Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.
Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.
Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.
The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.
Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.
If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.
There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.
Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.
Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.
Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).
If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.
Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.
Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.
There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.
Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.
It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
Exactly. KU wants to say that MU shouldn't leave because KU/MU is a great rivalry. At the same time, they are trying to say that they only play us because the conference requires it. Which is it? Is it a game that should be played because it's a great rivalry, or is it a game that should be played just because it's on the schedule every year?
Bill Self is speaking about more than KU-MU.
Its the conference.
Its about being strong and not running to someone else because you can't make it work yourself. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
Kansas City does just fine when it comes to Big 12 revenue.
Nothing is Texas. It will always be bigger. They will always spend more.
It doesn't mean others don't make a ton of money off them.
What does that have to do with your comment about wanting to stay in a conference that is "based right here" when your conference is based in Dallas, TX?
Columbia is 600 miles from Dallas and 675 miles from Atlanta. I'm sure the additional 15 minutes of flight time is going to be the deal-breaker. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
When you're staying in a hotel in which several of the other rooms are engulfed in flames, you move to a different hotel. You don't stand in your room with a fire extinguisher and hope that the fire doesn't spread to your room in an attempt to stabilize the hotel.
There's no fire when you build your hotel right.
Weak links and faulty wiring make things burn. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
KU is asking Mizzou to give up tens of millions of dollars in order to preserve the rivalry, but KU isn't willing to give up a non-con game against Colgate. If I needed any convincing that this was the right move, (I didn't), I've gotten it in spades today.
Plus, it is not like KU would lose money by switching from Colgate to Mizzou, either. They would probably make more money at Sprint Center. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
That's fucking bullshit.
You can tell yourself all you want, won't make it true.
Mizzou wants to play KU because it's the right thing to do, not because we are obligated to do so by the conference. If KU says no, then I guess the rivalry wasn't that important after all. [Reply]
Originally Posted by OmahaChief:
KU is willing to do all of those things you mention not by choice but becuase it has no other options at this point. They are also willing to do as they are told by Texas and OU and be treated as second class citizens. They are doing the same thing Mizzou did for many years. Mizzou now has a chance to step up and give Texas the finger on the way out the door and I am glad they are doing it.
I will miss the KU games but I will love seeing the likes of LSU, Bama, Florida, Auburn and others in Columbia more than I will miss KU, ISU KState and the others.
Mizzou is building a new tradional not resting on an old one.
KU isn't second class to those schools.
They make 2nd in 3rd tier to Texas. Texas has a population like 5 times that of Kansas.
Do none of you guys ever look at how much $$ these schools actually have? [Reply]
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
Um, if Mizzou offers to play, and ku says no, then it is obviously true you dumb ****ing sack of shit.
There is more to it than that. Granted, he is trying to exert what little influence he may have on the situation.
He will have nothing to gain from playing Mizzou, if the SEC deal goes down, nothing. KU treats WSU the same way, and it is a statewide issue annually. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
There's no fire when you build your hotel right.
Weak links and faulty wiring make things burn.
Even if the BIG XII fixes its weak links and faulty wiring, Mizzou is leaving a Holiday Inn, and moving up to the Ritz Carlton. Who can blame Mizzou for that? [Reply]
He's been making the same post ever since this whole Conference Armageddon started. Dude is completely oblivious to the fact that KU has no offers. Even if there were offers, though, it would be hard to say "No" to equal sharing and T1T2 rights surrender and commit to the B12. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
What does that have to do with your comment about wanting to stay in a conference that is "based right here" when your conference is based in Dallas, TX?
Columbia is 600 miles from Dallas and 675 miles from Atlanta. I'm sure the additional 15 minutes of flight time is going to be the deal-breaker.
When I'm saying "based in" I'm referring to big time events ala Championship games and Tournament.
Those things stay in KC with the Big12.
With MU going to the SEC everything is gone in this area. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
There's no fire when you build your hotel right.
Weak links and faulty wiring make things burn.
25% of the hotel has been burned to the ground, and you've said multiple times that you don't care that only the more expensive rooms get sprinklers. [Reply]
