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 evenfall:
I don't know what will happen here, but I can tell you are really going to need a support system if this deal does go down. I just want you to know that we're all here for you.
I guess you just don't understand, this thread is just plain fun. I really do not care what Mizzou does.
I did when they started this stuff, but I really don't now. Good luck to them, hopefully they will find someone that wants them, that makes them feel equal. [Reply]
What's the logical step from Missouri has not been invited into the SEC -----> Missouri will not get invited by the SEC?
Isn't is possible that a school going from one conference to another is a complicated process that doesn't happen overnight.
The SEC needs to decide what they want their conference to look like with 14 teams. Will there be divisions? What division will Missouri be in? It sounds like Alabama is holding things up because they won't want Missouri in a Western division and Auburn in the easier East.
On their end, Missouri needs to negotiate things like their exit fees. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Meh, people will show up in droves again once the team is even borderline competitive in conference. What was KSU attendance like before OBZ rode in on his white steed?
lol, I love this.
Oh course crowds are bad when the team isn't very good.
Originally Posted by HemiEd:
I guess you just don't understand, this thread is just plain fun. I really do not care what Mizzou does.
I did when they started this stuff, but I really don't now. Good luck to them, hopefully they will find someone that wants them, that makes them feel equal.
I admit I wanted MU to stay in the beginning for tradition reasons and easy victories.
Now I couldn't care less especially that we are looking at adding (or have added) BCS winning football programs, which MU is not... [Reply]
Originally Posted by beer bacon:
What's the logical step from Missouri has not been invited into the SEC -----> Missouri will not get invited by the SEC?
Isn't is possible that a school going from one conference to another is a complicated process that doesn't happen overnight.
The SEC needs to decide what they want their conference to look like with 14 teams. Will there be divisions? What division will Missouri be in? It sounds like Alabama is holding things up because they won't want Missouri in a Western division and Auburn in the easier East.
On their end, Missouri needs to negotiate things like their exit fees.
Conferences don't give invitations, so there really is nothing to discuss in that regard. Mizzou will apply to the SEC, or they will stay with the Big XII. There will be no invitation. The division alignment has to be worked out, as does the exit fee situation.
The exit fees don't worry me, as there is precedent already established from Nebraska and Colorado's departure. It could easily be argued that there should be little to no exit fees required because the conference no longer exists in the manner it did when we signed our contract. [Reply]
I'm beginning to think that Wickedson is attached to an electrical device that gives him a severe shock if he doesn't make some pathetic backhanded attempt to remind us all that Kansas once backed into a BCS game at least once an hour. [Reply]
