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.
- Do you have proof that Mizzou didn't inform the Big 12 that they were withdrawing?
- It's hilarious watching you try to compare being wrong on what day an event will be announced (that involves numerous potential legal entanglements) against actually calling the f#cking move before anyone was talking about it.
- If you want to believe that a random K-State poster has closer connections to the Mizzou coaching staff than numerous Mizzou insiders that have called moves before they've been announced publicly for years, be my guest. I guess that's really all you have left now that it is obvious Mizzou is leaving the Big Leftover for $EC. [Reply]
I hope MU makes the switch. Well as long as they up their ante on athletic spending which they will have to do to stay competitive. I think it will/should take them to the next step.
This is coming from a nonMU fan. The b12 is dying, their only hope is a merger with the bEAST into a new conference. Even though the bEAST is the best conference name ever.
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
- Do you have proof that Mizzou didn't inform the Big 12 that they were withdrawing?
- It's hilarious watching you try to compare being wrong on what day an event will be announced (that involves numerous potential legal entanglements) against actually calling the f#cking move before anyone was talking about it.
- If you want to believe that a random K-State poster has closer connections to the Mizzou coaching staff than numerous Mizzou insiders that have called moves before they've been announced publicly for years, be my guest. I guess that's really all you have left now that it is obvious Mizzou is leaving the Big Leftover for $EC.
I'm not believing anyone because as of this point, nobody has been right. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
I'm not believing anyone because as of this point, nobody has been right.
A lot of people have been right, but no one has been 100% right on every minute detail because these situations are obviously very fluid. How else can you explain the SEC having a full press release written announcing Mizzou to the conference dated for last Saturday, one day after Mizzou was supposedly withdrawing? Is the SEC out of the loop too on their own expansion? [Reply]
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
A lot of people have been right, but no one has been 100% right on every minute detail because these situations are obviously very fluid. How else can you explain the SEC having a full press release written announcing Mizzou to the conference dated for last Saturday, one day after Mizzou was supposedly withdrawing? Is the SEC out of the loop too on their own expansion?
If the press release was dated Saturday, MU wasn't actually withdrawing from the Big 12 until Monday per PowerMizzou.com & his "3 separate sources".
I mean, how could 3 separate sources hear the exact same thing and be wrong on announcement that is supposed to happen tomorrow? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
If the press release was dated Saturday, MU wasn't actually withdrawing from the Big 12 until Monday per PowerMizzou.com & his "3 separate sources".
I mean, how could 3 separate sources hear the exact same thing and be wrong on announcement that is supposed to happen tomorrow?
Probably making it all up and have just been really lucky up to that point. You figured it out bro.
Why did the SEC have a press release written with the wrong date? Wouldn't they know the date Mizzou was joining? [Reply]
SEC officials said Friday that the league's web vendor mistakenly published a news release Thursday night announcing Missouri as the conference's newest member.
Missouri officials are currently deciding whether to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. But, judging from the news release published on the SEC's website for a few minutes Thursday night, Missouri apparently already has made up its mind.
The news story on the SEC site had a release date of Oct. 31. [Reply]
SEC officials said Friday that the league's web vendor mistakenly published a news release Thursday night announcing Missouri as the conference's newest member.
Missouri officials are currently deciding whether to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. But, judging from the news release published on the SEC's website for a few minutes Thursday night, Missouri apparently already has made up its mind.
The news story on the SEC site had a release date of Oct. 31.
I was thinking after reading the press release it was intended for this upcoming Monday not this past Monday. I guess this will take all the "surprise" if MU does announce on Monday. [Reply]
So can someone give me a rundown of all the conference moves that have taken place so far this year? I'm not reading 8000 posts. I'd appreciate it. [Reply]