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That rumor is not true. The majority of the information coming out from Texas has gone through Chip Brown (Orangebloods) and Kirk Bohls (Austin American-Statesman) who are virtually fed information to leak so the school is not seen as the lead. In the latest story from Bohls: One highly placed Big 12 school official said there was no doubt that league members UT, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would join the Pac-10. "The decision has been made," he told the American-Statesman. "We're bringing everybody to the Pac-10 but A&M." In addition, the Texas House Committee on Higher Education will meet Wednesday ?to discuss matters pertaining to higher education, including collegiate athletics.? State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said Friday, ?any threats would be empty threats,? since the Legislature no longer sets tuition rates (that's left to the regents) and has its hands full with the budget. Lastly, in a Fort Worth-based story, TCU wants to shut Baylor out of the MWC.

Money. A whole lot of money. Currently, the SEC has 15-year broadcasting deals with both CBS and ESPN that began this past season. To simplify just how big a deal CBS has...CBS's deal with the SEC involves bigger money than the deal CBS has with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Also, ESPN owns the TV rights to all SEC home games in every sport. These two TV deals are the reason why the SEC doesn't need their version of the Big Ten Network, nor do they absolutely need to expand. The Pac-10 and the Big Ten are playing catch-up, and the only way they can do that is by expansion. The country is already fully-exposed to the SEC with these TV deals. The conference won't be expanding just for the sake of expanding...they'll only be making moves that will increase their revenue exponentially. Adding a Texas A&M or a Virginia Tech doesn't do this. Adding a Texas, or to a lesser degree an Oklahoma, does. I am going to disagree to a point. The current deals with CBS and ESPN (forming ESPN's SEC Network) are great, but prior to that specific contract, the SEC was looking into their own network. The SEC current deal avoided startup costs as they use ESPN's Charlotte studios as a base and they also takes up the airtime which the Big Ten moved to the BTN. Their current 15 year contract should not even allow any school to gain immediate full dollars, but it will be increased than their current Big XII. No conference instantly profit shares like that, even the NFL. Another reason why aTm is holding out is that the Houston Astros and Rockets are looking to leave Fox Sports Houston and form their won sports channel. Comcast may hold a 30% stake in that new venture and aTm, could piggyback on that since College Station is 90 miles from metro Houston. Slive already said that a channel was fine to have. Fans and boosters are more interested in championships. Horns fan and Sooner fan now think that they should finish #1 in the division as a birthright; that would not occur in the SEC West with LSU and or Bama. Aggie knows that they are still #3 or 4 at best. So they SEC is not going to get a better team in aTm, but it would get a better academic school since they only have two AAU in Florida and Vandy.

http://kentsterling.com/2010/06/10/big-ten-expansion-texas-and-texas-am-may-choose-big-ten/ http://www.kctv5.com/sports/23860558/detail.html If this is true... now I start to get worried. Can anyone say "Game Changer"? If I remember right, all this Big Ten expansion talk began because of a rumor of Texas possibly getting an invite. Of course, the Texas state legislature insists that Texas has a dance partner in any possible expansion/realignment....namely Texas A&M and possibly Texas Tech and Baylor. As for the SEC, getting Oklahoma is probably the biggest fish they could possibly get. Of course, Oklahoma State likely will want to stay with Oklahoma, and from a money aspect...you can't do much better than getting T. Boone Pickens in your conference. The Baylor issue is done. They are not a part of any movement. Baylor still is a private, Baptist school, and in 1994 when the SWC fell apart, the top six state elected officials like Gov., Lt. Gov., House Speaker et al were all Baylor grads, Tech grads, or had degrees from both. They had a good run, but today the power of the state is different in terms of collegiate affiliation. In 1994, those Tech and Baylor lawmakers knew that UT and aTm would leave the SWC and move to the then Big 8. To not be left out, those lawmakers threatened to eliminate the Permanent University Fund, an endowment consisting two million acres of west Texas land which was later found to possess mineral and oil rights worth billions. Most UT System schools gets 2/3 of the specified earnings, specific aTm System schools get the other 1/3. The other public university systems (Tech, Univ. of Houston, UNT, Texas State) are prohibited by law not to be included. They had their own endowment started in 1984. OU's AD, Joe Castiglione has said that he will follow the lead of Texas. I take him at his work. Plus, teams like OK State and aTm, who move to the SEC, just make a lateral move as they really are not going to get better in football. And I think that OU and UT do not want to be in a division in which they would have to not only play each other each year, but would also have to play Alabama and LSU. Why put yourself through that? The need to run the table in division just have the pleasure to play Florida (or Georgia) in the SEC title game?

Since I started this thread, I have started to switch in that the Big Ten has to get Rutgers. They already have the "exposure" in that it is available now, if you as a consumer want to pay for it on whatever tier your cable/satellite operator has it on. Even if selected, the Big Ten and will have to come to a new or revised agreement on how much to charge in order to have more subscribers want to have it, or whether to have it on a basic tier. BTN is already available in 90M homes, and is subscribed to in just over 45M. Reportedly, the network gets anywhere $0.35- 0.88/subscriber from viewers in the conference footprint compared to $0.05- 0.10/subscriber outside the footprint (say Las Vegas). It is also reported that the subscriber fees make up just 40% of their income, the other 60% comes from advertising. If you leave out Texas, Nebraska had the highest TV ratings of the potential teams. Rutgers pulled in 60% less of an audience. Husker also told the Big Ten that they could get more viewers to their games in Kansas City than Mizzou can. They could go Syracuse and still squeeze max dollars.

Didn't read the article, but if that is what he had wrote, then great minds think alike. As for the NCAA length of season... If these conferences are going to force the issue, I could see the NCAA changing the ruling. It is no secret that the NCAA would NOT want to lose revenue, so an expansion would be a possibility. If not, the top 2 teams would play, and eliminate the first round of the play offs. The current bylaws state that a team cannot start their season until the Thursday before Labor Day and must finish their season by the second weekend in December. Coaches still want their teams to have a BYE week as well. Schools which run on the quarter system may have a early season advantage as classes would be in session. The NCAA national budget is made up from the following: 90%-TV/Marketing Rights Fees 9%-Championship Ticket Revenues 1%0Investment Fees/Services The NCAA does not see any money from additional regular season football games, those monies are just split between the schools. The only BCS money they receive comes from the NCAA Postseason Licensing Subcommittee who licenses all postseason bowls and assigns crews from the FBS conferences to officiate the games.

All you did was rehash the scheduling which the 16 team WAC had (and was retold to America via Andy Staples' si.com story in late May). For a 15 game schedule, NCAA Bylaw 17.11.5 (Number of Contests) as well as when the season can start/end (17.11.4 End of Playing Season) would have to be amended to accomplish that. That is if the Big Ten will still be a NCAA member.

Dan Wetzel from Monday. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe all but killed his own conference on April 30, 2008. That?s when he decided to team up with the Big Ten and Pac-10 to reject a four-team playoff being pushed by the SEC and ACC. If the Big 12 (and/or the Big East) had supported it, the so-called ?Plus One? model likely would?ve happened. Even that modest playoff would have meant hundreds of millions of additional revenue for college athletics. It would have then allowed for easy expansion for an even more lucrative 16-team postseason. That would have solved all the monetary concerns that have left the Big 12 on the verge of collapse at the hands of its one-time allies, the Big Ten and Pac-10. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany admitted to Congress a 16-team playoff could gross four times what the current Bowl Championship Series does ? in other words about $900 million annually. He opposed it anyway. Beebe and the others never seemed to ask why. They?re finding out now. It?s clear now that Delany used opposition to a football playoff not to preserve some bit of ?tradition.? His expansion plans clearly indicate he cares nothing about that. It certainly wasn?t done for the sake of aiding Big Ten football, since a playoff with on-campus home games likely would?ve helped his teams. The goal was to starve out the Big 12, Big East and even the ACC of the hundreds of millions a playoff would?ve given them and thus turn the future of college sports into a battle of television sets. Delany couldn?t assure that the Big Ten would?ve done well in a football playoff. Maybe the league would?ve succeeded, maybe not. With 26 percent of the nation?s population, tradition rich clubs and its own cable network though, the Big Ten will always dominate if everything boils down to TV revenue. It was a genius, cut-throat play. He set the terms of the game so he?d win. The Pac-10, led by aggressive new commissioner Larry Scott, is taking advantage also. I?m not blaming Delany here. I may not believe a 16-team Big Ten (or Pac-10) is in the best interest of the league?s current members (or the NCAA as a whole), but it?s not that big of a deal to me. Whatever happens, happens. Besides, it?s not Delany?s fault he?s smarter than the other guys.

1-Lew Perkins will resign from Kansas after 2011 academic year 2-Texas A&M Vice President/Marketing & Communications, Jason Cook, made teh following statement today. ?Officials from Texas A&M University and the University of Texas met in Austin today to discuss several topics of mutual interest to both institutions regarding recent developments affecting the Big 12 Conference. No decisions were made or agreements reached as a result of these discussions.? 3-It is clear to me that Chip Brown is be leaked information by the University of Texas in terms of what they want us to know. His latest tweet said, "Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech appear to be in lock step to the Pac-10 but will wait til next week to announce anything." Notice who is missing? TAMU.

That would be some up realignment. That is a rumor as well as the report from TMZ Sports that OkieState has received a Pac-10 invite.

Let it all settle down first. Then, when it does settle down, you can read about it (most likely here).

No.

Maryland, eh? I wonder how the ACC would respond. Presumably brokering a merger with the shell-shocked football survivors of the Big East after the SEC steals those ACC programs least concerned about the amount of cheating that goes on in conference (so no, Georgia Tech wouldn't be leaving). There are some items which we do not bring up (we have already talked about media markets and "educational pedigree"), but the Big Ten has the largest, most widespread alumni base than any conference. As for the ACC, last month, they did their TV deal last month and basically doubled their annual incomestarting next year, but were like the Big XII in they were not sharing revenue equally among teams.

Replacing a large, public school with a much smaller, private school would not help out the Big XII since that move does not replace a media market you had. The only think that would do was actually give Amon G. Carter Stadium sell outs of 45k. On Feb. 8, the Pac-10 made their biggest move of all. They hired Kevin Weiberg as their CEO. Weinberg previous jobs in the past five years were: Big XII Commissioner (1998?2007) Big Ten Network VP of Planning & Development (2007-2008) iHoops CEO (2008-2010) He knows ALL the numbers in terms of what the schools make and the impact of a cable network.

Missouri may not be the lock it once was to move. One of the reasons given for Nebraska's importance to the league is because the relationship between Missouri and the rest of the Big 12 has soured beyond repair. And to complicate matters for Missouri, the Tigers appear to be falling down the list of priorities for the Big Ten. An athletic director with knowledge of the Big Ten said, "Missouri is getting cold shoulder from Big Ten." Joe Schad of ESPN reported Wednesday that the Big Ten list of interest for expansion goes like this: 1) Notre Dame 2) Nebraska 3) Rutgers and/or Maryland. In another development, one source inside the Big 12 told Orangebloods.com Tuesday Colorado was expected to have a major announcement as early as Wednesday. But that announcement turned out to be with regard to scholarship reductions for the Colorado football and basketball programs because of substandard NCAA APR (Academic Progress Rates). CU is the only BCS football program to be sanctioned with scholarship reductions and is one of only two BCS basketball programs to get sanctioned, OB has learned. The Buffaloes have already served the four scholarships it was docked for football and the one it was docked for basketball. The timing is poor considering the school's possible courtship with some of the more high-minded academic institutions in the Pac-10.

There has been talk over the last week. Orangebloods.com's Chip Brown has talked about how about both OU amd TAMU have thought about looking towards the SEC as that conference will allow both of them to keep some TV/PPV rights (as LSU does), while if they entered the Pac-10, they would have to forgo PPV telecasts. Texas believes they are 'academically superior" to most SEC schools. Chip Brown on KRLD (Dallas/Fort Worth) from 6/7/10 This podcast is 9 minutes long. The columns of Paul Finebaum (whose radio show and callers illustrate that SEC fans think too much about football and could care less about education when they really need to) also indicate that the SEC does not want also-rans and TAMU is thought as an also-ran. Sadly, Paul fails to remember that just Florida, Georgia and Tennessee have made the SEC Title game from the East, like Texas, OU, and TAMU have only made the Big XII title game from the south.

Dr. Tom was on with the husker Sports Network earlier today and really did not say much, but here are some quotes and a link to the story. Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said Tuesday night anything he might say about potential conference realignment would be pure speculation at this point, but added that ?hopefully we?ll get things put together in the next few days.? While making his monthly radio appearance on the Husker Sports Network with host Lane Grindle, Osborne said ?there?s a lot of information that we really don?t have right now.? ?So as much as I know fans don?t like it, I think we need to put certain things off-limits,? he continued. ?But I think before too long, and I don?t know exactly what that time frame is, we?ll be able to put this thing to bed because I?m getting tired of it, you?re probably getting tired of it, the fans are getting tired of it.? Media reports have played a big part in the story of conference realignment. Osborne said some of those reports have taken on a life of their own. ?So what has happened more recently in the media, if something is reported, then many times people will cite that as a reference and say, ?Well, it was reported.? And pretty soon maybe you have something built on a house of cards,? Osborne said. ?But having said that, I think the media?s been good, and in most cases, they?ve tried to check their facts. And even though sometimes they guess, sometimes they guess pretty correctly. Anyway, we just aren?t going to add to the confusion until we know for sure.?

The Mountain West could poach survivors. Or Conference USA. Or maybe *hears snickering from Iowa* the MAC. Today, the MWC decided not to expand(at this time). Administrators were given three options: add one, add more than one, or status quo. They choose status quo.

Since Larry Scott received permission from the Pac-10 presidents/chancellors to officially invite teams, here is latest from orangebloods.com's (and former NCAA writer for the Dallas Morning News) Chip Brown. From his story: This deadline imposed by the Big 12 presidents and chancellors really pertains to Nebraska. According to sources, Nebraska has shown some willingness to reconsider what once appeared to be a pair of no-looking-back blinders toward the Big Ten. The sense among the nine Big 12 presidents who are fighting to hold the league together is the conference could survive if Missouri left. But it couldn't survive if Mizzou and Nebraska both bolted. That's why those schools have been given a hard date to commit to the Big 12. The deadline coincides with a Nebraska Board of Regents meeting in Lincoln on Friday and Saturday of this week. Make your dinner reservations at Misty's Steakhouse near the Nebraska campus now. It could be crowded as people gather around to possibly take their last look at the Big 12. All of the nine Big 12 schools trying to hold the league together are hoping Nebraska will commit to its future. But two Big 12 officials told Orangebloods.com, there is a fear Nebraska could hold out because the Big Ten has expressed more interest recently in Nebraska than it has shown in Missouri. Would the Big Ten be pushed into extending an invitation to Nebraska and Missouri before it wanted? Is Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany ever pushed into doing anything? An athletic director with knowledge of the Big Ten's plans said he's been told the Big Ten would shut down its expansion at one school if that one school was Notre Dame. And contrary to reports, Notre Dame is still listening to the Big Ten about possibly joining that league, the athletic director said. Notre Dame's governing board is apparently split down the middle on the decision. The AD said the Big Ten is focusing solely on Notre Dame right now before addressing Nebraska or Missouri. The inference was clear: Nebraska had better be sure it has an invitation to the Big Ten by June 15 or it could risk being left out of the Big 12 and Big Ten with no power conference to land in. While the Baylor or Colorado issue has come to light, those who held legislative power in Texas in 1995 are far different than those who are there today. I am not sure of those 15 public officials who were reported to raise concerns about a private school will not hold a candle to those from when the SWC went away. In 1995, the following Baylor and Tech grads were in these powerful state positions: Governor: Ann Richards (Baylor grad) deceased Lt. Governor: Bob Bullock (Baylor and Tech degrees) deceased TX Senate Finance Chair: David Sibley (Baylor grad) out of office TX Senate Pro Tempore: John Montford (Tech grad) out of office TX House Appropriations Chair: Robert Junell (Tech grad) now a Federal Judge TX House Speaker: Pete Laney (Tech Grad) out of office

Fixed. Ultimatums from organizations that have hitherto been less than proactive about ensuring their own survival or addressing member concerns are rather empty. So true. Dan Bebee (Big XII commissioner) really dropped the ball on this one as it seems that he let the Pac-10 take a look at their books in a effort to get a partnership. Then the Pac-10 thought better of it to rain their top revenue schools and keep all the profits. The "mega-conference" concept was not born in the last six months, so they should have known that they either needed to have a growth plan or be prepared to be raided. Larry Scott, the Pac-10 commissioner is scheduled to speak with the media at the close of their meetings today. It is reported that they have several proposals to discuss, including replacing Colorado with Baylor (again that thought of pressure from the Texas Legislature).

The Big XII canceled their press conference last night. Since the meetings conclude this afternoon, last night had to be a dinner which Bebee told the presidents/chancellors, "are you in or out?" They are scheduled to speak this afternoon. Larry Scott, Pac-10 commissioner has been on record to say that a new network deal for 2012 would be contingent on a team giving up all inventory in terms of games. This means that Texas and OU could not have their own "network". Mike Slive, SEC Commissioner, has said that a school could still have their own network. TAMU has also talked to the SEC as they are facing an athletic deficit of $16M and cost Elsa Murano her job.

When it was announced yesterday that their system of revenue sharing would remain unequal (giving "bonus" money to teams which appear on TV more), it was a sign that their survival as 12 teams was going to be limited. Lew Perkins comments yesterday were opposite of Beebe's as well. The combination of reported teams also runs has the highest team in TV revenue (Texas) along with the team who received the tenth much (Colorado). FYI, as for Tech's accrediation issue, it was more than reported. SACS (their regional accreditation association) placed Tech on probation in 2007, but regained full accreditation in 2008. Tech's accreditation never lapsed during the probation and will be up for reaffirmation in 2015.

They will have to check with Murray Sperber to see if he has not already filed for that name as a trademark.

None of this has anything to do with "academic standards." It has everything to do with exploiting fast kids for money. You see, the admiral has the right idea. This whole notion of 'academic standards' is pretty much pointless and useless when going up against the idea of making more money. Plus, in my theory, the Pac-10 would have the San Diego market all to itself. That's a large market out there that can be used to help launch a television network akin to the Big Ten Network. You have the biggest markets on the West Coast in the Pac-10 (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego). Why not go after San Diego State and take that market all for yourself? The Pac-10 already has it over the MWC in terms of coverage. The Mtn. is only on one cable system there (Cox). Time Warner and AT&T U-Verse don't carry it while they carry Fox Sports West, home of Pac-10 sports. That plus a half filled Qualcomm Stadium does little for them. The fact that they are on the west coast hurts them to start a network since there is a small population whitin their footprint when compared to the other major conferences. Adding the schools you mentioned, does not increase that footprint. The Pac-10's current TV contracts are artificially low since they elected to partner with Fox Sports as their primary, so they should be able to double their revenues in the next deal, regardless of expansion or a football title game.

None of this has anything to do with "academic standards." It has everything to do with exploiting fast kids for money. They want the "right kind of kids" to exploit, so in some sense, it does. Even in football and basketball, schools recruit those who fit within their self-perceived academic standards.

There is no school in the Cal State system which is even close to the academic standards which the Pac-10 demands. It does not help that CSU schools are the first ones which get funding cut from the state. Fresno just got off probation, which they were on/off for over a decade and have a very poor history with that as well as losing or settling on three sexual harassment/discrimination cases within the Ath. Dept. since 2005. Both Fresno State and SDSU's athletic budgets are too small to make that next step up. Geography is their only calling card. The numbers which I did not place were the TV contract which the MWC has. Their current deal with CBSC and Versus lasts through the 2015-16. It is only for $10M/year. Versus and CBS College Sports show eight to 10 football games each per season. "The Mtn." shows 30. They combine for about 100 men?s basketball games and 20-24 women?s basketball games, mostly on "The Mtn.", which is only in 8 million households.