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:
I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about those schools filling their stadiums when Mizzou or any other team comes to town.
I'm sure they have no issue doing that regardless of the team coming. It wasn't a question about whether or not MU coming in would sell out the stadium. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saulbadguy:
Yeah, I figured "bitter rivals" like that would draw a better crowd.
A sellout crowd is a sellout crowd. It's a stupid point if one game had 11 more attendees than another because they happened to allow more standing room tickets that game.
Why don't you compare the average home crowd in Lawrence against the average crowd when Mizzou is in town? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
I'm sure they have no issue doing that regardless of the team coming. It wasn't a question about whether or not MU coming in would sell out the stadium.
I would say that, if you put 90,000 people in a stadium, the fanbase is fired up. The answer to your question is yes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
Florida doesn't share their third tier?
Interesting...
All SEC teams will be sharing the third tier here in the next year or so when the SEC network gets formed. That is when the SEC revenues will greatly pull ahead of anything the BIG XII does. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
yeah, they just hang banners to keep the cobwebs out.
Something your school knows nothing about
If you want to pretend that Texas cares about basketball because they hang banners when they make the NCAA tournament in their basketball arena, keep fucking that chicken. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
One question because this keeps popping up - KU has to get fired up for KSU/ISU/BU/etc & MU has to get up for Florida/Alabama/Tennessee/etc.....
But, do Florida/Alabama/Tennessee/LSU/Auburn/Georgia have to get fired up for MU?
No they don't... because there are other competive teams in the division no matter if it's an off year or whatever. What most people are saying is besides texas and maybe kstate.... who does kU look forward to playing in basketball in the future; or what games would bring enough attention to be aired on national television?
Same thing with Oklahoma and Texas in football. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about those schools filling their stadiums when Mizzou or any other team comes to town.
Seems like Ku isn't the only local school that has trouble filling its stadium.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
If you want to pretend that Texas cares about basketball because they hang banners when they make the NCAA tournament in their basketball arena, keep ****ing that chicken.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
What's your point when the discussion is a game at Arrowhead? The most watched football game in 2007 in the entire country was the border-war at Arrowhead. More people watched that game than any game in KU history. More people attended that game than have ever attended a game in Lawrence.
K-State doesn't have any rivals, just a big brother, so it makes sense that you wouldn't understand.
Makes sense, since the stadium is bigger.
"Mizzou doesn't really care about the rivalry as much as Kansas does" contradicts "you're our biggest rival".... but, it all depends on who is superior at the time. In BB, of course KU isn't going to care about MU nearly as much as MU cares. In FB, I don't know why MU would care at all about KU, since they've made strides towards playing with the big boys... but, since it's at Arrowhead at the end of the season, it's basically KU's SB. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Trevo_410:
No they don't... because there are other competive teams in the division no matter if it's an off year or whatever. What most people are saying is besides texas and maybe kstate.... who does kU look forward to playing in basketball in the future; or what games would bring enough attention to be aired on national television?
Same thing with Oklahoma and Texas in football.
Texas and Oklahoma get televised nationally because they're Texas and Oklahoma regardless of who they're playing. Why do you think they make so much money? The curb stomp that is going to be OU vs KU is going to be on ESPN 2 if you need an example. [Reply]
