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 Mr. Plow:
Yeah....Columbia ranks right up there with the best SEC towns. Columbia has always been this hidden gem in the crapfest that is the Big 12.
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
So what exactly makes Columbia a "fantastic college town" and Lawrence/Manhattan/Ames/pretty much every other Big 12 town shitty?
Nothing at all. Football games at Memorial Stadium are electric. [Reply]
Look, you fuckers. No matter where Mizzou plays, we will forever be rivals to KU and KSU. It's gotten to where we're arguing over town decor, for God's sake. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
As a Mizzou fan, I would whole heartedly disagree with that sentiment.
Maybe I'm taking this wrong....it's been said several times throughout the thread.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
I'm going to miss Ames, Lawrence, Manhattan, Waco, Stillwater, etc. when we are forced to play in Gainesville, Athens, Knoxville, Fayetville, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, etc.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
Nothing at all. Football games at Memorial Stadium are electric.
Ok, so you're just talking about football gameday experience. So we can exclude the prestigious Southern Magazines Top College Towns of the South. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
Maybe I'm taking this wrong....it's been said several times throughout the thread.
Just my opinion, but I think that was more of a sarcastic reply to a sarcastic statement? Eh, I dunno. Name me a Big XII (or division I school, for that matter) that has a "boring atmosphere", especially on gameday.
Hell, Warrensburg and Maryville are pretty freaking fun college towns, or used to be. It's been awhile since I've been to either.... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
Ok, so you're just talking about football gameday experience. So we can exclude the prestigious Southern Magazines Top College Towns of the South.
Are you somehow under the impression that I'm planning on enrolling at every SEC school? I'm not. I am more interested in having a fun weekend centered around a football game. Missouri had 74,000 at last week's game in a stadium with 69,500 seats. We're expecting around 70,000 this weekend, and this is a down year.
When Kansas has 30,000 people in the stands after the end of the third quarter, I'll re-evaluate my opinion of what Lawrence has to offer.
(As a college town, I actually love Larry. Mass street is fun, I am a huge fan of Free State Brewery, the Oread is a great hotel, and AFH is a really cool place to watch a game. It's worth the drive from JoCo, but I wouldn't make a destination of it if I lived farther away.) [Reply]
