PonyFans.com

I have a stupid question to ask that relates to the "Big 12 Membership" thread. I realize that college football teams and its conferences are extremely different from franchises and the NFL. Bob McNair (owner of the Houston Texans) paid a $700 million expansion fee to get Houston a team. The $700 million price tag was not the initial asking price. The NFL kept raising the price in hopes that an ownership team in Los Angeles would materialize. Finally the NFL gave up on L.A. and McNair wrote the huge check.

My stupid question is this. Since people and organizations (the Big 12) are motivated by money, would offering to pay an "expansion fee" to the Big 12 be an off the wall idea? Could SMU round up enough capital to pay an "expansion fee" and leap frog TCU? Pardon the pun. Once we would join a BCS type conference, we would enjoy the ease of recruiting and the revenue check each year. I know it sounds insane but it's just a thought.

P.S. I read my four year old son to sleep tonight with a few pages from the SMU 1982 Football Scrapbook that I bought at the Hertitage Hall Garage Sale. Perhaps I am a little drunk from the Kool Aid.

i'd contribute a couple bucks to get us into the big 12

It'll never, ever happen. First of all, they don't want us & second, they don't need either us or TCU b/c they already have the DFW TV market. They'll go elsewhere like Arkansas, Utah, or wherever. What should be done is go after the BCS-BS & break it up but that will never happen. (If you're looking for bold leadership today, college is the last place you'll find it). Then & only then will you have something close to a competitive playing field. Long story - short answer.

navycrimson is right. and even if they did want us, that monopoly initiation fee would now be astronomical, which might be a lot to pay to fight baylor for next to last in the big 12. except for the cash flow, which we'd take in a minute, not sure baylor is in a better place. the hypothetical question is a good one though. the bcs has stripped away its own academic honor trappings. what would the franchise fee be nowadays?

I admittedly don't have the same historical perspective as many on this board, but I was talking to a big Arkansas fan (he was in school probably in the late '70s)yesterday. When I needled him about screwing up the SWC, his response was basically that the old SWC was unusual in that on one hand it had some huge state schools like UT, A&M, Ark that would pack the house wherever they travelled, but a large piece of the rest of the conference like SMU, TCU, Rice and Baylor never travelled well. Even in the heyday of the Pony Express, I don't think our fans travelled anywhere close to what the big players (or even the middle of the road schools like Tech and Houston) would bring.

So at the end of the day, financially, the smaller, private schools just couldn't pull their weight.

Even riding the crest of unprecedented success, if TCU crashes the BCS party this year, I wonder if they'll be able to fill up their share at a major bowl.

originaloverthehilltop1 said:

the hypothetical question is a good one though. the bcs has stripped away its own academic honor trappings. what would the franchise fee be nowadays?

Whoooooo - now that's a good question!!!!!!

... but a large piece of the rest of the conference like SMU, TCU, Rice and Baylor never travelled well. Even in the heyday of the Pony Express, I don't think our fans travelled anywhere close to what the big players ...


It takes years to build a fan base, especially when you lost it for 20+ years. Given time, the fans would have come back but we would have had to win consistently for many more years, too. You can't build a fan base in 3-4 seasons. It took Miami 5+ yrs to build their base & they still have shortcomings depending upon the opponents.

originaloverthehilltop1 said: the hypothetical question is a good one though. the bcs has stripped away its own academic honor trappings. what would the franchise fee be nowadays?

Whoooooo - now that's a good question!!!!!! [/quote]