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.
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
Don't think there isn't some discussion about MU helping pave the way for aTm into the SEC. If there has ever been a true offer from the SEC, then they know not following thru would make MU join the rest in the lawsuit meant to slow down the move to the SEC by aTm.
Nonsense. Mizzou has no leverage on the SEC. At this point, now that OU has nowhere to go, TA&M will be free to leave when everyone hands over their media rights and the Big 12 invites someone that the networks approve.
The reason is because if the TV contract survives, no one has any damages, and everyone drops their lawsuit threat. The SEC can carry on with the invitation anyway even if they don't sign away the right to sue because if you have no damages, you have no lawsuit. [Reply]
Haha yeah I know I dont post that much but I just feel Missouri would be overmatched in the SEC (as far as football goes). Recruiting would be hard for them.
Originally Posted by Nucky:
Haha yeah I know I dont post that much but I just feel Missouri would be overmatched in the SEC (as far as football goes). Recruiting would be hard for them.
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Nonsense. Mizzou has no leverage on the SEC. At this point, now that OU has nowhere to go, TA&M will be free to leave when everyone hands over their media rights and the Big 12 invites someone that the networks approve.
The reason is because if the TV contract survives, no one has any damages, and everyone drops their lawsuit threat. The SEC can carry on with the invitation anyway even if they don't sign away the right to sue because if you have no damages, you have no lawsuit.
You having reading comprehension issues? By any chance did you see somewhere in the post where I said they had leverage. What I inferred was that maybe, just maybe, the SEC is whispering in MU's ear.
I think you are nervously hoping everyone comes back to the Big 12 so the "leftover teams" can have a place to land.
I want my team to leave because quite frankly I'm tired of the instability and being the b**** to OU and UT. [Reply]
Six year agreement to stay together is perfect. Because after the first tier contract gets reworked in five, there is no way anyone is wanting to leave. [Reply]
I was also reading today that TCU is emerging at the favorite to be added. Personally I like them the least out of Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and BYU. Really I'd rather have South Florida too. But I guess I could see them being comfortable adding another Texas school since ones leaving even though we still have enough. Just keep working on trying to pull in ND. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RustShack:
Six year agreement to stay together is perfect. Because after the first tier contract gets reworked in five, there is no way anyone is wanting to leave.
UT and OU won't stay around that long. The Big 12 is just a placeholder till they get the deals they are looking for.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is forgetting that we say this movie once before and the end is not pretty. [Reply]
@davidubben
David Ubben
I just hope Mizzou and OU have communicated at least enough to reach a consensus on what time their game starts on Saturday. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
UT and OU won't stay around that long. The Big 12 is just a placeholder till they get the deals they are looking for.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is forgetting that we say this movie once before and the end is not pretty.
If they want to leave they might want to consider doing it before they agree to this six year commitment where the exit fees are going to be a lot more hefty. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
You having reading comprehension issues? By any chance did you see somewhere in the post where I said they had leverage. What I inferred was that maybe, just maybe, the SEC is whispering in MU's ear.
I think you are nervously hoping everyone comes back to the Big 12 so the "leftover teams" can have a place to land.
I want my team to leave because quite frankly I'm tired of the instability and being the b**** to OU and UT.
I have no problem with reading comprehension, but maybe you suck at writing. You basically said if there's a quiet deal and the SEC decides to back out on it, MU will screw the SEC over.
Bullcrap, deal or not, MU has no way, whatsoever, of even significantly inconveniencing the SEC at all.
Incidentally, if you don't get your point across, that is a stupid way to handle it if you are at all serious about an intelligent argument and not just some anonymous internet message board flamer. A normal mature person would say something like "maybe I didn't explain that clearly, what I mean is blah blah blah". An immature troll would lash out with the stupid classic "oh God, you can't read, lol" [Reply]
