Funny Stuff New Conference re-alignment thread - Page 718

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 Rams Fan:
I agree, but there's still substantial disadvantages with the new alignment geographically.

Let's use Oregon as an example.

For football, this re-alignment doesn't do much in terms of travel. May want to fly out Thursday night instead of Friday to have more time to adjust to time zones, but overall a non-factor.

Every other sport is at a disadvantage though. How are road trips going to work for every other sport? Do those teams just stay in the Midwest or East for 2 weeks? Or do they travel mid-week to go across the country before coming back on the weekend?

They don't travel by wagon. A 1 to 3 hour flight is typical on a travel day. Maybe a 4 hour flight on occasion. It's not like they're flying to Europe.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by Stewie:
They don't travel by wagon. A 1 to 3 hour flight is typical on a travel day. Maybe a 4 hour flight on occasion. It's not like they're flying to Europe.

For the western most teams, it’s a 5 hour flight to NYC if they were to fly into a major airport near Rutgers.

5 hours if they fly to BWI to play Maryland.

That’s OK for football or any sport that plays exclusively on weekends.

That would be absolute hell to fly in Monday night for a Tuesday basketball game, fly back Tuesday night, and fly out again Friday for a Saturday game for 3-4 hours.

Nebraska would be shortest flight for the furthest West teams and that’s still 3+ hours followed by flying into Chicago, which is just under 4 hours.
[Reply]

I am thinking they are going to do the two-week tour method.

It is not optimal but the athletes need to understand that this was the best long term for the university and players. Like horse racing, you need money to be top tier in college athletics.

Oregon and Washington were looking at $20 per year versus $70-80 for Big Ten teams.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by MarkDavis'Haircut:
I am thinking they are going to do the two-week tour method.

It is not optimal but the athletes need to understand that this was the best long term for the university and players. Like horse racing, you need money to be top tier in college athletics.

Oregon and Washington were looking at $20 per year versus $70-80 for Big Ten teams.

What would've been best long-term is if the Pac 12 had competent leadership, which is very clear they didn't and their last two commissioners fucked up the last decade, to secure a legitimate media rights deal instead of doing nothing.

Other than that, yes, leaving for the Big 12 or B1G was the next best thing due to the financial instability of the conference.

I think we're aligned in that they'll probably do the two weeks trip when going to the Midwest or East Coast. Otherwise, you're putting your team at even more of a disadvantage for more frequent transcontinental flights.
[Reply]