https://theathletic.com/news/big-ten-pac-12-acc-alliance-expected-to-be-formally-announced-soon-sources/qQ7aaP9CvLAD
Thoughts?

News: The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC are expected to make a formal announcement about their alignment soon, perhaps as early as next week, multiple sources told @TheAthletic.

This isn't just about scheduling. More: https://t.co/OyBicG7uiv

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 20, 2021

Yup as expected the 8 remaining will get left behind. That's been pretty obvious for awhile. Oh well AAC or Sun Belt here we come

I don't think everyone gets left behind, this all may go down faster than expected https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/pac-12-open-to-possible-expansion-new-commissioner-says-2423684/

IowaBear said:

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Yup as expected the 8 remaining will get left behind. That's been pretty obvious for awhile. Oh well AAC or Sun Belt here we come

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Ummm, perhaps not all of them.

PAC-12 Expansion Back on the Table Apparently!

Maybe not all. BU has no shot in they chose to take just 2 teams. If they take 4 they have a small shot. Not being a downer just being realistic. Baylor isn't the hot commodity a lot of our fan base wants to think we are

I do think it's messed up when you have these smaller schools in these power five conferences that would be included in this such as Wake Forrest, Duke..etc and the other Big 12 schools left out.

IowaBear said:

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Maybe not all. BU has no shot in they chose to take just 2 teams. If they take 4 they have a small shot. Not being a downer just being realistic. Baylor isn't the hot commodity a lot of our fan base wants to think we are

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Outside shot they take Tech, OSU, TCU, Baylor, more likely they just offer OSU, Tech, and 2 of Kansas, KSU, ISU, most likely they just add OSU and Tech or don't add anyone.

gobears20 said:

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I do think it's messed up when you have these smaller schools in these power five conferences that would be included in this such as Wake Forrest, Duke..etc and the other Big 12 schools left out.

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Vandy won the birth lottery, I still don't understand why/how Rutgers got in?

OK, we are S C R E W E D! While I'm all for rebuilding the B12 + some AAC or just Baylor joining the AAC, this alliance sucks because it effectively freezes out any non "Power 5" schools from playing those in the alliance. So we won't even have a chance to prove our worth, occasionally.

Hopefully our AD knows more about the situation because a couple of days ago he was extremely positive that Baylor will land in a good place.

Man that's so damn true.

Who knows what the Big 12 is doing behind closed doors but I am not real confident in Bobby Bowlsby.

PaperBear89 said:

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OK, we are S C R E W E D! While I'm all for rebuilding the B12 + some AAC or just Baylor joining the AAC, this alliance sucks because it effectively freezes out any non "Power 5" schools from playing those in the alliance. So we won't even have a chance to prove our worth, occasionally.

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UCF, Boise say welcome to our world, TCU has been there before.

gobears20 said:

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Hopefully our AD knows more about the situation because a couple of days ago he was extremely positive that Baylor will land in a good place.

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I'm sure like Bagdad Bob it doesn't keep him up at night...

I had a feeling this would move fast because the ACC, Big ten, and PAC 12 didn't know what else was up the SEC's sleeves. I figure the ACC was nervous that the SEC was coming after Clemson and FSU. Who knows they still might.

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I still don't understand why/how Rutgers got in?

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Rutgers is the land grant, flagship university of New Jersey. Its full name is Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. 68k students, 49k undergraduates, huge alumni base, giant TV market.

And there is something to be said for a few other sports like MBB, WBB, and baseball that do have some weight. True, none of them match TV money like football, but there is value in any conference (such as SEC) being able to continually have their conference logo on TV throughout the entire year.

They then can market things like winning 4 out of last 5 BB championships, or 60% of the world series teams are from the SEC. If they are moving towards the conference being a "super conference" or just trying to market the conference as a whole and not the individual teams, then spreading out their schools for more coverage helps a lot. Also helps them fill out the SEC Network with additional programming, which would in turn increase their potential gains there (for events not on the current major networks) from likely increased subscriptions and higher advertising.

Honest question - we talk a lot about adding teams dilutes the per team share of revenue. Is there a reason the conferences and/or next TV deals couldn't have a tiered payout structure? That would let the SEC expand in crease their conference footprint, but some of the schools may not earn as much as the rest. I'm sure there are schools who would take a deal where they don't earn as much as Alabama, but they get to claim they are still part of the SEC.

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And there is something to be said for a few other sports like MBB, WBB, and baseball that do have some weight.

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Theres nothing to be said. It's all about money. Nothing else. It was fun while it lasted.

CorsicanaBear said:

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I still don't understand why/how Rutgers got in?

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Rutgers is the land grant, flagship university of New Jersey. Its full name is Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. 68k students, 49k undergraduates, huge alumni base, giant TV market.

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Why do I never see them on national televised games?

bossbowman said:

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IowaBear said:

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Maybe not all. BU has no shot in they chose to take just 2 teams. If they take 4 they have a small shot. Not being a downer just being realistic. Baylor isn't the hot commodity a lot of our fan base wants to think we are

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Outside shot they take Tech, OSU, TCU, Baylor, more likely they just offer OSU, Tech, and 2 of Kansas, KSU, ISU, most likely they just add OSU and Tech or don't add anyone.

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Seeing a real issue for Private schools going forward. If the Conferences are not willing to entertain Private schools because they are smaller there really is no path forward to the top Conferences. Outside of ND, which is an outlier, BYU, BU, and TCU are really it in terms of viable private schools for a top Conference. All have shown that with similar resources they can compete with the Big Boys, even with a smaller student base.

If left behind, I say reconstitute the B12 by going after BYU, Boise and giving the networks an alternative to the PAC for night games. Add UCF and Houston, both representing big markets and teams that can compete. Won't be able t command 40 mill a team, but probably better than AAC.

Could we see some sort of semi-indepenent alliance between private/religious schools like is done in the Big East for basketball? It would be great if Notre Dame would jump on board with BYU, Baylor, TCU for scheduling and then everyone could cherry pick other power conference opponents because I really don't see ND letting their indy status ever go.

And why Houston and not Cincy?

gobears20 said:

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Hopefully our AD knows more about the situation because a couple of days ago he was extremely positive that Baylor will land in a good place.

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What else could he say to a fan base that is waiting for the other shoe to drop? Baylor is dead in the water and most sensible people know it. Wins/losses, Championships can't weigh against small revenue drawing, small fan base, minimal TV viewing audience s, and No. One. Cares. in the Nation other than BU alumni and fan base.

bossbowman said:

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And why Houston and not Cincy?

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Houston is the 4th largest City in the Nation. Having a presence in the Houston area helps TV. Cincinnati? TV is driving this, nothing else. People say that Houston people are UT or A&M fans, well all of Ohio is OSU. Cinn was not able to move the needle nationally in the Big East when they were in a BCS Conference. Houston in the Hermann years actually got National play, we saw them more in FL than Cinn and Cinn has a history in FL. Maybe I am wrong, seems like Houston would have more National, State and TV support than Cinn. Heck, if this is the biggest thing I am wrong on in the next 5 years, I will be one happy person...

Whether it happens in weeks or months, a B1G/P12/ACC alliance is more about controlling the media chess pieces -- and countering ESPN hegemony - than it is about a few non-conference matchups each seasonhttps://t.co/NBeW0UWpG9

— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) August 20, 2021

Not a good sign for the #Big12 https://t.co/eLLqUjLmdq

— Heartland College Sports (@Heartland_CS) August 20, 2021

The Big10 viewed Rutgers are part of the NYC media market. Maryland didn't make much sense either but DC and Baltimore

I would think that the PAC 12 would still want to get into Texas since a lot of California is moving into Texas.

gobears20 said:

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I would think that the PAC 12 would still want to get into Texas since a lot of California is moving into Texas.

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Yes and Central time zone games for pac 12 teams means more exposure for the conference as a whole. It honestly makes a lot of sense for the conference to do so and not just bias coming from the hope of Baylor landing somewhere decent.

Recruiting would be able to go multiple ways as well. A Texas native could be recruited to California teams and still be able to play in Texas multiple times in their time playing. A native Californian living in Texas gets to go play in their home state around family still there as well.

Ultimately if the PAC-12 expand without taking at least Baylor, tech, TCU and OKst they are making a mistake.

If only two schools are invited, and unless more go somewhere else, those two will be subject to the same exit penalties as OU and UT......if they don't stick around for several more years.

Population by state


[ol]

California (Population: 39,613,493)

Texas (Population: 29,730,311)

Florida (Population: 21,944,577)

New York (Population: 19,299,981)

Pennsylvania (Population: 12,804,123)

Illinois (Population: 12,569,321)

Ohio (Population: 11,714,618)

Georgia (Population: 10,830,007)

North Carolina (Population: 10,701,022)

Michigan (Population: 9,992,427)

[/ol]

gobears20 said:

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Population by state


[ol]

California (Population: 39,613,493)

Texas (Population: 29,730,311)

Florida (Population: 21,944,577)

New York (Population: 19,299,981)

Pennsylvania (Population: 12,804,123)

Illinois (Population: 12,569,321)

Ohio (Population: 11,714,618)

Georgia (Population: 10,830,007)

North Carolina (Population: 10,701,022)

Michigan (Population: 9,992,427)

[/ol]

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do you think there's more cfb fans (including casuals) in california than ohio?

Hope road conference games aren't to Huntsville, Nacogdoches, San Marcos but sounds like where we are headed.

Maybe the trip to San Marcos in 2 weeks is foreshadowing

ImABearToo said:

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Hope road conference games aren't to Huntsville, Nacogdoches, San Marcos but sounds like where we are headed.

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Well for one, those are two different conferences in FBS and FCS, and two, we're not even close to headed that way.

You must have a better crystal ball