PAC 10 commish given authority on expansion

[SMU89]

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/sports ... ority.html

College Sports Capsules: Pac-10 commish gets authority to pursue expansion
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June 06, 2010 8:19 PM
By JOSH DUBOW, The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Pac-10 concluded its meetings Sunday by giving commissioner Larry Scott the authority to pursue any possible expansion, while not committing the conference to adding any more schools.

Scott addressed the chancellors and presidents on the final day of the weekend meeting about possible expansion scenarios and was given permission to move ahead with the process without having to go back to the board for approval.

"What direction that process takes still could go in different directions," Scott said. "Everything from remaining as we are as a Pac-10 that has some very bright days ahead of it, to a bigger conference foot print. I have the authority to take it different directions depending on various scenarios and discussions we will have."

The conference will decide its future plans by the end of the year before negotiating a new television contract for the 2012-13 academic year.

The Pac-10 administrators arrived in San Francisco this weekend to a report that the conference was ready to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor from the Big 12 to create a 16-team megaconference.

There has also been a report that Baylor could replace Colorado in that scenario or the Pac-10 could choose to keep the status quo or add only two teams in a smaller move.

"We probably have contemplated or are contemplating almost everything you've read about," Scott said. "The Pac-10 is in a very fortunate position. We have tremendous prospects exactly as we are. We also have some potentially exciting opportunities regarding expanding the footprint of the conference."

Scott, the former head of the Women's Tennis Association, took over the conference last July. In February, he said the window for possible expansion would be until the end of 2010 before the conference negotiated a new television deal. Since then, speculation has grown about if the Pac-10 would choose to expand, and if so, what teams it would seek to add.

The Pac-10 had perhaps been the conference most resistant to change in recent decades. While all of the other five major football conferences had either expanded or swapped teams since the start of the 1990s, the Pac-10 has been in its current format since adding Arizona and Arizona State in 1978.

With five pairs of natural rivals, the Pac-10 has been able to hold down travel time and costs and play a full round-robin in football and home-and-homes against each team in basketball.

A major motivation for the expansion talk is to increase revenues for the schools under a new media contract that begins in the 2012-13 academic year. Negotiations will start early next year and could lead the development of a Pac-10 network similar to what the Big Ten has successfully done.

Pac-10 teams make considerably less from television and bowl deals. Big Ten schools reportedly receive about $22 million each from television and bowl deals and SEC school each get at least $17.3 million. Pac-10 teams, meanwhile, reportedly only get about $8 million to $10 million each from the conference deals.

Scott said the reason for expansion would be that it could create "exponential" growth in terms of money and exposure.

"I can't say for sure sitting here today that there are options that will achieve these goals where the Pac-10 can stay true to its DNA and its special values," Scott said. "But there are some very exciting possibilities out there. That's why we're investing so much time and effort."

Big Ten officials mum on expansion

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) — The Big Ten did not take formal action during a meeting Sunday about conference expansion, although officials say their timeline may change after the Pac-10 revealed plans for their own expansion.

The 11 school presidents and chancellors met for about 4½ hours, and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said the majority of time was spent on expansion dialogue.

"One of our options was not to act, the other option was to act with a single member and another option would be acting on multiple members," Delany said. "There could be a decision not to act. That's always been on the table."

The Big Ten has been examining possible conference expansion since December, when it revealed a study that is expected to take anywhere from 12 to 18 months.

"We wouldn't have announced the study in December if there wasn't an interest in expansion by a significant number of the members of the Big Ten," said Michigan State President Lou Anna K. Simon. "We're not presumptuous enough to believe that (expansion) was only our choosing. It has to be a two-way street."

Each of the current schools is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) — the only Division I conference to have all its institutions affiliated — and also form the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) along with the University of Chicago. If the Big Ten expands, it is presumed to be looking at schools that are also members.

Simon and Delany declined to identify potential candidates, but names that have surfaced include Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Delany stressed that expansion rests with the individual universities and not with the conferences. He declined to comment on reports that the Big 12's presidents gave Nebraska and Missouri a deadline to state their intentions to remain in or leave the conference.

Delany also declined to expand on comments Ohio State President Gordon Gee made in an April 20 e-mail to the commissioner regarding Texas and its "Tech" problem, referring to rival Texas Tech. Gee was not available to comment.

"We have been very deliberate in respect to our due diligence, and we believe the process will be sustained," said Simon, the chair of the Big Ten's Council of Presidents/Chancellors.

"The strength of the Big Ten over a long period of time has been this sense of culture and commitment to one another that we believe is a strong attribute of the Big Ten."

Simon emphasized that academics would play a large role in determining what schools would be a good fit to join the Big Ten, not just athletics.

"This is very important to the presidents. This is more than teams playing teams," Simon said. "I can't emphasize that enough about the Big Ten and the approach the Big Ten is taking."

Big Ten bylaws require an application for membership and none have been submitted. Bylaws also state that action, such as offering a university to join the conference, can be done in person, electronically or by telephone — meaning university officials do not need to reconvene in Chicago to vote or make a decision.

[Sam I Am]

As goes Texas, so goes the Big 12. The PAC 10 looks like a 16 team super conference in the making. TV money rules the NCAA. SMU and the CUSA will likely stay the same. I ownder what this does to the BCS cartel?

[Water Pony]

So the question for us and college FB is whether 16 teams is the magic conference number and whether there will be 4 or 5 such super conferences?

For SMU, getting to five conferences (lose Big XII and BE and add MWC) with larger memberships appears to be our only chance to ascend or, less likely, six AQ conferences (MWC replacing Big XII) with BE surviving somehow.

If BE loses FB, then ND will be forced to join the Big 10. It's now or never, Irish.