The old one has AIDS.
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.
Stay tuned.
[Reply]
Originally Posted by jAZ:
From what I have posted and read from "my source" (heh)... Pac-12 feels like they have the cards. They are VERY satisfied with where they are today. They felt like UT and OU (even with TT and OSU) would improve things, but not overwhelmingly. They had a plan to let UT save face by "keeping" their network (in name only, basically) but allowing all teams to have equal money ultimately (because the Pac-12 media deal is better than what the Big-12 overall can get... and all teams in the Pac-12/6 are and would make more money than UT would in the Big-12).
But Pac-12 wanted UT, OU, KU and MU ideally. And the politics and demands of UT were becoming complicated. So the Pac-12 cut off further discuss.
They *were* interested. But on their terms.
You are right that UT felt like they wanted to get certain things and they weren't happy without those things. So in that sense UT was still holding out. But as I understand it, it's the Pac12 that walked away. Not UT.
It doesn't matter who walked out first. There's no more reason to believe that Texas was desperate to get into the Pac12 than there is to believe that the Pac12 was desperate to have them. They both saw the possibility of a benefit and pursued it for a while, but in the end, neither got what they wanted and the talks broke down. That's my point. Larry Scott's statement and your posts based on a Pac12 source are spun to cast the Pac12 in the best possible light. I'm sure DeLoss Dodds could tell the exact same story with a more favorable Texas flavor and both would be true. The Pac12 isn't crying because Texas left them at the altar but Texas isn't either.
[Reply]
Originally Posted by patteeu:
It doesn't matter who walked out first. There's no more reason to believe that Texas was desperate to get into the Pac12 than there is to believe that the Pac12 was desperate to have them. They both saw the possibility of a benefit and pursued it for a while, but in the end, neither got what they wanted and the talks broke down. That's my point. Larry Scott's statement and your posts based on a Pac12 source are spun to cast the Pac12 in the best possible light. I'm sure DeLoss Dodds could tell the exact same story with a more favorable Texas flavor and both would be true. The Pac12 isn't crying because Texas left them at the altar but Texas isn't either.
But do you really think this is the end of their conversations?
Or at minimum, do you think they might just leave Texas out of the equation and go after OU and OSU?
I guess I am different than most...I truly think Texas' ego could eventually get them in trouble. They're not ND and I don't think they would be as successful as an Independent from a standpoint of viewership.
And who's to say anyone would oblige scheduling them if the superconference ideas form around them?
In the end I am hoping to see them get their "kick in the balls".
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