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AP is reporting that today the commissioners of both conferences met to discuss a possible merger or some other type of arrangement.
Hard to imagine the west coast teams would want such academic powerhouses like T.tech,W va. and others. Let alone travel from one coast to another for a game.
Obviously the little 8 are doing all they can to avoid any type of consolidation/relationship with the
AAC.

Meanwhile we hear nothing from Aresco. Has he offered to meet with Bowlsby etc.?

The PAC-12 has no need for the toaster leavings of the Big XII. Would UCLA, USC, Washington and Arizona State alums want to go to games in Stillwater, Lubbock, Waco, Morgantown, Ames, Manhattan and Lawrence? Ft. Worth maybe. The only reason to throw them a lifeline is to get access to Texas recruiting market, or if the networks were forcing a deal (and if that was the case WV and several others probably are going to other conferences). A bolder move by the PAC-12 would be to make a play for Nebraska and A&M.

Would only mean more games on FS1 nobody watches.

Big XII just trying to stay reasonably attractive to both ESPN and FOX. I'm sure West Virginia will be thrilled about being even more remote than they already are. West Virginia (and other leftover Big XII members) will be campaigning heavily for ACC and Big 10/14 expansion.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... ling-deal/

redpony wrote:AP is reporting that today the commissioners of both conferences met to discuss a possible merger or some other type of arrangement.
Hard to imagine the west coast teams would want such academic powerhouses like T.tech,W va. and others. Let alone travel from one coast to another for a game.
Obviously the little 8 are doing all they can to avoid any type of consolidation/relationship with the
AAC.

Meanwhile we hear nothing from Aresco. Has he offered to meet with Bowlsby etc.?

Pay attention to free agency and sports, and you will learn that the people who have value don't leak. The people who need help driving value leak. Agents who want to drum up interest for their players will leak out that a certain team is interested even when they arent, to try to drum up interest from other teams.

Notice that you heard nothing from UT or OU, and then stuff happened. The reason you hear about KU talking the Big 10 or this meeting with the PAC 12 is that KU and the Big 12 need those stories to leak in order to create interest in their program and hopefully create a bidding war.

The confident people are silent. That is why you hear nothing from SMU, Houston, or the AAC. Or TCU for that matter. Baylor is in trouble financially, and because of their other issues, so nobody wants them. And that is why they make the most noise.

The only way the PAC12 would accept the Little 8 is if they accepted a significantly lower payment from the TV contract. That is why you had the Little 8 commissioner state how much they are worth - he used an inflated value and is trying to start negotiations. There is a revenue point where the LIttle 8 becomes attractive, but it is at a significantly lower number than the rest of the PAC 12 makes.

The confident people are silent. That is why you hear nothing from SMU, Houston, or the AAC.

what are SMU, Houston or the AAC confident about?

per jasonB-
Baylor is indeed hemorrhaging $$ from continued settlements and "fees" associated with their rape scandal, along with some serious revenue issues among alumni and sponsor donation. The single most attractive portion of their program to other conferences is men's and women's BB, and now Mulkey has headed to the SEC. ACC has interest in a foot in Texas, as do most conferences that currently occupy the P-5 slots, but Baylor seems a reach.

The "quiet" of the AAC and in particular SMU is both encouraging and puzzling to me. On the one hand, I would be thrilled with the scenario JasonB presents...but lacking any substantive proof, his speculation is simply put into my "I hope so..." box.

The puzzlement is this: Turner/Hart et al have been reasonably quiet on this subject, while trumpeting loudly the BOLD initiative. The latter IS in fact a well constructed service, but the attention of college athletics shifted instantly from the NIL to the UT/OU bombshell. Now we, along with everyone else that is not SEC are wondering what is happening next.

I guess I am waiting for our version of Aaron Rodgers to come out to a press conference and say:
R-E-L-A-X.

Hope you are spot-on JasonB...but I think the 'crazy' is still in front of all this.

All the pundits will be weighing in. Maybe this should be on the basketball board but at least a mention of SMU

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... -football/

I agree that quality, winning basketball programs in a major metropolitan market should make us more appealing as a conference partner and destination for recruits. Our women's team and new coach appear to be generating excitement too.

Without evidence, I share some of the cautious optimism that SMU could be a dark horse winner in these realignment discussions. I could make a case that the Big 12/8, Pac !2 and ACC all would find interesting value in having a footprint in Big D, while AAC could emerge has a Power 5 replacement.

There may be no sense of urgency in these scenarios, so let's have fun and success with FB this fall!

JasonB wrote:Pay attention to free agency and sports, and you will learn that the people who have value don't leak. The people who need help driving value leak. Agents who want to drum up interest for their players will leak out that a certain team is interested even when they arent, to try to drum up interest from other teams.

Notice that you heard nothing from UT or OU, and then stuff happened.

Although I agree with your assessment, I think in this case the opposite happened. The leak to the Houston paper, and then the rumor drove the reality. Pretty sure that story was strategic. I am just mortified to see another case of rumor becoming reality. We can be such lemmings... I just wish that when OU/UT reached out to all the other conferences someone would have just said "thanks, but pass".

Putting wvu in the pac-12 is as uncomfortable at fit as Jerry Sandusky at a Boy Scouts meeting...

wvu cannot get into the ACC because of their academics
okie state can't get into B10 because of their academics.

What would make any of us think the pac-12 would want them?

docabel wrote:What would make any of us think the pac-12 would want them?

There won't be a merger. The remaining Big 12 schools don't offer enough value to warrant a merger.

Now, a scheduling alliance is possible. If OSU & WSU can replace FCS games with Big 12 schools and TTU can replace random CUSA/SBC schools with Pac-12 opponents, that would improve the quality of OOC games and provide both conferences (if the Big 12 remains) a bump in TV revenue.

PerunaPunch wrote:

JasonB wrote:Pay attention to free agency and sports, and you will learn that the people who have value don't leak. The people who need help driving value leak. Agents who want to drum up interest for their players will leak out that a certain team is interested even when they arent, to try to drum up interest from other teams.

Notice that you heard nothing from UT or OU, and then stuff happened.

Although I agree with your assessment, I think in this case the opposite happened. The leak to the Houston paper, and then the rumor drove the reality. Pretty sure that story was strategic. I am just mortified to see another case of rumor becoming reality. We can be such lemmings... I just with that when the OU/UT reached out to all the other conferences someone would have just said "thanks, but pass".

The leak to the HOuston paper happened because? A&M was in a weak position and wanted to see if public sentiment was going to back them up. The rumor didn't drive reality. Someone leaked the reality in an effort to stop it from happening.

No noise coming from the AAC - do you think they aren't working behind the scenes? Of course they are. if no positive conversations were happening, they would be leaking all over the place. No noise means things are going quite well. Our continued committments and interest from recruits also shows a lot of confidence on our end. 4 star athletes would not be talking about great visits to SMU if we weren't in a very strong position.

Today CBS Sports's Dennis Dobb summarizes how the PAC 12 is processing their options, while they discuss possible scenarios with the Medium (Irate) 8.

"LOS ANGELES -- Less than two months into his administration, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff never thought he'd field a question about his conference being vulnerable to realignment. But he did not shy away from it."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb ... uxbndlbing

docabel wrote:Putting wvu in the pac-12 is as uncomfortable at fit as Jerry Sandusky at a Boy Scouts meeting...

wvu cannot get into the ACC because of their academics
okie state can't get into B10 because of their academics.

What would make any of us think the pac-12 would want them?

My understanding is that the Big 10 only accepts AAU schools. That means only Kansas and Iowa State would be eligible for membership out of of the old Big 12. Virginia, Pitt, Georgia Tech and Colorado might be poached if they want to go to 16 in which case WVU might then be welcome in the ACC. Who knows at this point? Any one of those teams I mentioned other than WVU are in the AAU and would make a lot more money in the Big 10.