College Station, OU seemed to be projecting the intelligence of realizing that sticking with Texas was in the best interest of both schools and the self-confidence of believing they could compete with and beat us rather than running away from home.

Itake it all back.

Step One: Add the remaining Big East football schools. Let Aggy and Missou leave. That’s a 14-school conference that’s stronger than the current ACC in football and comparable in basketball, that naturally splits into North/South divisions at the Mason-Dixon Line, and while the ratings would be meh it wouldn’t be awful, with some exposure in NYC and FL and OH to go with a bevy of TX televisions. If the Sooner ingrates threaten to go to the SEC, rally the Baptists and and counter-threaten to sue their overalls off.

Step Two: Wait a couple of years for the LHN, PTN, BTN TV properties to mature. The current BCS contract expires in 2014; the next round of first-tier negotiations (B1G) is in 2015. I’m sure the major players will want their super-conferences by then. It doesn’t have to be now though.

Step Three: Leave after a couple seasons. The TV negotiations will be easier, and whether UT goes alone or as part of a foursome, that’s still a minimum of ten members to keep the conference afloat in our wake. If the conference has enough membership to stay afloat without us, no serious possibility of lawsuits. And I bet the possibility of lawsuits had more than a little to do with the Pac 12’s decision today.

this was the best case scenario. While there is some allure to joinging the PAC 16 12, the overall best case scenario, as PB said yesterday, is time. I actually want Texas to stay in the Big 12 and I, like those in Oklahoma (that tastes like vinegar) believe Bebee should be gone. He is a failure of leadership. What needs to be done is Bebee is replaced, the Big 12 expands and agrees to equal revenue sharing. That is the only way to ensure the future success of the conference. At the same time, every school in the new Big 12 should be allowed to advance their product as much as possible by starting their own television networks, let the schools control the 3rd tier TV rights so they can either show them on their networks or they can put them on PPV. Again, that is just my humble opinion but I feel it would be the best course of action where Texas protects its most valuable interest going forward, which is the LHN.