Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[SEIOWA CLONE]

The arrogance of the P12 is what did them in, when it was announced that OU and UT were leaving, the B12 was on its death bed, the only thing the P12 had to do, was offer 2 to 4 schools membership, and the conference would have folded. But instead they thought they were still at the top of the heap, and every school wanted to be a member forever and would never think of leaving.

They could have sunk the conference, instead their inaction is going to be their undoing. The B12 cannot make the same mistake, we need to go hard after the Arizona schools, offer them a full share and get them to jump, and the sit back and see who else wants to leave the sinking ship.

 

[HouClone]

Don't mistake lack of better options for unity.

Anybody from the B12 would jump at the opportunity to get into the B10 or SEC. If there's nowhere better to go, everyone might as well work together to make this as good as possible. Nobody can hurt the conference without hurting themselves in the process.

I hear ya but after dealing with OUT for 12 years, not wanting that again. Say we add Oregon and Washington. The 1st day they'll be saying what a great conference and happy they are in the Big 12. Day 2 onward, they'll be yawning and going through the motions. It'll be similar to when we were rumored to fall back to the Big East after the 2010 impeding collapse of the Big 12. Nobody was excited by that, and we all looked down on the Big East.

 

[Pope]

Seems like the long play is to monetize basketball better, which if true that it’s undervalued as a package with football, makes sense to negotiate separately? Also adds value to bring in Gonzaga potentially, and increases Arizona’s value.

Gonzaga is a top basketball program for 2 reasons:

1. They get to play home and homes every year against the likes of Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Pacific, Portland, etc. They won't fare nearly as well against a Big 12 schedule, and that's probably an understatement.
2. Mark Few is an incredible coach, a once in a program history coach for a school like Gonzaga. He's also 60 years old. He probably won't be there in several more years.

Just my opinion, but I think taking Gonzaga would be pretty short sighted. I'm guessing that several years from now, the Big 12 would have major regrets.

 

[Pope]

Went to the game there we last played, it’s a tough environment.

Especially tough environment for African American players.

 

[Die4Cy]

I hear ya but after dealing with OUT for 12 years, not wanting that again. Say we add Oregon and Washington. The 1st day they'll be saying what a great conference and happy they are in the Big 12. Day 2 onward, they'll be yawning and going through the motions. It'll be similar to when we were rumored to fall back to the Big East after the 2010 impeding collapse of the Big 12. Nobody was excited by that, and we all looked down on the Big East.

I get people having some kind of battered wife syndrome about how Texas treated the Big 12, but there isn't another team out there with the ability to throw their weight around should it come to the Big 12 the way they did. Maybe ND but that isn't even a realistic possibility. You just need to build up with the best football brand options available, the Big 12 is where the grass is greener for a change.

 

[Al_4_State]

The arrogance of the P12 is what did them in, when it was announced that OU and UT were leaving, the B12 was on its death bed, the only thing the P12 had to do, was offer 2 to 4 schools membership, and the conference would have folded. But instead they thought they were still at the top of the heap, and every school wanted to be a member forever and would never think of leaving.

They could have sunk the conference, instead their inaction is going to be their undoing. The B12 cannot make the same mistake, we need to go hard after the Arizona schools, offer them a full share and get them to jump, and the sit back and see who else wants to leave the sinking ship.

I've seen a lot of tweets/message board posts that Kliavkoff and a lot of the Pac 12 members were interested in adding the non-Baylor Remaining 8, but USC nixed the expansion knowing it would come with a GOR they were already planning not to sign.

 

[SCNCY]

I've seen a lot of tweets/message board posts that Kliavkoff and a lot of the Pac 12 members were interested in adding the non-Baylor Remaining 8, but USC nixed the expansion knowing it would come with a GOR they were already planning not to sign.

So they screwed the PAC because it was to early for them to know of their plans to move to the Big 10?

 

[Al_4_State]

So they screwed the PAC because it was to early for them to know of their plans to move to the Big 10?

Exactly. They didn't want to let that cat out of the bag.

They basically screwed the league twice. They screwed them by leaving, and screwed them by preventing them from solidifying themselves in order to hide a move they were a year away from announcing, but already knew would happen.

It's worse than anything Nebraska, Texas, Aggy, or OU did to the Big 12.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I've seen a lot of tweets/message board posts that Kliavkoff and a lot of the Pac 12 members were interested in adding the non-Baylor Remaining 8, but USC nixed the expansion knowing it would come with a GOR they were already planning not to sign.

I have heard that also, make a person wonder if the B10 did not reach out to the USC at this time and expressed an interest or USC was the one reaching it.
It just goes to prove when individual schools are more worried about their enriching their standing than the conference as a whole, it just does not work out for the "lesser" schools in the conference.

Every conference is going to take the Ohio States, ND and Texas's of the world, those schools will always have a landing spot, while the ISU, KSU and TT's hope they do.

 

[AuH2O]

I've seen a lot of tweets/message board posts that Kliavkoff and a lot of the Pac 12 members were interested in adding the non-Baylor Remaining 8, but USC nixed the expansion knowing it would come with a GOR they were already planning not to sign.

I could've seen this as a realistic possibility, and it would've been a smart play by the PAC. But that was at the time the "Big 12 has no value" narrative was strong among the PAC media dinosaurs. Never mind that at that time Oklahoma State and ISU would've been right behind USC and Oregon for TV viewership when accounting for time slot and network. The rest other than KU would've been in the top half of the new league in TV value.

Plus think about this. The new Big 12 additions certainly did not add per team value to the media deal, they were needed for volume. So it's pretty conceivable to think on a per team basis the R8-Baylor could've brought in a per team value similar to the PAC with USC and UCLA. Then when you consider Bowlsby's apocalyptic numbers, it sure seems like those R7 would've come in at a discount just to minimize the loss and have a stable conference. Not sure if it would've been enough that could've been applied to uneven revenue to keep USC, but at worst it would've given the others some more cash.

PAC 12 blew it.

 

[SCNCY]

I have heard that also, make a person wonder if the B10 did not reach out to the USC at this time and expressed an interest or USC was the one reaching it.
It just goes to prove when individual schools are more worried about their enriching their standing than the conference as a whole, it just does not work out for the "lesser" schools in the conference.

Every conference is going to take the Ohio States, ND and Texas's of the world, those schools will always have a landing spot, while the ISU, KSU and TT's hope they do.

If FriendlySpartan series of events is to be believed, I think he said the SEC came calling to USC and UCLA. They then went to the Big10 and said were going to the SEC unless you want us. Reason why I somewhat believe this is because it was announced that the Big10 media deal was going to be announced sooner than it actually did. So something must have come up to put the breaks on the announcement of the new deal.

 

[Clonehomer]

I have heard that also, make a person wonder if the B10 did not reach out to the USC at this time and expressed an interest or USC was the one reaching it.
It just goes to prove when individual schools are more worried about their enriching their standing than the conference as a whole, it just does not work out for the "lesser" schools in the conference.

Every conference is going to take the Ohio States, ND and Texas's of the world, those schools will always have a landing spot, while the ISU, KSU and TT's hope they do.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find out later that the Big10 and SEC were in communication and had a plan to announce the OuT and USC/UCLA at the same time. But, since A&M spoiled the surprise for OuT, the Big12 got a head start on the PAC. Perhaps the powers in the Big10 and SEC expected the two conferences to fold and form a consolidated 4th conference with the top half of each remaining league.

The actions of all schools and conferences with regards to TV deals and playoff agreements makes it seem like this had been discussed for a long time.

 

[Clonehomer]

If FriendlySpartan series of events is to be believed, I think he said the SEC came calling to USC and UCLA. They then went to the Big10 and said were going to the SEC unless you want us. Reason why I somewhat believe this is because it was announced that the Big10 media deal was going to be announced sooner than it actually did. So something must have come up to put the breaks on the announcement of the new deal.

I'm sure that's what they want to believe. Cause the Big10 is so pure in this whole thing. They never are the ones driving expansion, they just always seem to benefit from others starting it.

 

[cyphoon]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find out later that the Big10 and SEC were in communication and had a plan to announce the OuT and USC/UCLA at the same time. But, since A&M spoiled the surprise ...

If true, this implies that the Big 10 was already allied with the SEC when it joined the ACC/P10 alliance against the SEC. That is game of thrones level conniving.

H

 

[Malty Flannel]

Gonzaga is a top basketball program for 2 reasons:

1. They get to play home and homes every year against the likes of Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Pacific, Portland, etc. They won't fare nearly as well against a Big 12 schedule, and that's probably an understatement.
2. Mark Few is an incredible coach, a once in a program history coach for a school like Gonzaga. He's also 60 years old. He probably won't be there in several more years.

Just my opinion, but I think taking Gonzaga would be pretty short sighted. I'm guessing that several years from now, the Big 12 would have major regrets.

Villanova is a shining example of how quickly a small parochial powerhouse basketball school can regress to the mean when their generational coach retires, and I'd argue Nova has alot more resources (geography, conference, etc) than Gonzaga

 

[WhoISthis]

I'm sure that's what they want to believe. Cause the Big10 is so pure in this whole thing. They never are the ones driving expansion, they just always seem to benefit from others starting it.

Don’t think of it as “pure” think of it as archaic and lacking foresight.

Remember, Spartan was at one time adamant USC to BIG wasn’t a thing. USC/Fox had to hit Warren in the face with the opportunity he had, and even the BIG could see the leverage USC had. Plus the plan Shanks at Fox had for going all-in on BIG and making it the premier conference was something even the BIG Presidents could understand was a “yes”

 

[WhoISthis]

Villanova is a shining example of how quickly a small parochial powerhouse basketball school can regress to the mean when their generational coach retires, and I'd argue Nova has alot more resources (geography, conference, etc) than Gonzaga

But what’s their viewership drop? Nova still is a big name and pulls ratings/eyeballs

All programs are coach dependent and can regress. Look at UNC and Duke, two blue bloods.

Which ones have enough of a brand to still sell to viewers. Some in the business think Gonzaga’s brand has been elevated to the point they sell regardless of whether there’s some w/l drop off.

Given it wouldn’t cost much, I think it makes sense to invite them if otherwise the PAC gets them as a means to stay together

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Don’t think of it as “pure” think of it as archaic and lacking foresight.

Remember, Spartan was at one time adamant USC to BIG wasn’t a thing. USC/Fox had to hit Warren in the face with the opportunity he had, and even the BIG could see the leverage USC had. Plus the plan Shanks at Fox had for going all-in on BIG and making it the premier conference was something even the BIG Presidents could understand was a “yes”

Yep USC to the BIG caught me way the hell off guard. Was totally wrong on that one from everything I had heard.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I'm sure that's what they want to believe. Cause the Big10 is so pure in this whole thing. They never are the ones driving expansion, they just always seem to benefit from others starting it.

Oh the BIG 100% drove expansion with the Rutgers, Maryland, Nebraska stuff. While the Big12 had its defectors that wanted to leave the BIG is a major culprit for this absurd landscape CFB is now in.

 

[WhoISthis]

Yep USC to the BIG caught me way the hell off guard. Was totally wrong on that one from everything I had heard.

It initially caught most in the BIG off guard too, imo

In regards to placing blame, I blame OUT for 10+ years not recognizing the PAC’s weakness and capitalizing. Instead they wanted to be wingman.

Consolidation was going to happen regardless, and pac schools highest value is in BIG. Maybe 1.5x more than their value anywhere else