Directional schools and commuter schools which is why the B12 should add no more than one AAC school if they have to. If WV stays, then you add Cincy & BYU. If they leave, then you add Houston and you take a state flagship school in Colorado State in addition to BYU. Memphis' academics make them a non-starter and if anyone has attended a Liberty Bowl, their stadium and the surroundings are certainly not B12 quality. And there is absolutely no point expanding beyond 10.
Expansion Candidates
- Thread starter CYCLNST8
- Start date
We facing a 20 million budget cut. You don’t say no to the best program to add due to petty things like this.
Then how can you ignore Houston? There is 3 games with in state schools and then OSU in the region. They will increase number of viewers per game more than anyone.
Hate Cincy fans, hate BYU fans, hate Memphis fans, have UCF fans, SMU fans are a bunch of pretentious ********, and I haven't even thought enough to care about USF, Houston, or Colorado State. UNLV would be ok but we'll see how this game goes this year. Boise is a lot of fun I suppose.
Give those schools with huge alumni's a chance of big boy status for 20 years and they could blow right by us.
Boise is a non starter just based on a blue football field.
I read everyone's comments in this thread and I really don't want to be negative/debbie downer BUT...
You're all acting like all these schools are dying to get into the Big12 based on past expansion interest. Let's be real. They wanted to join the Big12 that had UT and OU as well as a great revenue model. The fact that they know OU and UT are leaving and we did not hear ANY rumors about any of these schools reaching out to the Big12 to join should tell you all you need to know.
Many of them might look at their current conferences and not think it is any worse than what is left of the Big12 without UT and OU. Add in the uncertainty of what our next TV contract may look like and they might just see this as jumping from a sinking ship onto another sinking ship. They may try to just wait it out for a potential invite to the inevitable P4 expansion.
Just my two cents.
You're all acting like all these schools are dying to get into the Big12 based on past expansion interest. Let's be real. They wanted to join the Big12 that had UT and OU as well as a great revenue model. The fact that they know OU and UT are leaving and we did not hear ANY rumors about any of these schools reaching out to the Big12 to join should tell you all you need to know.
Many of them might look at their current conferences and not think it is any worse than what is left of the Big12 without UT and OU. Add in the uncertainty of what our next TV contract may look like and they might just see this as jumping from a sinking ship onto another sinking ship. They may try to just wait it out for a potential invite to the inevitable P4 expansion.
Just my two cents.
That's been my worry when i've heard chris and blum talking about 'adding a few schools just to get by for 5-10 years'. Would other schools want to leave what they have (lower money but stable) for a conference where half the members are looking for the first exit out the door? Would they try to require a GoR to this conference that would make it harder for us to leave if a Pac\B1G invite came down the road?
Nah. The Big 12 even without Texas and Oklahoma is a pretty clear upgrade from the AAC.
For one, the Big 12 schools have all been power conference schools their entire histories other than TCU for a 16 year period. For the most part that isn’t the case for the AAC schools.
As we’ve seen from in-depth analysis, the remaining Big 12 schools average much better TV ratings than the AAC.
UCF is the only school in the AAC that ever has higher attendance than any of the Big 12 schools not named Kansas.
The Big 12 would just be a qualitatively and quantitatively better situation for any of AAC schools. Even if the conference falls apart, it’s not like they wouldn’t be able to find a landing place that’s at least as good as what they have now.
Last edited:
I hear what you're saying, but wouldn't all these schools (who've previously wanted to join the Big12) have been beating down our door when they heard OU and UT were leaving? They would have known that it would be the perfect time for the conference to make some additions, but we did not hear anything. I think that simple fact speaks volumes.
I think there’s a lot of uncertainty about what the Big 12 schools are going to do and if the conference will even exist.
AAC teams would 100% join.
They’d get more $$$ out of a diminished Big 12 than they would from the AAC deals.
The Big 12 might be able to cling to “major” status through quality of its play, too, or a streaming company writing it a big check.
Can always go back to the American later.
They’d get more $$$ out of a diminished Big 12 than they would from the AAC deals.
The Big 12 might be able to cling to “major” status through quality of its play, too, or a streaming company writing it a big check.
Can always go back to the American later.
Hate Memphis fans? I attended the two most recent Liberty Bowls ISU played in. We beat the home team in 2017, and their fans were gracious and very complimentary.
I’m not. Based on my online blogger and YouTube channel research, I hear a recurring theme of: the other Texas schools don’t really want them.
I also question the need for another Texas team. I’d rather expand into new territories.
#! BYU: This is not even close in my mind. The reality is, if they were
Yes.... if you add within geography you could add teams like cincy, mem, or hou for example. My point was, for football (which is driving realignment and media deals), you likely want byu and ucf. The size and media value of those two just make them really attractive for any new media deals you need to sign post ou/tx.
The main issue is they are outside the current footprint and travel would be an issue for other sports (imho). Plus if it's football only the Sunday issue with byu is not a big issue... for other sports it could be a bit more difficult.
One other option would be to partner/merge with the Big East for all sports outside of football (would be a nice BB conf) and add UConn as a full member (Uconn is already a member of Big East for all sports except Football - they are independent in FB). Finally, add byu as football only and you end up with a decent conference in both bb and football with the majority of the footprint in midwest and east coast for olympic sports.
Yes.... if you add within geography you could add teams like cincy, mem, or hou for example. My point was, for football (which is driving realignment and media deals), you likely want byu and ucf. The size and media value of those two just make them really attractive for any new media deals you need to sign post ou/tx.
The main issue is they are outside the current footprint and travel would be an issue for other sports (imho). Plus if it's football only the Sunday issue with byu is not a big issue... for other sports it could be a bit more difficult.
One other option would be to partner/merge with the Big East for all sports outside of football (would be a nice BB conf) and add UConn as a full member (Uconn is already a member of Big East for all sports except Football - they are independent in FB). Finally, add byu as football only and you end up with a decent conference in both bb and football with the majority of the footprint in midwest and east coast for olympic sports.
Again, we can agree to disagree. I don't think it's petty. Furthermore travel out there will be extremely expensive, and again I don't think the nominal value of BYU versus Memphis is a huge amount. Maybe I'm wrong and that's certainly possible.