ESPN: How college football's Power 5 should expand

[East Coast Mustang]

So Ryan McGee at ESPN makes everyone on message boards everywhere (even here on PF) seem sane by comparison.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ooked-like

We're in the Big 12 along with Tulane, UH, Rice, BYU, New Mexico, and Air Force

"The Big 12 South is an Art Briles dream, a nearly all-Texas division (sorry, Texas Tech, but you were too far north) that adds newbies Houston, SMU and Rice. This is the mentality that conferences should have -- lock down the homeland! It creates old-school regional pride, revives some old-school regional rivalries, and just might help shore up defenses against the growing recruiting invasion from outside conferences (read: SEC). But what about adding new TV markets and new states? That's why we go get New Mexico and Tulane. Yeah, I said it, New Mexico and Tulane."

CHARLOTTE in the SEC along with Memphis

Cincinnati in the Big 10

UNLV, Boise, and CSU in the Pac 12



http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ooked-like

[LA_Mustang]

Of course it will never happen but it makes sense. UCF instead of Charlotte to the SEC though.

[East Coast Mustang]

Of course it will never happen but it makes sense. UCF instead of Charlotte to the SEC though.

UCF wouldnt give the SEC anything that Florida doesn't already. SEC wants Virginia or NC schools

[Pony Boss]

The way amateur sports should be all about...old school rivalries and not about money. If you want to make it about money, then colleges should no longer be tax exempt.

[Digetydog]

So Ryan McGee at ESPN makes everyone on message boards everywhere (even here on PF) seem sane by comparison.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ooked-like

We're in the Big 12 along with Tulane, UH, Rice, BYU, New Mexico, and Air Force

"The Big 12 South is an Art Briles dream, a nearly all-Texas division (sorry, Texas Tech, but you were too far north) that adds newbies Houston, SMU and Rice. This is the mentality that conferences should have -- lock down the homeland! It creates old-school regional pride, revives some old-school regional rivalries, and just might help shore up defenses against the growing recruiting invasion from outside conferences (read: SEC). But what about adding new TV markets and new states? That's why we go get New Mexico and Tulane. Yeah, I said it, New Mexico and Tulane."

CHARLOTTE in the SEC along with Memphis

Cincinnati in the Big 10

UNLV, Boise, and CSU in the Pac 12



http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ooked-like

In many ways, ESPN has been and will be driving college football expansion. Indeed, they are why I believe UConn will get a B12 invitation before Memphis.

[JasonB]

IN the past, however, ESPN has been on the side of a smaller system - 4 16 team conferences. Casting a wider net is a big change.

[Pony Boss]

It's about making the pie bigger not smaller. College football is prime entertainment and will keep growing.

[Digetydog]

It's about making the pie bigger not smaller. College football is prime entertainment and will keep growing.

The problem is that cable companies are hemorrhaging subscribers as people cut the cord to avoid horrible service and excessive pricing. Until companies like ESPN find a way to capture the revenue from a smaller subscriber base (the have lost 8M subscribers), it is going to be difficult to convince them to pay more for higher rights fees for random schools outside the P5.

[EastStang]

Hey guys, expansion will be according to the wishes of the TV suits, not the conference big wigs. Expansion will only occur if there is money in it for the networks. It matters not what the Big XII, ACC, SEC, Commissioners want, its what the suits tell them to do. Now the Big Ten and the Pac 12 dance to a different drum and have always insisted upon AAU membership to keep out the Boise's,the Cincy's and the BYU's of the world. We are not AAU. If I were SMU, I'd be aiming at that first, and then you'd have a case for being the Texas school in the Pac12 or the B1G.

[CalallenStang]

Hey guys, expansion will be according to the wishes of the TV suits, not the conference big wigs. Expansion will only occur if there is money in it for the networks. It matters not what the Big XII, ACC, SEC, Commissioners want, its what the suits tell them to do. Now the Big Ten and the Pac 12 dance to a different drum and have always insisted upon AAU membership to keep out the Boise's,the Cincy's and the BYU's of the world. We are not AAU. If I were SMU, I'd be aiming at that first, and then you'd have a case for being the Texas school in the Pac12 or the B1G.

I must have missed Arizona State, Washington State, Oregon State, and Utah getting AAU membership.

PAC has standards, but AAU isn't one of them.

[gostangs]

exactly - and AAU is mainly about research - and are therefore usually land grant or med school driven. Pac might or might not ever take us but AAU isn't a factor. With B1G it is.

[peruna81]

Florida State has a better chance of getting in and fitting in the SEC than UCF...and that is virtually a 3% chance because of UF.

SMU to the Big 12 is a dream at this time...we need to get our program going quickly and make some noise, or risk becoming the latest version of the University of Chicago.

[Pony Boss]

Florida State has a better chance of getting in and fitting in the SEC than UCF...and that is virtually a 3% chance because of UF.

SMU to the Big 12 is a dream at this time...we need to get our program going quickly and make some noise, or risk becoming the latest version of the University of Chicago.

The conversation would definitely change re: Big 12 once you have something tangible such as a few 10+ win seasons and a major bowl appearance/win. The default state of mind with many is that the program died in 1989 and will never be nothing more than a shadow to the old program. Jones proved SMU can bowl, now Chad Morris needs to prove SMU can roll with the big boys. Once that is taken care of, the narrative (even here) will change.

[peruna81]

Florida State has a better chance of getting in and fitting in the SEC than UCF...and that is virtually a 3% chance because of UF.

SMU to the Big 12 is a dream at this time...we need to get our program going quickly and make some noise, or risk becoming the latest version of the University of Chicago.

The conversation would definitely change re: Big 12 once you have something tangible such as a few 10+ win seasons and a major bowl appearance/win. The default state of mind with many is that the program died in 1989 and will never be nothing more than a shadow to the old program. Jones proved SMU can bowl, now Chad Morris needs to prove SMU can roll with the big boys. Once that is taken care of, the narrative (even here) will change.

the problem is time...we have wasted too much of it, and now the clock is ticking on the next, and perhaps final round of realignment. We need to be in it. We have very little to bring to the next conference based on our recent history.

Not a nay-sayer, just looking at this as objectively as possible...SMU cannot afford any more mistakes or miscalculations.

[Charleston Pony]

and I will continue being the naysayer because those who think 10 win seasons and wins against top 25 programs will get us into a P-5 conference are missing the real problem SMU has. Even when we were winning SWC Championships with the Pony Express, we didn't draw well (other than having promotions where tickets were literally given away or those games against opponents whose fans filled Texas Stadium). Unless SMU can win over DFW area college sports fans, there is simply no evidence to suggest we can attract the "numbers" we would need from our alumni base. I hope it will happen some day but until SMU is able to command enough support to fill Ford and have fans sitting on the grassy slope above that south end zone...no matter who the opponent might be, I don't expect the big public schools will want to share revenue with another small private school.