Funny Stuff New Conference re-alignment thread

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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Update from Greg Swaim.

http://www.gregswaim.com/2011/09/con...owed-not-dead/

Last week’s threat of litigation by Baylor put some sand in the gears of conference realignment, but I’m told by several sources that the actual football season has put the pause button on more than anything else.

According to one terrific source in Los Angeles, “This thing is going to happen, but the timing is the only real issue at this point.”
Just about every media member I spoke to on the west coast is still hearing that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be going to the Pac 12, and that the two are negotiating a regional TV deal with FoxSports before everything goes through.

Many of those same sources feel like there will be two other current Big 12 teams joining the Bedlam duo, and all of those are certain that there will be at least one team from the state of Texas joining them, but the Longhorns are not necessarily the ones. Talks between UT and a third-party with the Pac 12 cannot seem to come to any common ground concerning the Longhorn Network, and one of our Arizona sources told us Thursday evening that he feels certain that UT “is going to have a very difficult time getting into any conference other than the ACC, unless they are willing to make some major sacrifices they aren’t currently willing to do.”

Texas Tech is certainly willing to go, but who would be the fourth to create the first so called “Super Conference” with the Pac 16?
That’s certainly up for debate among the west coast sources we’ve spoken to, but a straw poll seems to favor Missouri if the Longhorns don’t go west. Kansas seems to be a distant second, but most agreed that their lack of football presence would hurt the Jayhawks.

There is no doubt that talks are ongoing, and we’re told by three media sources in California to expect some big news no later than September 22nd, so we’ll continue to follow this story…and will bring in guests on this subject on the Greg Swaim Radio Show.
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