.jpeg?1371057738)
 Mike HlasHi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...] |
|
Email the author
UPDATED: Big 12 not dead, just catching its breath
Pac-12 says 12 is plenty, and the Big 12 lives on
Were it not for the damage that could be caused to one our state universities, all this conference realignment chatter would be wildly entertaining.
The Texas-Texas A&M on-field rivalry will end. So might Pittsburgh-West Virginia. Missouri and Kansas could still land in different leagues.
TCU is waiting to join the Big East though no other member is within 950 miles of Fort Worth, but the league may disintegrate before the Horned Frogs arrive. That’s entertainment.
Time to get a new clock
But how’s this for a swerve: Tuesday night, the Pacific-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said “after careful review we have determined that it is in the best interests of our member institutions, student-athletes and fans to remain a 12-team conference.”
Clearly, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech lacked the votes from Pacific-12 presidents to gain admittance into that league, along with sidekick Oklahoma State.
And really, why would the Pac-12 have admitted four schools that includes just one (No. 45 Texas) in the top 100 of the national universities rankings in US News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” edition for 2012?
All four Pac-12 schools from California are in the top 25, by the way. All 12 of the league’s schools are ranked ahead of Texas Tech.
Missouri, which hoped against hope that it would get a Big Ten invitation last year, let it leak Tuesday that it has been invited into the Southeastern Conference. The SEC then denied Mizzou had been invited. That was after a CBSsports.com report that Big East sources said West Virginia won’t be accepted into the SEC or ACC.
What, you don’t want a school that sells beer in its on-campus stadium?
Pittsburgh joined Syracuse in recently bolting the Big East for the ACC. Eight years ago, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said this after the Big East unsuccessfully kept Miami and Virginia Tech from leaving for the ACC:
“We really have been focusing on preserving and protecting the Big East as our goal.
“Personally, I thought we’d earned the right to coast for a while, but life didn’t treat us that fairly. Instead, we now have another challenge to meet if we’re going to do just that — protecting our programs, sustaining our momentum and continuing to compete at the highest levels and doing that in an honorable, principled way.”
Last weekend it was more like “See ya, Big East, wouldn’t want to be ya.”
But all news is local, and the news got a good bit brighter for Iowa State late Tuesday night. The Big 12 isn’t officially revived, but the chances sure look a lot better. Yes, Oklahoma could flirt with the SEC, but let’s not discuss such a thing unless/until it becomes a distinct possibility.
Should the Big 12 have ended up in tatters, it would have been incredibly bad news in Ames. Being in a less-prestigious conference would mean less revenue for ISU, less television exposure, a probable smaller enrollment in years to come (big-time sports draws students), and perhaps less jobs and an overall downsizing.
Oklahoma no longer pointed west
It wouldn’t be a good thing for the university, it wouldn’t be a good thing for the state. If Hawkeye fans disagree, pretend you’re a Cubs fan living in Chicago and there was talk the White Sox could get relegated to Class AAA. That wouldn’t be so good for Chitown, would it?
But, the fear factor has eased, for now. There will be more of this as long as some schools or leagues think they can squeeze more money for themselves over the long term.
Once upon a time, Iowa State and Oklahoma and six other schools were happy in the Big 8. Then they willingly merged with four Southwest Conference schools in the 1990s to become something other than what they had been for many decades. One of those four schools was Texas, which doesn’t like to share.
Nebraska fled the Big 12 because of how the league tilted toward Texas. Then, Texas A&M bolted the Big 12 because it wanted out from the shadow of Texas and its Longhorn Network, which ESPN has helped develop, launch, operate and distribute in a deal worth $300 million to Texas over 20 years.
Then, Oklahoma didn’t particularly want to deal with Texas any longer, either, and all but declared itself a new member of the Pac-12. Someone forgot to tell the Pac-12, apparently.
Earlier Tuesday, it was reported that Oklahoma would stay in the Big 12 if league commissioner Dan Beebe were fired and the Longhorn Network was reined in tightly. I don’t know about the former, but the latter isn’t happening. So You know this isn’t going to get wrapped up in neat little bow anytime soon. But perhaps the Pac-12 tapping the brakes will encourage the SEC and ACC to do likewise. And perhaps that’s just a crazy dream.
Will the Big 12 prove to have more lives than a litter of kittens? Stranger things have happened, and seem to be happening in college athletics every five minutes.
I’d say Nebraska is extremely lucky to be in the Big Ten, given that their AAU membership conveniently was revoked between provisional, and actual, conference acceptance. Perhaps the Pac 10 presidents have figured that problem out.
I hope the Big Ten stands pat. As we know institutions can become too big.
ISU has no home. It won’t happen, but they should drop down to FCS.
Mike got on my case, and rightly so, for proposing that ISU join the Mid-American conference, but that is at least an FBS league, Sue. No FCS school will have the stadium capacity to match ISU, nor (as much as I hate to say this) would playing FCS ball produce the revenue ISU wants.
Regardless of how the games turn out on the field, there is no way you can compare ISU as a land-grant research university with schools like UNI, Stephen F. Austin, or Grambling.
Like I said, it won’t happen. But absent a very fortuitous turn of events, ISU is about to lose a lot of TV money, and I don’t think they can run an FBS program without state general fund (taxpayer) help.
And of course I can compare ISU to an FCS school. I can compare them to Chicago, as well, which is D-III but used to be in the Big Ten. I can compare them to Oberlin, which is the last school from Ohio to beat OSU. Oberlin and Chicago are a lot harder to get into than ISU. I can compare them to Drake, which used to be DI. I can compare them to the Ivies, who gave up trying to compete with Texas and OSU and Alabama in football. Not everyone believes that the purpose of a university, in perpetuity, is to provide a sports entertainment product that costs more every year to create — at taxpayer expense.
State university grads in Iowa graduate with some of the highest debt loads in the country. I would suggest that the Board of Regents could better spend its time and money lobbying the legislature for tuition relief, than football subsidies.
So, again, it won’t happen. But I will be very curious to see the spreadsheet if the Big 12 TV money is replaced by MWC or Big East money.
Or, maybe OU is waiting for the other “grain belt” schools to stand up and do the right thing by following their lead. It’s the only way to save the B12.
Texas (along with ESPN – why doesn’t anyone find THAT interesting?) is what is throwing everything out of balance. Their selfishness (Again, encouraged by ESPN- really what are THEY getting out of it?). Is it any wonder why the SEC and B1G are head and shoulders above the other conferences? They work together and treat all members equitably if not equally.
Need more proof. Look what the Pac-12,13,14,15… conference has done since they started pulling together.
I find this whole mess disgusting. I feel badly for Iowa State. They deserve better. But they also haven’t drawn a line in the sand. I know the powers at ISU are SAYING they are being proactive. They just aren’t ACTING as if they are.
RE: ESPN above.
Isn’t anyone concerned that they have been leading a charge to get a play-off over the current BCS system?
I suppose, if you’re cheering for a play-off you would tend to look the other way.
We all get it. The play-offs are coming. That is what these “super” conferences are all about. We’ll soon be seeing division play-offs along with conference championships. 6 conferences and 8 play-off teams playing for a F(B)CS championships.
Maybe the Big Bowls get the play-off teams and the lesser bowls get cross-sectional games of conference and divisional play-off losers looking for redemption and building a foundation for ‘next year.’ After all, what is a Rose Parade (or whatever the “lesser” bowls have) without a Rose Bowl? Besides, do we really want to put people who depend on the bowl games as tourist income out of business? Perhaps the communities of bowls around Orlando or southern California would make it but what about El-Paso, Birmingham, Nashville, etc., do?
@Sue. RE: Nebraska – They didn’t go down without a fight. http://www.omaha.com/article/20110503/NEWS01/705039915 .
They may also reapply. I’m just guessing, but I think that maybe the equal revenue sharing of the B1G schools may actually enable Nebraska to rejoin the AAU. You never know.
RE: ISU – They are becoming a REAL player in the FBS system. They are building the school and its programs the right way. If they along with the rest of the B12 could get their collective act together, ISU stands to be its biggest beneficiary. ISU could also stand to gain in a Big East/B12 smashup of leftovers.
Bottom line, ISU Belongs with the big boys. Just not the B1G. ;o)
Anybody who thinks academics mean anything in this saga are fooling themselves. It is all about football and TV’s. Knolege U in Lincoln brings football and nothing else to the B16.
OU, oSu, TTech and UT are now stuck. They have to convince the little 5 that they really didn’t mean it and, can we be friends again?
As a little 5 supporter, I say OK, but we need some REAL sugar to play nice once again. Start peeling off the Benjamin’s big boys. Some oil money flowing north would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?
Why would they need to pay up? In a heartbeat, they could get Houston, SMU, Rice or other C-USA teams to join the BXII. They could tell any of the “little 5,” “if you don’t like it, then leave.”
This entire episode was generated by ESPN and the UTNetwork and the ensuing monetary imbalance demanded by the ‘horns. Looks like it may have blown up on them, and a little sharing of the wealth would be a good thing.
The PAC12 knows that they would become fodder for UT and OU and want no part of that.
Tulane = Kansas?!? SMU = Mizzou???? Really? Please elaborate.
JL:
ESPN didn’t create this mess, but they played a part in the final straw of it – the LHN. Texas destroyed the old Southwest Conference with its arrogance and greed – and that was mostly during the 80′s when they were “down”! Texas now is “up” again on the gridiron, and since that’s what drives athletic departments’ budgets, they want what they want and they’ll get what they’ll want even if you don’t want them to get it – just ask the little 5. In fact, ask Oklahoma, who might now be forced to stay with UT at least another year…..look at OU’s demands to stay in the Big 12 – they might come back this year but you can be guaranteed that they’ll be looking long and hard for a new place to call home.
IMO, I’ll bet that even if the Big 12 survives another year, it WILL be dead within two years = May, 2013. (Hey Mike, got any special prizes available for correctly picking the date of the Big 12′s demise?)
I’m going with the minute the BCS contract is up in 2014. All conferences will dissolve and geographic districts will be established, leading to a 16 team playoff. Just like 4A football next fall.
The SWC(Sure We Cheat) imploded because they kept cheating and ratting on each other to the point of total destruction. UT was just the priciest “date” in that house of ill repute.
Sorry, but JL is not an acceptable username if you wish to comment on TheGazette.com. Please make sure it is your full name. Thanks.
While academics mean far less than $ in this whole mess, they certainly do mean something. The Big 10 lowered it standards by allowing Nebraska in, but the Pac 10/12 was never going to allow Ok St. or Texas Tech because of academics. When it became clear that OU wouldn’t join without Ok St, that essentially killed that deal, which then turned the headache of dealing with Texas’ greed into a full blown migraine.
Academics may not be the first priority, but it certainly is a factor in all of this.
Mike, I’m admitted Iowa fan but I don’t see how ISU becoming less relevant in the state doesn’t help Iowa? You yourself go on to state that big-time sports bring bigger enrollment and more exposure. If Iowa gains an enrollment advantage and exposure advantage, how does this weaken Iowa? Iowa is one of the smaller schools in enrollment in the B10 and would only further re-affirm what many think already, this is the “Hawkeye State”. All of this said, I honestly hope the B12 is saved both now and the future. I hate all this megaconference stuff but I just feel your article a bit contradictrary.
Nilesghost is not an acceptable username if you wish to comment on TheGazette.com. Please make sure it is your full name. Thanks.
Don’t sweat it, Niles. The Big 12 lives.
The one conference that has been living on the razor’s edge is the Big 12. There is something there that is dysfunctional. It might last the year, it might last several more years but it’s clear to me it’s like a neighborhood in decay.
I love the wealth of comments here. The world would be a better place if we all just spoke our minds like this all the time, no? I am serious on that but I digress…
The future I see for the Big12 is one without Texas A&M or Missouri as I see both heading to the SEC. I imagine that the Big12 (then
will bring up a couple of triple A teams (SMU, Houston) to join the group and thus stave off the immmediate demise and keep the litigation from Baylor and cohorts at bay. I DO think that even with this scenario the conference has still not solved their equity issue and I don’t see how teams like ISU can put their hands out for more money when they don’t have anything to bargain with. Maybe I am underestimating the chips that ISU brings to the table (someone respond to this and help me understand if I missing something) but I don’t see what they have to force OU’s and UT’s hands.
Not sure how the shades guy made it in to my comments but that was suposed to be an “eight”.