Big 12 in 2016

[blackattack]

Well, whatever ESPN wants, they will get. They will broker a deal to get what they want. If they want UT and OK to leave prior to the GOR, they will find a way to make it happen. History is repeating itself here from what we learned with the Big East. Would ESPN allow Texas to form a 20- team league? http://www.metro.us/sports/big-12-ex...NStsobQvwnWQ2/

With each passing day these stories get more and more bizarre. I just read the article at the above link and here's a direct quote:

"The issue for Texas is revenue; if they join the Pac 12 they don't make more than they are now [and] they don't view the SEC or Big 10 as an option ... So the only route for Texas to go is to build something different, not new, but different ... I believe Nebraska wants to return to the Big 12 because multiple sources from different businesses hv said they are exploring it and Texas and Nebraska are not the enemies people made them out to be."

I can believe the first part of this quote about Texas not wanting to join another P5 (for obvious reasons not the least of which is loss of power and money).
But the second part of this quote about Nebraska wanting to come back and link up with Texas??.............if that's true then hades has offically frozen over.

[longtimefan]

I wouldn't bet on Nebraska coming back. This is just more speculation, but probably as reliable as any other stuff we're hearing. The people who really know aren't leaking anything. We just have to keep waiting. If the Big 12 is as messed up as all these supposed experts speculate, is it even worth joining?

[richard k.]

I wouldn't bet on Nebraska coming back. This is just more speculation, but probably as reliable as any other stuff we're hearing. The people who really know aren't leaking anything. We just have to keep waiting. If the Big 12 is as messed up as all these supposed experts speculate, is it even worth joining?

I have little interest in joining the Big 12, BUT if the offer comes you MUST accept it, if for no other reasons than the money and the positioning of being inside the P5 if/when further realignment occurs. The conference itself isn't much as Texas A&M, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska decided, with Texas trying to run it for its own purposes, everyone else be damned.

[coach]

I wouldn't bet on Nebraska coming back. This is just more speculation, but probably as reliable as any other stuff we're hearing. The people who really know aren't leaking anything. We just have to keep waiting. If the Big 12 is as messed up as all these supposed experts speculate, is it even worth joining?

I think that rumor was later attributed to someone who completely made it up to illustrate a point on the meaninglessness of all this speculation.

[longtimefan]

I will say that playing this out in public was completely ridiculous and has hurt the image of the Big 12. I really assumed that after hiring professional outside firms to check out the candidates that they would have done their homework and would have announced the new teams on July 17. Because they didn't do that, there have been 3 months of badmouthing the expansion candidates (nobody is worthy, which is BS) and hurt the image of the expansion candidates and the league as a whole. Had they acted on July 17 they would be in a lot stronger position today. Not saying they should have stabbed another conference in the back like the ACC did, but they should have been decisive from the beginning, and the fact that they weren't has hurt the reputation of the conference far worse than any supposed watering down from adding new teams.

The Big 12 still has a chance to survive, but they have to start that now by expanding and then rebuilding what they have. If Oklahoma and Texas truly think they can do better they are mistaken; they can't. Wherever they would end up they would simply be a conference member, not The Conference Member as they believe they are now. Neither fan base would be very happy for very long. Honestly, the only future for Texas outside the Big 12 is to go independent; the other conferences are too proud and too established to tolerate their nonsense.

[Lobot]

OU will apparently sit tight and let the pressure mount on other school. They want to expand but bows not the time apparently. Getting most of this from Flugaur.

I'll add that this is Red River weekend in Dallas which could result in some interesting comments from Boren and Fenves. I could possibly be at the Texas State Fair tomorrow and I'm going to wear UC gear and see if I can't talk to some of the fans on the street, if there are any while the game is going on. ( the fair is dead during the actual game).

[bearcatbret]

OU and UT are in the drivers seat. The question is does ESPN want OU and UT to save the Big 12? http://www.espn.com/college-football...-12-do-want-to

[coach]

OU and UT are in the drivers seat. The question is does ESPN want OU and UT to save the Big 12? http://www.espn.com/college-football...-12-do-want-to

I think the answer is likely no. However, i do not think Texas is in the driver's seat compared to the Rolls Royce they are driving now with their own network. None of these other p5 conferences is going to let them dominate their conference's business.

[bearcatbret]

^I agree. Several articles say that UT's only option is to go independent. Their best option is to keep the Big 12 solvent.

[Lobot]

7 day warning for Big 12 Board of Governors meeting. on Oct. 17. I don't expect much to be accomplished. Someone asked me this morning if would hear whether we're in or out at this meeting. My answer is if they choose to not expand at at all then we probably find out next week. If they're still waffling on teams then it probably gets tabled to December because there's no consensus on anyone but us and last time I checked we didn't have 8 votes either. We're stuck at 7 as far as I know.

[longtimefan]

7 day warning for Big 12 Board of Governors meeting. on Oct. 17. I don't expect much to be accomplished. Someone asked me this morning if would hear whether we're in or out at this meeting. My answer is if they choose to not expand at at all then we probably find out next week. If they're still waffling on teams then it probably gets tabled to December because there's no consensus on anyone but us and last time I checked we didn't have 8 votes either. We're stuck at 7 as far as I know.

Sounds about right. But quite frankly if they wait until the end of the year how could they expect the new teams to compete in 2017? If they do act in December with the idea that the new teams are available in 2017 that is a really poor way to treat both the new teams and the conferences they would be leaving. So I believe that if they do expand we should find out on Monday, otherwise new teams begin in 2018, which gives them one less year to receive the enhanced TV money before the whole thing blows up. So either way waiting until the end of the year is a really bad deal for somebody.

[Lobot]

There is a presser scheduled by the BIg 12 after the meeting on Monday.

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/coll...s-already-lost

[Lobot]

McMurphy is out there saying the Big 12 is not going to expand. Not sure if that's reporting or the ESPN company line for the week.

[bearcatjd]

My guess is that there is no expansion. My goodness I hope I'm wrong & UC does get an invite. But I wouldn't bet on it.

[London 'Cat]

I said it before, and I stand behind it now, UC is not getting an invitation to join the BigXII Conference. If they expand, UC will not be among the schools invited. But my best guess is that the conference will stay put with 10 members and then they will renegotiate the television deal. This was their only objective from the beginning. They just used all the possible expansion schools for negotiating leverage with the networks.