Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[Burrito]

The Big 12 already approved a conference championship game for football in 2017. They don't need to add schools for that to happen.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-footba ... l-in-2017/

[Omaha1]

Honestly what the hell?

Now up to 18 on Big 12’s expansion list: AF ArkSt Boise BYU Cincinnati CSU UConn ECU Houston Memphis NIU NM SDSU SMU Temple Tulane UCF USF

[Xudash]

Honestly what the hell?

Now up to 18 on Big 12’s expansion list: AF ArkSt Boise BYU Cincinnati CSU UConn ECU Houston Memphis NIU NM SDSU SMU Temple Tulane UCF USF

This is turning into a freak show staged on a train wreck.

ArkSt?

I respect being thorough, but it pays to do so while staying in bounds with respect to evaluating potential peer/brand schools - schools that could at least try to build up to a P5 rep (e.g. UC).

[BEX]

Looks like the Video Dating is about to begin:

http://www.chron.com/sports/cougars/art ... o-10564563

Wonder how many millions being spent on this.

[novahoops11]

Looks like the Video Dating is about to begin:

http://www.chron.com/sports/cougars/art ... o-10564563

Wonder how many millions being spent on this.

So right now virtually the entire AAC is pounding frantically on the exit doors, in unison. I'm sure all the networks are chomping at the bit to sign 'em to a big fat TV deal.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/ucf-knights/knights-notepad/os-tom-herman-aac-tv-contract-20160603-story.html

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Honestly what the hell?

Now up to 18 on Big 12’s expansion list: AF ArkSt Boise BYU Cincinnati CSU UConn ECU Houston Memphis NIU NM SDSU SMU Temple Tulane UCF USF

This is just a rather obvious delaying tactic, designed to give Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby additional time to negotiate with ESPN and Fox while giving the public appearance that ‘progress is being made’.

IS THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG WITH ESPN/FOX BLOCKING POTENTIAL BIG 12 EXPANSION? – August 9, 2016

It seems that behind the scenes, the Big 12 is willing to take a step back from rushing into expansion talks at the behest of their financial partners. At least for now.

Last week, after ESPN and Fox Sports made it clear that they were unhappy with the Big 12’s plans to expand, the conference’s commissioner, Bob Bowlsby, called executives at both networks. Bowlsby assured the networks that expansion was not imminent, multiple sources said, although the conference is moving in that direction by vetting expansion candidates.

According to SBJ, the conference and the networks could look to come to some kind of compromise. The Big 12 could seek to receive more money from ESPN and Fox in exchange for not expanding, or perhaps limit expansion to just a couple of teams.

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This is turning into a freak show staged on a train wreck.

Alternatively, it could be an effective strategy to coerce ESPN and Fox to renegotiate the current TV contract in order to leverage (extort?) more money per year for each of the ten Big 12 schools. Another excerpt from the same article:

In those talks, the commissioner emphasized the need to rework its current media deal, which runs nine more years. He stressed that a new media deal will allow the Big 12 to keep up with the other power five leagues, especially since both network partners recently told the Big 12 that a linear channel wasn’t feasible for its 10-school league.

Expansion provides the clearest path for the Big 12 to grow revenue because its 13-year, $2.6 billion contract calls for rights-fee increases of about $20 million annually per new school from the networks. The conference publicly has made it clear that full payment from adding any new schools was the Big 12’s expectation.

Fox and ESPN won’t willingly pay an additional $ 20 million per school per year for expansion schools, so any negotiated expansion deal would effectively reduce the annual payment to less than the current $ 20 million per school. It’s hard to see the Big 12 Presidents voting in favor of any deal that would reduce their annual income from ESPN and Fox, but a renegotiated TV contract for the present ten Big 12 schools would yield more than $ 20 million per year per school, and it would cost ESPN and Fox less money than Big 12 conference expansion.

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the Big 12 never intended to expand, but they publicly announced its intention to do so in an attempt to increase (rather than reduce) the annual payout per school during their present contract with ESPN and Fox. This approach is likely to be far more effective than simply shouting "We want more money!"

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

[DeltaV]

Started seeing some of this today:

http://newsok.com/article/5513732

Think the Big 12 would actually take the first step towards the singular 64-65 team superconference/Division4/NFL minor league? The article mentions PAC12 and SEC as options...but ACC might make more sense. Not too much geographical overlap, as opposed to the SEC or the BIG10. Actually, ACC-Big12 and BIG-SEC would be two interesting super-conferences (not much overlap between those two pairs). Not sure what that would mean for the PAC12 though...

[Xudash]

Started seeing some of this today:

http://newsok.com/article/5513732

Think the Big 12 would actually take the first step towards the singular 64-65 team superconference/Division4/NFL minor league? The article mentions PAC12 and SEC as options...but ACC might make more sense. Not too much geographical overlap, as opposed to the SEC or the BIG10. Actually, ACC-Big12 and BIG-SEC would be two interesting super-conferences (not much overlap between those two pairs). Not sure what that would mean for the PAC12 though...

Urban Meyer recently threw in his support for UC. He played football and received his degree in Clifton.

Kind of conflicts me, since I'm a huge Ohio State football fan.

AND HERE IS THE KEY REASON WHY FOOTBALL SCHOOLS WILL NOT BREAK AWAY FOR BASKETBALL:

"Heck, look at college basketball, the most splintered of sports, which comes together and negotiates NCAA Tournament rights so lucrative that literally the entire NCAA is funded more than adequately."

IF the football side of the house ever did get to a unified media agreement similar to the NFL, would it still be tiered, at least somewhat, within that framework? Would Ohio State, Alabama, etc. be willing to take an equal share with Iowa State and Wake Forest? I seriously doubt it.

[kellernr]

If the aac falls apart would the Big East be willing to bring in Temple and UConn and tell them to park football in another conference? Set up a contract that states some ridiculous exit fee if they ever try and leave for a new conference. I enjoyed playing Temple back in the A-10 days.