The Big East super basketball conference, maybe? If VaTech and NCState go SEC; FSU and Clemson go Big12; GaTech and UVA got Big10; maybe two more teams go Big12. At that point, maybe you just merge the BigEast into the ACC?
With it looking like the Big 10 and SEC are on the verge of going to 16 teams, it really makes you wonder who the Pac 12 would pick up if they ever decide to expand beyond 12 teams.
Geographically, they don't seem to have a lot of options. Since this is all about markets, Boise State seems out. BYU would make some sense if the two sides could get over religion issues (culture, sports on Sundays, etc). The other options are all in the Big12, but I don't know how ironclad the media rights grants are.
My guess as to what happens when all this crap is over with: *Italics denotes new addition ACC Duke Miami (FL) Wake Forest Pittsburgh South Florida Syracuse UConn Navy Notre Dame* (semi-member) Possibly any of Villanova, UMass, UCF, and Temple Possibly multiple Big East BBall schools Big 12 Baylor Iowa St Kansas Kansas St Oklahoma Oklahoma St TCU Texas Texas Tech West Virginia Florida State Clemson NC State or North Carolina Georgia Tech Louisville Cincinatti Big Ten Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Michigan St Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio St Penn St Purdue Wisconsin Rutgers Maryland Boston College Virginia or Virginia Tech Pacific-12 Arizona Arizona St California Colorado Oregon Oregon St Stanford UCLA USC Utah Washington Washington St SEC Alabama Arkansas Auburn Florida Georgia Kentucky LSU Mississippi Mississippi St Missouri South Carolina Tennessee Texas A&M Vanderbilt Virginia or Virginia Tech North Carolina or NC State I don't think BYU or ND join a conference. BYU is too crazy and ND is about to probably win a national title or something thus causing them to think they're better than everybody else for the next 3 decades.
I do wish all the conference commishs and the school Presidents would get into a room and take care of all this once and for all - maybe even have ESPN televise it. Right now, it's like a slow motion train wreck that causes all sorts of chaos every year and keeps blowing up league plans and schedules and TV contracts.
The general fraudulence of the NCAA, the conferences, the bowls, the BCS, etc and the exploitation of athletes deserves nothing less than an ugly greedy catfight like this.
Blew up in his face? Scott got approval on the condition that the LHN either be dropped or folded into the Big 12 network. He thought he could get UT to make concessions. He couldn't, UT became a not-viable option, and OU/OSU weren't worth the hassle by themselves. I heard the same story from folks on the Mizzou side and folks not connected to any school. It wasn't just Chip Brown. I grew up a diehard Longhorn fan. Attended both Rose Bowls. I'm certainly not out to get UT. As far as A&M, the "issue" was the LHN and the competitive disadvantage. That's it. They were perfectly happy with the Big 12. It was the control issue and UT wielding so much power that drove them nuts. That point was hammered home in the summer of 2010, when the conference lost Nebraska/Colorado and responded by giving UT everything it wanted. The right to create the LHN, refusal to add new members and "tiered" payouts. Even though the latter worked to the financial benefit of A&M, they didn't like the inequity and hated UT calling the shots. Comparing the Big East to the Big 12 is apples and oranges. The Big East was never an elite football conference. Never truly one of the big boys. Obviously ripe for the picking. With UT and OU, the Big 12 is ALWAYS among the big boys. And I'm not talking about adding a middling program like Memphis. I'm talking about adding West Virginia and TCU one year earlier. The reason additions can bring stability is that they help schools on the back end. The Kansas and Kansas State schools have more voices in their lobby. They have schools they can compete with in football resources. And they have a conference championship game to always give them hope (see KSU vs. OU, 2003). Instead, going down to 10 puts even more power in the UT lobby, and that's not a model for long-term stability, even if it temporarily brings a few more dollars. It's why Mizzou looked to the SEC, and why OU/OSU tried to move to the Pac 12, even without UT.
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1439491 This column will ultimately be about Florida State and Georgia Tech and if they'd ever leave the Atlantic Coast Conference. But first things first. The Big 12 says it wants to stay at 10. The Big 12 also thought it would get Notre Dame's non-football sports and up to six football games against the Irish. Then, the ACC made like George Clooney and smooth stole the Big 12's potential date. And while the Big 12 loves the scheduling ease of everyone playing everyone with 9 conference football games and round robin schedules for basketball, the Big Ten is now at 14 schools and counting with Rutgers and Maryland. The SEC is at 14 and counting with Missouri and Texas A&M. The Pac-12 in 2010 considered a proposal to create a league with 22 schools by merging with the Big 12. Instead, the Pac-12 opted to try and lure six Big 12 schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado) before settling for Colorado and Utah. Make no mistake, the Pac-12 got its third option. But the TV money was there for Pac-12 anyway, to the tune of $3 billion for media rights packages. With Maryland and Rutgers and a 2017 TV re-negotiation, the Big Ten projects payouts of $30 million to $35 million per school in TV revenue in the near future. Texas makes that right now, thanks to $15 million per year from ESPN for the Longhorn Network. But what about the rest of the Big 12? How long will Oklahoma president David Boren be content to watch Texas and schools like Northwestern and Colorado make more money in TV revenue than the Sooners? Last September, Boren announced OU was considering all of its "conference options" and appeared to try to force Texas to go with it to the Pac-12. It didn't happen. Texas called the bluff, and ultimately the Big 12 became stable enough to land TCU and West Virginia and secure a 13-year granting of rights. Some schools are more equal than others, as they say. How long will the rest of the Big 12 be content to let Texas be the leading voice on possible expansion? Texas was one of the leading voices in the league touting Notre Dame's non-football sports to the Big 12. But then the Atlantic Coast Conference changed its all-or-nothing stance on partial members to all-or-some for the Irish. Texas and Big 12 officials hoped Notre Dame might come to them because the Irish could control their third-tier rights and develop their own TV network. But once the ACC bowed to Notre Dame, Irish officials valued the East Coast presence and academics of the ACC over new rivalries with Texas and OU and any possible new TV money. Besides, Notre Dame sort of has its own network without any of the overhead in NBC. One of the biggest arguments for the Big 12 staying at 10 is to help the league have the easiest path to a football national championship. Texas and Oklahoma have sort of agreed that no Big 12 championship game reduces the chance of an upset that could derail a league champion from playing for it all. And since Texas and OU dominated the 2000s and made multiple appearances in the national title game, those voices were heard. But things are changing. The television revenue opportunities are increasing. TV revenue pays the bills of athletic departments. And the question is how long will the argument of an easier path to a football championship going to hold up when schools are trying to keep up in the arms race? Schools with much smaller budgets than Texas and Oklahoma. Which leads everything back to Florida State and Georgia Tech. Before Notre Dame decided to cozy up to the ACC, I was told by key Big 12 sources Florida State and Georgia Tech were probably the most attractive targets the Big 12 would consider adding. Those two schools would bring huge TV markets - Atlanta and Florida - while bringing football tradition to the league. I was told it wouldn't have to happen any time soon, but that those two schools would be attractive targets down the road. With Maryland bolting the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014 and the ACC seemingly on the verge of destabilization, the question is if the Big 12 can afford to sit back and let things play out or take an aggressive stance? Keep your ears open for rumblings out of the SEC about a push that could include Alabama with support from Texas A&M and Missouri to get Florida and Georgia to relent on their opposition to adding Florida State and Georgia Tech. Louisville has been ringing the Big 12's doorbell since realignment started, but now could be a candidate to replace Maryland in the ACC. The Big 12 has done studies that show schools such as Louisville and Cincinnati don't move the meter enough in terms of television, so there is no interest in those additions at this time. The ACC outfoxed the Big 12 to get Notre Dame. Could the SEC outfox the Big 12 to get Florida State and Georgia Tech? Would the Seminoles and Yellow Jackets be open to such moves? The fact that we are even asking these questions tells you that realignment is back and everyone better be on their toes.
I understand FSU and GaTech (and Clemson for that matter) add no TV footprint to the SEC, but the SEC is where they really belong. Wouldn't surprise me if 2 of the 3 end up there and the Big 12 ends up with the one leftover.
They "belong" there because of geography? If that's what you mean, I'm pretty sure Missouri doesn't belong in the SEC. I don't think much of that stuff matters anymore....except for the Pac12, now.
Not for geography only, but that is part of it. They also have built-in arch-rivals within the conference, are football dominant, etc.
ECU & Tulane to the Big East. :shakes head :face palm It does not matter what UH does...it cannot win. The NBE is now just a glorified CUSA.
I'm a bigger fan of the SEC now more than ever. At least with the SEC I can remember what schools are still in the conference. A&M and Missouri fit in well with the old SEC schools in my opinion. I hate that the old conferences have disintegrated and we are left with patched together conferences that may make money for some schools but make no sense for fans. The big East is complete rubbish now. I don't have any interest in seeing the Coogs play a bunch of teams located a thousand miles from Houston. I would just rather have all the Texas schools, not in a major conference, just form their own conference. I don't think UT will ever allow UH or Rice to be in a major conference again. I'm quickly losing interest in the Big 12, I care very little about Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State or West Virginia.
These crummy teams make a leap then the major conferences try and move further away from the conferences that let in the crummy teams. The buffer zone can not die!
