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.
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Originally Posted by BWillie:
BEST REALISTIC CASE SCENARIO FOR THE BIG 12??
1. Arizona, Oregon, and Washington to reach 16
2. Arizona to reach 14
3. Arizona, Arizona State & UCONN to reach 16
4. Arizona, Arizona State & Utah to reach 16
5. Arizona State to reach 14
6. UCONN to reach 14.
7. Utah to reach 14.
First of all, none of the ACC schools at least at this point is a realistic option until their GOR runs out or gets closer to running out. I think obviously the Big 12 wants Oregon, Washington and Arizona. I think the most likely team to go to the Big 12 if it is only one team is Arizona. I'm sure Arizona prefers to bring Arizona State but what difference does it make to bring them both from a Big 12 perspective? The same thing for Utah as the conference already has BYU. I think Houston may be an exception because of just how valuable being deeply entrenched in the Texas market is in terms of value. Texas is just kind of a different state/area for football than any other area/state.
You can tell the Big 12 is clearly thinking in terms of TV revenue and geographic exposure as they made sure to get UCF to get the Florida market and Cincinnati to get the rustbelt market and then BYU to get the Utah area market. I think the Big 12 wants UCONN more than people think and wants Utah less than they think.
What say you?
4 works fine for me. Really solidifies a SW presence and you dominate most of that market
Colorado, BYU, Utah, Zona, Zona St. I mean you've got a mix of great history with a few of them. Solid football programs. And just continue to build the best basketball conference as well.
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Originally Posted by Old Dog:
1....Four four-team pods and call it a day. If Oregon or UW get a B10 invite later, so be it. Then you move east in a few years if need be or get whoever else you'd want that's left in the west.
Pass on the pods. Protected rivals is the way to go. Similar to pods, but better.
Just for an example,
Iowa state- KState, Oklahoma state, Kansas
Kansas- Colorado, KState, Iowa state
Colorado- BYU, Arizona, Kansas
I just threw out teams so obviously that might not be the actual ones, but that’s the route I’d prefer. Hit the teams each school would want to play yearly the best you can. #1 and #2 conference record play in the conference championship.
Some schools obviously will have to build new rivalry’s.
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