Topic: New Big 12 Member Search

[LuketheDrifter]

Louisville isn't a bad choice I just don't see them leaving the Big East. If they were still in CUSA I would see it. Arkansas doesn't seem plausible for the same reason.

[Cynical Puppet]

Louisville would be a sexy pick imo. I think the Big East is going to fold before long anyways. Might as well grab who we can.

[LuketheDrifter]

They could be the deepest basketball conference in the country right now they won't fold. They lose a Rutgers and Pitt they just become a better basketball school with Memphis.

[Bone Crusher]

Louisville and Memphis as a pair to expanding the Big 12 would be great.  If we could add BYU and Utah at the same time, that would be a 16 team conference.  The only hangup would be the divisions.

If BYU and Utah were invited, I strongly believe that CU would remain as a member of this conference.

I'm not sure if Lousiville would leave the Big East at the moment and they are tied with Memphis when it comes to rivalaries and that is why Memphis is in talks with the Big East right now.

[Bone Crusher]

http://www.thursdaynightfootball.com/fbs-college-football-25-predictions-circa-2020/

25 predictions for college football up to the year 2020.  New Mexico, BYU, and CSU would join the Big 12 after CU bolts for the Pac-10 and becomes the Big 14 in the process.

Some of those predictions do have legs.  I have talked about how inevitable it is for a new SWC to emerge.

The Big 12 and Pac-10 has been rumored to be launching a "BigPac" TV network but the Pac-10 joining the Big 10 network seems like the most likely outcome.

[architechguy]

Since the Big 12 and Pac 10 already have a deal with ABC, we could do something similar to the ACC and SEC with an early season series of head to head matchups.  The Chick Fil A Kickoff in Atlanta every year is a huge success, we should do something similar to that but on a larger scale.  ABC would already have exclusive rights to the deal so it would be a ratings bonanza for them.  Try this on for size, 5 games at 5 neutral sites.  Pulling five names out of a hat, let's say Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego and Denver.  Take the top 5 teams from each conference by record and match them up, this way it's a best of five series.  Putting a lot term deal like that in place is a ratings and sponsorship guarantee for the conference and network and a valuable bargaining chip for the next round of broadcast rights negotiations.

[LynchMob42]

Louisville sounds good to me. They have a great basketball history. They've proven they have the money and desire to compete in football as well. Memphis does not have that on the football side.

Memphis would have to make a big commitment to football to be invited. CSU, BYU, Louisville and Memphis would be a good group of four to make a 16-team conference.

[architechguy]

So if the Big 12 expands beyond 12 teams, would you guys rather have 14 or 16 teams?  Or a different number? 

Personally, I think 16 is too many for basketball and football.  The Big East basketball tournament is a huge fustercluck with 16 teams.  The football schedule would be pretty cumbersome too.  You'd have 7 games against your division, and only one against the other division.  So it would take 16 years to play a home and home against every team from the other division.  Even if you bumped it up to a 9 game conference schedule, it would take 8 years to play all those teams.  Then, as the Pac 10 has learned, a 9 game schedule opens up a can of worms that is harmful to the conference, you end up costing teams a winning record and a bowl game by creating more 4-5 teams.  That only encourages them to schedule patsies in the non conference to ensure they go 3-0 before conference play.

I'd rather see a 14 team conference, 7 teams per division.  That way, you have a division schedule of 3 home games, 3 road games and one each against the opposite division.

[thedrUNKenLoper]

14 is fine with me 16 is a mess like Archie said and the Big East prooves in hoops

[Bone Crusher]

14 is fine with me 16 is a mess like Archie said and the Big East prooves in hoops

This conference is heavily based on football so going to 16 teams wouldn't be much of an issue.  I don't care if the basketball coaches cry about having 24 conference games (16 round robin plus .

I really do love the idea of adding BYU, Utah, CSU, and Air Force to the Big 12.  That would set back the Pac-10 for a long time.  I'm honestly bothered by how often Dan Beebe has spoken out on this thing (almost nothing to this point).

Figuring out which two teams would get moved to a division would be the tricky part.  I believe we would need a Southwest and Northeast split in this instance so I'll go with my choices based on this map.



Southwest:

Baylor
BYU
Colorado
CSU
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Utah

Northeast:

Air Force
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

[thedrUNKenLoper]

BC why does Air Force get kicked to the northeast when its in the south central part of Colorado?

[Blackshirts]

If we are going to go 16 why not really break the mold?  4x4teams you play two teams from each other division in a home and home for a 9 game schedule 4 team conference playoff with each division winner

[LynchMob42]

BC why does Air Force get kicked to the northeast when its in the south central part of Colorado?

I immediately thought the same thing, but it's hard to choose any of the other "Southwest" teams to move.

[thedrUNKenLoper]

Here is how I'd tweak things from the pool BC came up with.

Southwest:
Baylor
BYU
Colorado moved to Northeast
CSU moved to Northeast
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Utah

Northeast:
Air Force
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma moved to Southeast
Oklahoma State moved to Southeast

I'd probably come up with different division names also.

[usarmymike]

I think you guys should be planning on losing 2 or even 3 schools not one.  I honesty believe the Big 10 will expand to 14 and the Pac to 12 or 14.  If thats the case both MU and CU will be gone.  The Bug 12 could lose KU or NU as well to the Big 10 and lose out on Utah.  If the Pac 10 decidd to go to 14 then I think they would add BYU as well.

If 2 leave The big 12 should expand to 14( i think 16 is way to big) and add NM, TCU Louisville and Memphis.  NM, TCU and Louisville all want to be good in football and all but TCU are good in basketball.  If a 3rd school leaves add either LA Tech or SMU.  I say LA Tech,  You add another state and it would only help La Tech.  The conference would stay at the BCS level this way and keep it rom becoming the SWC again

[Bone Crusher]

I think you guys should be planning on losing 2 or even 3 schools not one.  I honesty believe the Big 10 will expand to 14 and the Pac to 12 or 14.  If thats the case both MU and CU will be gone.  The Bug 12 could lose KU or NU as well to the Big 10 and lose out on Utah.  If the Pac 10 decidd to go to 14 then I think they would add BYU as well.

If 2 leave The big 12 should expand to 14( i think 16 is way to big) and add NM, TCU Louisville and Memphis.  NM, TCU and Louisville all want to be good in football and all but TCU are good in basketball.  If a 3rd school leaves add either LA Tech or SMU.  I say LA Tech,  You add another state and it would only help La Tech.  The conference would stay at the BCS level this way and keep it rom becoming the SWC again

I imagine the Big 12 could add CSU as to deliver a final wound to CU but CSU doesn't get the left coast TV numbers that CU would provide so losing CU would still hurt but retaining the Denver market would be good for the Big 12.  I saw that CSU has raised half of the $40 million dollar project that has already built the indoor facility for many sports and the student academic support center so there is no reason to doubt that CSU could get it done.  Upon closer inspection, it seems like CSU's stadium is designed exactly like MU's stadium so CSU could use MU's stadium as a blueprint to expand their stadium.  The positive thing about CSU's stadium is that it is already built into a hill so construction costs would be minimal.

I have still not counted out the possibility that the Big 12 counter-offers the Pac-10 by offering to take in both Utah and BYU.  If that happens, the Pac-10 doesn't have many good options and will be forced to admit the teams that they don't really want to admit in the first place.  It's also possible the Pac-10 expands to 14 by admitting BYU, CU, CSU, and Utah.  That would lock up the entire western United States and there is talk that the Big Ten Network will become a Big Ten/Pac-10 Network.

So many possibilities that one could dream.  If the Big 12 manages to invite BYU and Utah, there's no way CU leaves for the Pac-10 and if MU leaves, TCU could just become the 7th South team.

[usarmymike]

i think that adding Utah and BYU would be great for the conference if MU does leave.  I wouldn't go with TCU though.  You would have to look at adding another state.  Salt lake is not going to make up for th lost STL market and half of KC.  New Mexico and LA Tech/Tulane would be a much better option.

[Bone Crusher]

i think that adding Utah and BYU would be great for the conference if MU does leave.  I wouldn't go with TCU though.  You would have to look at adding another state.  Salt lake is not going to make up for th lost STL market and half of KC.  New Mexico and LA Tech/Tulane would be a much better option.

The Big 12 would be wise to go after New Mexico because based on my visits to Albquerque and what I have learned about the Pac-10 schools, UNM is clearly a future Pac-10 school because they have their own medical center just like CU and Utah which seems to be a requirement to be part of the Pac-10.  Some people have been speculating that UNM isn't much different from Arizona & Arizona State before they joined the Pac-8 in 1978.  If BYU isn't invited and Utah, CU, CSU are invited, UNM could be that 14th school.

[Gig Em 05]

The Big 12 is a great athletics conference, but our major problem is market redundancy, particularly in already small TV markets. If we lose either Colorado and Missouri, this conference is in trouble because Denver, St. Louis and KC are the largest non-Texas population centers and largest non-Texas TV markets in the Big 12. If we lose them the next three largest Big 12 North TV markets are:

1) Witchita (69)
2) Des Moines-Ames (72)
3) Omaha (76)


Yeah...

So really, IMHO, the best picks for potential replacement (and none are truly replacements) are:

Utah or BYU - The SLC market is the best replacement we can get. Its about the same size as KC.

UNM -Albuquerque-Santa Fe is the next best market, at #44 it's just ahead of OKC and Austin

Louisville or Memphis - both are ranked at #49/#50, just ahead of NOLA. Both are basketball schools but IMHO Louisville is the better pick up. 

[usarmymike]

What about Tulane  I think this would really help them in football for recuiting and you would get the NO market. What is that city ranked?

[thedrUNKenLoper]

Tulane is a poor AD I don't think we want to touch that school.

[architechguy]

We wouldn't lose the Kansas City market, KU and KSU would hold that fort down.

[usarmymike]

We wouldn't lose the Kansas City market, KU and KSU would hold that fort down.

Haha.  I dont think so.  Look at recuiting in that area and you'll see who owns KC.  MU only lost out on one recuit, Dexter McDonald to KU,  that they had offered.  From what I had heard, MU pulled his offer anyway.

The Big 12 will still keep KC to a degree but they wll loss atleast half of its market if not more.

[Cynical Puppet]

Haha.  I dont think so.  Look at recuiting in that area and you'll see who owns KC.  MU only lost out on one recuit, Dexter McDonald to KU,  that they had offered.  From what I had heard, MU pulled his offer anyway.

The Big 12 will still keep KC to a degree but they wll loss atleast half of its market if not more.

I doubt in this case recruiting is a significant tell-tale sign that KC is controlled, tv wise, by MU.

[usarmymike]

I doubt in this case recruiting is a significant tell-tale sign that KC is controlled, tv wise, by MU.

Mostkids go to schools that they are fans of.  If most of the top level recruits (even the Kansas side of KC)  are going to MU ,  how is that not a sign of who is being watched on TV.

Now If mU were to go to the Big 11, then their games would be on TV even week and KU and KSU would only be on 4 or so time a year.  MU would control even more of that market insteadof just half