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.
As bad as KU football is, could you imagine what this might have looked like had it taken place in say, oh, 1987.
A thought experiment - say right after the death penalty of SMU, the power players of the college football world feared the over reach of the NCAA and said enough was enough and started what we’re seeing now.
TLDR - When it comes to college football, nobody does it worse than Kansas State. After 93 years of trying to play the game, the Wildcats' record is 299-509-41, dead last among the 106 schools in Division I-A. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
I’d rather watch my chosen team win than care how much money they make.
This goes for anything, not just KU.
I understand that. But do you understand that when it comes to conference alignment the powers that be actually DO care about money? And that the conference you're in DOES matter? Thankfully you're not in charge of these things because KU would end up in the mountain west destroying them in basketball. I for one do not want to be Gonzaga. [Reply]
Kentucky's revenue for basketball is still well behind football, though. IIRC, the only program a few years ago that was Power 5 that had their basketball team out generate football was Louisville.
I will say I am shocked KU and UK are both that large in terms of viewership/national draw as basketball typically doesn't outdraw football.
I'd guess those 2, along with maybe UNC and Duke, probably pull the strongest television numbers.
KU should be fine with landing somewhere-national fanbase for basketball and AAU for academics. Only downside is TV market, but regionally speaking they make sense for B1G. [Reply]
Here is an example of the pods based mostly on geography and somewhat on competitiveness (though D could get pretty rugged) …
Pod A
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Tennessee
Pod B
Alabama
Auburn
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Pod C
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Missouri
Pod D
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Pod C & D probably would not be like that. Also, Texas A&M would throw a shitfit if they were stuck in a pod like that with Texas.
For Mizzou, from a competitive standpoint, Pod C is an 'easier' pod. That said, Pod D makes more sense for them for recruiting. Also, renews an old Big 8 rivalry and the SEC has been 'pushing' the border rivalry between Mizzou-Arkansas and trying to make something out of it.
So i think it's more likely that if they went to a Pod system, you would see Mizzou and Texas A&M flipped.
Here is an example of the pods based mostly on geography and somewhat on competitiveness (though D could get pretty rugged) …
Pod A
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Tennessee
Pod B
Alabama
Auburn
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Pod C
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Missouri
Pod D
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Kentucky doesn’t have much of a historic/geographic rivalry with either Auburn or Alabama, unlike Tennessee or LSU(they played them like 40 or 50 years straight until the mid-late 2000s).
For rivalry perspective, Kentucky should be in same pod of at least 1 of Florida/Tennessee along with Vandy.
I also don’t think you can separate Vandy from Tennessee [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
Kentucky's revenue for basketball is still well behind football, though. IIRC, the only program a few years ago that was Power 5 that had their basketball team out generate football was Louisville.
I will say I am shocked KU and UK are both that large in terms of viewership/national draw as basketball typically doesn't outdraw football.
I'd guess those 2, along with maybe UNC and Duke, probably pull the strongest television numbers.
KU should be fine with landing somewhere-national fanbase for basketball and AAU for academics. Only downside is TV market, but regionally speaking they make sense for B1G.
I mean not to cherry pick but: KU-Duke 2018 Elite 8 game drew 15.6m viewers
The Bama-Ohio State FB title game in January this year was 18.7
People act like college FB is soooo popular and BB isn’t.....but that’s false [Reply]