Bohls

[WVBlue]

Big 12 Expansion: Fateful decisions for Texas, OU and Hateful Eight
Posted October 17th, 2016
By Kirk Bohls

Story highlights

• One point of view is the Big 12 doesn’t need to grow
• The pool of viable candidates is desperate to get in a Power 5 conference
• One source at a Big 12 school says an expansion candidate offered to pay the Big 12 a whopping $50 million for an invitation

Expansion for the Big 12 is dead.

Or so it seems.

Some might say the same for the Big 12; that its demise will be linked to its instability and indecision and lack of out-of-the-box thinking. All of that will come to a head Monday when the Big 12’s presidents and chancellors deliberate and probably announce they’re standing pat.

“I’m not expecting expansion,” said one school administrator with a vested interest in the process. “I don’t see that it’s going to happen. I think on Monday everybody’s feeling it’s all coming to a screeching halt.”

If that’s true, and it probably is, the Big 12 becomes the Little 12 once more. Or Little 10. It will probably gain more money from television partners ESPN and Fox for not expanding. At least, that’s how they would sell it. But it has tooled around at least 20 schools that wanted admission and cost them upwards of $100,000 in materials, manpower and resources each to go through this unwieldy process.

And the Big 12 once again gave itself a black eye. How many is that now?

One point of view is the Big 12 doesn’t need to grow. Its 10-school makeup is perfect because it allows for round-robin play or double round-robin play in basketball, allows for bigger slices of the financial pie, provides middle-of-the-country time-zone play (with all due respect, West Virginia) and features very direct (and easier) paths to the Final Four in football and basketball because of lesser competition. All of that is probably true.

Then there's the other point of view.

The Big 12 makes the Kardashians look mature. It can’t get out of its own way. It can’t decide if it wants to expand or not. It will be swallowed up by the Big Ten and SEC.

LINK to continue (Austin American Statesman - Hook'em)


http://www.hookem.com/columns/big-12-expansion-fateful-decisions-texas-ou-hateful-eight/

 

[Buckaineer]

Bohl's wants UT in another conference-any other conference, so everything he writes has to be taken with that grain of salt.

Seriously, anyone thinking they are better off with a home schedule of Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois and Minnesota, or Duke, Wake, UNC, UVA, Pitt, SU and BC or some such make up because you aren't happy with your schedules needs their head examined.

The biggest problem with the "get paid to get rid of the pro rata" idea is that A: The conference isn't protected beyond 2025. The networks threaten now that if the conference expands and asks for what they are entitled to by contract, the future is bleak for the next contract. Ok, then what guarantees are given now for if the conference DOESN'T expand to placate you for the next contracts? Because it sure would seem those networks don't care for the BIG 12 and probably aren't extending contracts at a high enough rate regardless.

and then there's B:
The BIG 12 hired consultants who determined without a shadow of a doubt that in its current configuration the BIG 12 is at a disadvantage to its peer conferences in making the playoff. 12 teams and an 8 game schedule are the best route to getting to the playoff, NOT remaining as is.
So if you take some buyout, what guarantee is there of making the playoff for the BIG 12s members? They won't have 12 teams and will have to play a guaranteed rematch which is going to mean the best team loses sometimes in a 50-50 shot there.

To do nothing probably means its time for West Virginia and others to put all time and resources from here on out towards making yourself very attractive elsewhere.

 

[OlegeezEER]

we have been hearing this expansion nonsense for years now. Anything anybody says at this point should be taken with a grain of salt. Until something actually happens assume nothing will.