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 HolyHandgernade:
Here's the thing. KU, KSU and ISU fans all benefit from it staying in KC, but seven other schools don't. There's no way the Big XII as a whole supports it and there's no way those three schools would put up much of a fight to try. More of a "it sucks, but what are you going to do, reward Missouri?"
I've been to OKC Bricktown. If they decide to settle in there and give them a chance to make it there own, it could still be a great event. It will never be KC, but, that's one of the traditions that gets tossed aside in these 100 year decisions.
Well, I live here, so I'd rather reward KCMO for KCMO's sake... and I'd rather the Big 12 not give up on KC just because of a state line. I get the business side of it, saying it's no longer a Big 12 state, etc; and while having the BB tournament or Farmageddon here every once in a while might be viewed as funding the enemy, it isn't exactly funding the Nazis. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
Hey, I can only go with the #'s I see in front of me. I'm sure things will turn around though and you'll dominate your way to middle of the pack by end of year.
I guess you could also use results in recent years to increase the sample size to come up with a more realistic estimate, but clearly you were not a Math major. [Reply]
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
I guess you could also use results in recent years to increase the sample size to come up with a more realistic estimate, but clearly you were not a Math major.
Sure, we can look at the past 30 years or so.....
8 - 8+ win seasons (5 of which have been the past 5 years)
19 - 5 or less win seasons
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
Well, I live here, so I'd rather reward KCMO for KCMO's sake... and I'd rather the Big 12 not give up on KC just because of a state line. I get the business side of it, saying it's no longer a Big 12 state, etc; and while having the BB tournament or Farmageddon here every once in a while might be viewed as funding the enemy, it isn't exactly funding the Nazis.
Like I said, I feel bad for KC. The thing about KC that you could almost count on, is that some local team would gobble up tickets. Kids from campus could go there on a chance to get seats. OSU has basketball history, but the state is largely football oriented. Its changed a bit since the Thunder got there, and I think it would do well there. It'll never be KC, but things change. MU can talk about stability all it wants, but the Big XII could be just as stable. It will always be a target because it has good teams and no real geographic boundaries (not hemmed in by oceans or desert expanse.
As soon as TCU announced it was joining, I've become rather apathetic about MU leaving. That doesn't mean I don't care about what happens to KC. If they could move the Sprint Center, that would be great, but since that can't happen, they'll just end up one of the victims, hoping it gets some NCAA considerations in the years to come. [Reply]
