Saint Zephyr III

If I recall, I think that the original realignment idea was that Buffalo was going to be in the North and Baltimore was going to be in the East but Buffalo made a huge stink about maintaining its rivalry with the Patriots and the Dolphins.

I just brought up Biloxi as a way, way, way, WAY in the future kind of city, one of those random upstart cities that pop up time to time like what Austin, Raleigh, or Provo are going through. The Southeast, even though it's not what one would call a flagbearer of economic growth, still has a huge population boom going on and, who knows, the next generation might change the dynamic of certain cities as potential expansion markets.

You REALLY think that a Fort Worth NBA team is even feasible? Dallas hardly even supported the Mavericks until Cuban came along. If it's going to be another Western team I would think Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Kansas City, or even another California team like San Diego or San Jose. Even Biloxi or Louisville if you want to stretch what would count as a "West" team.

Is it me or does the $5 million dollar amount actually seem...small? I mean, I understand that it was the African countries but, I mean, these are Arabic royalty with oil money regarding one of the largest sports event, if not THE largest, in the world; you'd think you could get them up to nine-digit figures or something. Hell, if $5 million is all it takes, I'm surprised America doesn't just come rolling with the dough the next time around.

NFL - New Orleans Saints: Grew into it; family's from New Orleans, born in Louisiana...unfortunately I grew up in Texas so had to deal with growing up a Saints fan in the middle of Cowboys country. I can't tell you how much I love it when the Saints beat the Cowboys; it's like an annual Christmas. NBA - San Antonio Spurs: Grew into it; lived in San Antonio, and I haven't looked past since. College Football - Texas A&M, LSU, USC, UTSA - Let's sit for a spell... I was raised an Aggie (thank my Papa for that) and for the longest time I always expected to go to A&M. Unfortunately, application didn't work out and I had to go to UTSA. They didn't have their football game at the time, and since the Aggies were struggling so much, I aligned with LSU since my Dad went to one of their affiliates and it was home-state pride. NOW, in a weird coincidence, the same year UTSA gains its football team, I was accepted to USC. So USC was my first true personal college football game; of course, now that I have two universities to my name, the Aggies are all of a sudden an A-list team so...it's been an interesting journey!

For giggles, I think the following would work a bit better: ATLANTIC Brooklyn Nets Philadelphia 76ers Boston Celtics Orlando Magic Washington Wizards New York Knicks Miami Heat Charlotte Hornets The Atlantic Division of old is kept intact except for the addition of the reincarnated Charlotte Hornets. CENTRAL Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks Memphis Grizzlies Chicago Bulls Toronto Raptors Cleveland Cavaliers Atlanta Hawks Switching out New Orleans with Memphis for geographical reasons. MIDWEST San Antonio Spurs Dallas Mavericks Minnesota Timberwolves Utah Jazz Houston Rockets New Orleans Pelicans Denver Nuggets Oklahoma Thunder Curiously, this setup creates two mini-divisions within the same division: the modern Southwest teams versus the Midwest teams. PACIFIC Sacramento Kings LA Lakers LA Clippers Portland Supersonics Phoenix Suns Seattle Supersonics Golden State Warriors San Jose Startups Not only does this makes sense for the future Seattle team but, for me personally, the next NBA expansion is going to be on the western side of the continent. It'll either be Las Vegas, San Jose, or even longshots like San Diego and Vancouver.

So reading an article about how the Big XII really wants a larger presence in Florida through their bowl tie-ins but I imagine it goes deeper than that. Could they make a play now for South Florida???

I read that as part of their agreement to rejoin the Mountain West, they're allowing Boise State to keep any and/or all non-conference opponents. They already have a series of matchups against both Utah State and BYU, who may yet return to the Mountain West with a similar type of deal.

So if I understand it right, the seven schools may simply take the Big East name with them and leave the new football-only members to their own devices, right? And the other alternative is simply dissolving it and joining another conference. Or is it the other way around?

The death knell may be imminent. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8742607/seven-catholic-schools-leaning-leaving-big-east-sources-say Even if they don't dissolve the league, it's looking like it'll lose 15-20% of its current television deal with the Catholic schools leaving. I can't imagine the other schools staying put so that of course begs to question...what happens to the schools who signed up?? Should Houston, SMU, Memphis and the others join the Mountain West?? Go back to the C-USA to make a giga-conference?

That $40M is insane; that's a new building a year per school!! That'd be up there with Texas/Texas A&M; just heartbreaking.

If anything, the less teams the more dominant it is and the more it can dictate.

I suppose what I can say is that it'd be interesting to see some carryover into the Texas League or why Texas is such a bare-spot for Triple-A.

That board does bring up a great point...if Big XII DOES acquire Florida State and another eastern team (Clemson/Virginia Tech)...how would the divisions be set up?? I imagine OU, OSU, Tech, UT, and Baylor staying together to retain the divisional rivalrys but that means that Florida State and Clemson would have to share a division with IOWA STATE and KU/KSU. Now what would work is if you did a North/South division. UT, Tech, Baylor, TCU, Florida State, and Clemson/VT in the "South" and OU, OSU, KSU, Kansas, West Virginia, and ISU in the "North". West Virginia would be the odd man out sadly but hey, THEY'RE the ones who went ahead with the Big XII.

Yeah I think many of us are underestimating that $50M amount; at the end of the day, even though they're acting like corporations, these schools can't just foot that much money without some severe ramifications.