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 UCF Knight:
No, more along the lines of people who came into the city to watch the tournament in person and stayed on the Kansas side. Now that money will all be in the south. By the way.... the KU AD needs to understand the Big 12 is not a midwest conference, it is a southwest conference.
It stretches from Iowa to Texas, that looks pretty "mid" to me. I live in SoCal, and even when I hear "southwest", I think of Arizona and New Mexico before I think of San Diego!
The power of the Big XII Tournament in KC was the ability of KU fans from as far out as Topeka to make a short trip to KC and scalp tickets from other fans because you could almost be assured KU was going to be in the finals. Most of the fans didn't have to stay in KC or had relatives they stayed with. Sure, they'll be some loss, but not to the extent KC, MO will endure. When people came to KC, they stayed downtown.
Look, I love the Tournament in KC. But, I'm not so naive as to not understand why an entire conference won't want to funnel those revenues to a non conference state. I understand KU in KC over the holiday break was a nice treat for its fans, but Lawrence isn't that far away. KC will need to make it worth KU's while to come back. Its sad to say, but its true. Anything else is relying on sentiment for tradition, and we've seen how much that is valued. [Reply]
Originally Posted by HolyHandgernade:
It stretches from Iowa to Texas, that looks pretty "mid" to me. I live in SoCal, and even when I hear "southwest", I think of Arizona and New Mexico before I think of San Diego!
The power of the Big XII Tournament in KC was the ability of KU fans from as far out as Topeka to make a short trip to KC and scalp tickets from other fans because you could almost be assured KU was going to be in the finals. Most of the fans didn't have to stay in KC or had relatives they stayed with. Sure, they'll be some loss, but not to the extent KC, MO will endure. When people came to KC, they stayed downtown.
Look, I love the Tournament in KC. But, I'm not so naive as to not understand why an entire conference won't want to funnel those revenues to a non conference state. I understand KU in KC over the holiday break was a nice treat for its fans, but Lawrence isn't that far away. KC will need to make it worth KU's while to come back. Its sad to say, but its true. Anything else is relying on sentiment for tradition, and we've seen how much that is valued.
I was talking about where the conference power lies. It is a Southwest conference. Texas and Oklahoma completely control everything. [Reply]
Originally Posted by frazod:
Almost makes up for all the professional sports benefits Kansans enjoy that are paid for by the residents of Jackson County, doesn't it?
Tim, do you really think all of those "Missouri" pro teams could survive, if they were only supported by Missourians? Really?
As recently as the early 50s, St. Louis was the most western MLB team. My Dad was a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 30s, growing up in NW Kansas. They had half of the U.S. for a territory.
I would guess Kansas Chief fans have paid up pretty well, for all of the fine rewards the Chiefs have bestowed on them the last 40 years. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
I've heard some insiders say the SEC will be the first major conference to 16 teams. Could they add A&M, Mizzou, Florida State and Virginia Tech.
It has never made sense to me that the SEC would not want FSU just because it doesn't add to their footprint. FSU is a powerhouse program and Florida is a huge state for talent, it makes sense to add another big-time program there and lock up the state.
I guess we don't have to about Ann Richards petitioning this time hu [Reply]
Originally Posted by HolyHandgernade:
I think its dangerous to cross collegiate loyalties with professional geographic ones. KC set itself up to be a regional attraction. I know KU fans that can't stand the Chiefs and Kansas based Chiefs fans that can't stand the Jayhawks or Wildcats.
Duh. That's because KU fans act much, much more like Broncos fans than Chiefs fans. [Reply]
With the caveat that no one really knows what is going on, if what we are talking about is either Missouri and stop at 10 or WVU, BYU, and Louisville, honestly I'd rather have the latter. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
With the caveat that no one really knows what is going on, if what we are talking about is either Missouri and stop at 10 or WVU, BYU, and Louisville, honestly I'd rather have the latter.
If BYU and WVU are in the same conference, your conference is dead before it starts. Neinas was staying because of the geography and culture. That's a 4000 mile round trip. Beyond that, what do West Virginia, Iowa State, BYU, and TCU have in common culturally? They have nothing.
The Kansas schools had better be working on an exit strategy yesterday. I promise you that Texas is not going to want to live on the island of misfit toys for long. LHN is going to flop, Teexas and ESPN will come to an agreement to let it dissolve, and Texas will be in the PAC 3 years from now. [Reply]
So we've gone from the LHN being this unfair beast of a network that Texas is gonna build up and leave with, to, the LHN is gonna fail, Texas is gonna get out of their unfair contract and leave? [Reply]
