Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Oh8ch]

From orangebloods:

Statement released today by Texas Men?s Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds:

"Our goals and hopes all along have been to keep the Big 12 Conference intact. The league has been great for its members. We also have been honorable, up front and forthright with regard to our work and responsiveness to all the possible and now definitive changes to conference landscapes. We are entrusted with the responsibility of administering our university athletics programs. That requires careful examination of any and all options. It is both premature and inappropriate to speculate on what our UT System Regents will discuss at next Tuesday?s meeting. But, as the dynamics of the Big 12 continue to change around us, we will utilize additional time to continue our work and evaluate our options."

Carry on.

 

[woofermazing]

In what way is it wrong to say that it makes more geographic and tradition sense for UTx to be in a conference subdivision with a bunch of teams from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona, than to be in a conference of the upper midwest where their nearest partner is a couple big states away?

B10 would offer Texas more exposure to the east coast, not less like the Pac-10. Besides, if USC is mediocre for the next 5 years and Oregon is weak for 1 or 2, no one on the west coast is suddenly going to tune into Texas games, they'll just stop watching and go to the beach on Saturdays.

 

[TheIronColonel]

I don't care to dig up all the information again, but it's been posted several times that the Pac 10 schools and Big Ten schools are more or less equidistant, with a slight edge to the Big Ten. Geography isn't an advantage for either conference.

 

[dragurd]

It really sounds like they are setting up for the we had no choice but to go to blank argument. Whatever the blank may be.

 

[jlb1705]

I don't care to dig up all the information again, but it's been posted several times that the Pac 10 schools and Big Ten schools are more or less equidistant, with a slight edge to the Big Ten. Geography isn't an advantage for either conference.

Those calculations change if they bring all or most of their Big XII fiefdom with them to what would essentially be an SWC + Pac-8 conference.

 

[zincfinger]

They are close to one state. The other 8 pac-10 schools are a long plane ride away.

I'm talking solely about the putative eastern division of the Pac-16 here. Obviously the coastal schools in the Pac are no better than the BigTen from a geographical or tradition standpoint in relation to Texas. If anything, they're worse. But the putative eastern division is better for Texas from purely from this standpoint (geography/tradition) in my opinion. Granted, states in this part of the country, especially Texas, are so big that few things are really close to one another, but those schools are generally much closer to Austin than BigTen schools are. And from a tradition/culture standpoint, this would be a true southwest subconference, involving states and schools with similar histories, traditions, and cultures in many ways. I certainly don't think that counts for everything, or even a lot necessarily, but I suspect it counts for something.

 

[kn1f3party]

Starting to feel like NU was the plan all along and the Pac-10 maybe goes to 12 while the Big XII pretty much remains intact. Expansion goes on hiatus...

 

[zincfinger]

B10 would offer Texas more exposure to the east coast, not less like the Pac-10. Besides, if USC is mediocre for the next 5 years and Oregon is weak for 1 or 2, no one on the west coast is suddenly going to tune into Texas games, they'll just stop watching and go to the beach on Saturdays.

Those are separate reasons why the BigTen makes more sense for UTx, and I wasn't arguing those. Both conferences obviously have their pros and cons for Texas. In my opinion, the willingness to offer UTx an eastern division that is basically an improved southwest conference is the Pac's primary advantage. It doesn't necessarily make them a better option overall, but it's their primary advantage in my view.

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Starting to feel like NU was the plan all along and the Pac-10 maybe goes to 12 while the Big XII pretty much remains intact. Expansion goes on hiatus...

I think you may be right - I wouldn't be surprised if the remnants of the BigXII stay together...

 

[kinch]

I couldn't find the answer on this board or the interwebs, and I don't want to start a new thread, so I'll ask my question here:

What are the limitations (if any) to partial qualifers recruited in the Big Ten?

 

[zincfinger]

Those calculations change if they bring all or most of their Big XII fiefdom with them to what would essentially be an SWC + Pac-8 conference.

Exactly. We're not talking about Austin-Seattle-Berkely here. We're talking about Austin-Norman-Tucson.

 

[muffler dragon]

In what way is it wrong to say that it makes more geographic and tradition sense for UTx to be in a conference subdivision with a bunch of teams from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona, than to be in a conference of the upper midwest where their nearest partner is a couple big states away?

Geographically wrong because of the overall distance traveled to the Pac Ten teams.

Traditionally wrong because the Pac Ten doesn't have as much depth of tradition that the Big Ten does.

At best, both considerations are a wash; but ultimately, are rather diminished in the academic and monetary prowess of the Big Ten.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

I feel really dirty after reading all the twitter pages, but

Stewart Mandel (slmandel) on Twitter

slmandel: Big Ten officially approves Nebraska. Somehow 140 characters doesn't do the magnitude justice.

http://twitter.com/schadjoe

Dan Beebe: "My understanding is there aren't any other conference members considered by the Big Ten."

edit: REALLY, Beebe?

 

[ScriptOhio]

Face it if UT is really serious about keeping the BIG XII intact they could easily pick up a couple of the other Texas schools like: TCU, SMU, North Texas, Rice, Houston, and/or UTEP; and go on like nothing ever happened. Talk about tradition, years ago SMU & TCU actually had pretty good football programs. They could have the Texas Divison and the all You Others Division.

Texas Division
Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
Texas Texh
SMU
TCU

All You Others Division
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Kansas State
Kansas
Missouri
Iowa State

 

[jwinslow]

Face it if UT is really serious about keeping the BIG XII intact they could easily pick up a couple of the other Texas schools like: TCU, SMU, North Texas, Rice, Houston, and/or UTEP; and go on like nothing ever happened.

Except that revenue is a big deal you're overlooking. Nebraska & Colorado are taking a good chunk of revenue with them, and there wasn't much to begin with.

Not only do those schools fail to bring many viewers, but you already have them locked down with your existing B12 viewership. They fail to compensate for the losses, and then they reduce everyone's revenue cut by adding their mouths to feed.