YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!! The Pac-16 is dead! The Pac-16 is dead! The Pac-16 is dead!
USC, still in Boulder every other year! WOOHOO!!! Victory!!!
Larry Scott has decided to pull the plug on negotiations with Texas & co., apparently deeming that it wasn’t worth all the hassles and problems expansion was going to entail. Undoubtedly we’ll learn more about exactly what transpired in the coming hours and days, but bottom line, the Pac-12 is sticking at 12. This led to the hilarious spectacle of Oklahoma’s president implausibly trying to pretend that the Sooners totally didn’t want an invite from Scott’s stupid conference invite anyway. As one tweeter aptly put it, “OU ‘decided not to apply’ [to the Pac-12] for the same reason I’ve ‘decided not to ask Jessica Alba on a date’.”
This news follows on the heels of reports earlier Tuesday that a last-ditch effort to save the Big 12 was — again — underway, with Oklahoma making various demands, including the ouster of commissioner Dan Beebe, in return for its agreement to stay. As it turns out, not surprisingly, this feverish effort happened because the Big 12 schools knew that the Pac-12 had decided not to expand. So now it’ll likely be the Big 12 (Minus 3) expanding, to 10 or perhaps back to 12. Specifically, there’s word a BYU invite may be imminent. There’s also talk of Air Force or TCU or Louisville or West Virginia (rejected earlier today by the SEC and ACC).
Meanwhile, with Missouri apparently staying put in the Big 12, and with the ACC having previously marked its teams seemingly pretty much off-limits, the question arises: who the heck is the SEC’s 14th team? They can’t stay at 13 forever; the math doesn’t work, the scheduling is a nightmare, the divisions are impossible. But who do they add, if not Virginia Tech (ACC) or Florida State (ACC, and vetoed by Florida anyway) or Missouri (see above) or West Virginia (who they rejected today) or Louisville (vetoed by Kentucky)? Uh, Cincinnati?!? TCU?!? If all their options are subpar and would reduce revenue share, any chance they work together with the Big 12 to throw money at Arkansas to leave the SEC and rejoin the Big 12? That might be a win-win for the two leagues.
Anyway, I’d say more, but I’m like five more things will happen overnight, so what’s the point? Instead, how about some more Lord of the Rings quotes from my Twitter feed:
“There won’t *be* a Pac-16, Pippin.”
“I am a servant of the Pacific Fire, wielder of the flame of Coliseum. Go back to the shadow! Dark fire will not avail you, flame of Bevo!”
“Nine companions. So be it. You shall be the fellowship of the Longhorn.” “Great! Where are we going?”
“Boomer…yes, that’s what they used to call me. Boomer the Sooner. I am Boomer the White. And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide.”
“You cannot wield it! None of us can! The Longhorn Network answers to Bevo alone.”
DeLoss Dodds: “The Longhorn Network…it’s so heavy.” Dan Beebe: “I can’t carry it for you, Mr. Dodds… BUT I CAN CARRY YOU! C’mon!!”
“Stand, Men of the West! Stand & wait! This is the hour of doom. … The realm of Dan Beebe is ended! The Sooner Schooner has fulfilled its quest.”
“The battle of the Pac-12 is over; the battle for college sports is about to begin.”
Also: “BREAKING: Oklahoma now demanding that the Longhorn Network be taken deep into the heart of Texas, cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.”
Oh, and totally unrelated, but also this: “BREAKING: Brett Favre to join Big XII as its tenth member. Will add much-needed stability.” 🙂
P.S. One more LOTR quote, from yesterday… unrelated to the Big 12 or Pac-12, but maybe my favorite yet, because of the reference to the Mountain West’s TV network, The Mtn.:
“So, Boise, you tried to join the MWC. And if that fails, where then will you go? If The Mtn defeats you, will you risk a more dangerous road?”
SEC could bankroll exit from ACC for a team if it needed to for VaTech or FSU.
Also, Florida alone can’t veto FSU to SEC. Florida + Georgia + South Carolina can’t do it. If the SEC feels it needs FSU for whatever reason it CAN happen. Now it probably won’t happen but it CAN happen.
Dang it, Brendan, you stole my title. 🙂
I’m breathing easier, but not with relief yet. I want solid things about how the Big 12 is going to move forward. I want the Big 12 schools to get every maroon cent that A&M would owe in exit fees. I also want Dan Beebe to enjoy a new job at Whataburger.
JD – Why should you want to stick it to A&M when all they are trying to do is get out of an abusive relationship? Face it, Texas has been the source of problems for this whole re-alignment mess. The unequal revenue sharing plus the Longhorn Network have driven wedges between the various Big 12 members. Everyone was sick of the sway the Longhorns held and acted on it. The schools that could (Nebraska, Coloroad, Texas A&M) left. The schools that couldn’t panicked. The fence sitters (Missouri and the Oklahomas) still not sure, although it looks like Mizzou is the only one with options at this point ( I think they’d rather go B1G TEN than SEC so they are probably holding out at thsi point).
I think it´s a bit premature to declare the death of the Pac-16 until we see how the Big 12 negotiations play out post-Beebe´s resignation, as well as how the dust settles with the ACC, Big East, and SEC moves.
Since it now appears the hangup is that the Pac-16 won´t give in on equal revenue sharing, nor do they want Texas without Oklahoma, one way to force Texas´ hand would be for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to unilaterally declare they are leaving the Big 12 (similar to Texas A&M) and tell the Pac-16, “Take us now while we are free agents or we´ll head off to the next highest bidder (SEC, Big East, Big Ten, ACC).” This in turn may have the simultaneous effect of convincing the Pac-16 to go ahead and take OU and OSU so they are not lost permanently to another conference building up to 16 teams (knowing full well there aren´t any other options west of the Mississippi and north of Texas that add as much value to the Pac-16 as those two schools), as well as forcing Texas´ bluff and making them either declare independence, sign up with the SEC or ACC, or try to piece together a conference of Little Sisters of the Poor out of the remains of the Big 12 and Big East. I strongly suspect that, in that scenario, the most likely end result is they sign up with the Pac-16 and drop TLN (or at least agree to its revenue being shared equally). The bottom line, though, is that so long as the Big 12 potentially exists, Texas will do whatever it takes to hold onto TLN, and OU is relegating itself to being second fiddle to Texas by staying in the Big 12.
Andrew – Your scenario assumes someone will take Oklahoma State along with Oklahoma.
The ACC doesn’t seem a likely candidate, their expansion seems to be solely contained to the east coast, they’ll already be at 14 and still can pick off WVU, UConn, Rutgers, if necessary and Cincinatti and Louisville are closer as well. Plus they’d have to take BOTH Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
The B1G TEN is definitely not in play, the academics drag from Nebraska alone was bad enough. They don’t NEED to take anyone at this point and have better options than Oklahoma and Oklahoma State as well.
The SEC MIGHT if they wanted to go to 15/16 but i don’t know if taking OkState is really in their interest. I suppose if the B1G and SEC both raided the ACC they might get more open to it.