Whatever it is, it was enough to make Pete Carroll leave the college game entirely - even though he was in the perfect job for him.
Definitely going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days. I kinda have a feeling USC is going to get popped harder than they expect, but there’s no way they’re getting the death penalty. Fortunately, the NCAA has no jurisdiction over the NFL, and no matter what Reggie Bush did at USC, my Saints ain’t forfeiting any wins 
The ESPN talking head logic was that Missouri in the Big 12 will have one (or possibly two) away games per year in the state of Texas. “A Homecoming” of sorts. Mizzou will have no games in Texas if they join the Big 10.
Also, going to a live a game and watching the team that is recruiting you is a huge deal to recruits. By playing in Texas, schools increase their recruitment of players from Texas.
By belonging to a conference with a school in Texas, you have a better chance of telling that recruit that his family and friends will be able to see him play.
Texas high schools consistently produce the top ranked players. They are coveted by colleges across the country. Which increases the value of having a Texas school in your conference.
ESPN’s Joe Schad is reporting that it will be tomorrow.
Or Notre Dame could act like Texas and wield some of their power. If the only reason they will join the Big 10 is so they don’t get stuck by themselves in the era of Super Conferences then force the Big 10 to become a Super Conference as a result of taking them. Dictate that certain teams need to also be invited and come in as part of a package deal.
Further, the Big Ten needs to think bigger than the likes of Missouri, Nebraska, and random Big East teams. We know that the Big 10 would love to have Texas, but they do not want to add Tech. Further, Texas isn’t going to come if they are geographically isolated from the rest of the conference. Finally, academics is going to play a big role in who gets a Big 10 invite. They should throw out a package of Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Baylor. The weakest link academically is going to be OU, but they’re not that bad. Baylor won’t be a great addition, but they would make the Texas legislature happy and give the Southern teams another school nearby to play. OU won’t care too much about leaving Ok. State behind. That conference could command TV dollars like no other. You may be looking at well over $30 million in TV revenue per team. Further, allow the schools (Notre Dame and Texas being the ones to take them up on it) to continue to pursue their own TV networks. It wouldn’t significantly diminish the new Big 10 network’s power, and it would probably ensure that they get the two jewels of this expansion process, Notre Dame and Texas.
Going to be interesting to see if Notre Dame jumps ahead of Nebraska now that “everyone” knows they are ready and willing to make the first move.
LonghornDave, it sounds like you are describing a big game of CHICKEN.
It sort of is. I know there are a lot of reports that say that the Big 10 has already (or is about to) invite Missouri and Nebraska. I just don’t see it. Nebraska is dilutive to the Big 10. They are going to take more in TV revenue than they will bring. Despite being enormously popular in the state of Nebraska, there just aren’t that many people living there. Missouri is even less attractive. These random Big East schools don’t really bring the New York market. The Big 10 wants Notre Dame or Texas. If they can’t get them then they will probably be patient and stick with their original timeline of 18 months or so. It’s possible that the Big 10 offers three schools now (Nebraska, Missouri, and someone else) preserving their ability to go up to 16 teams later (to include Notre Dame) in order to start the entire process. That’s a pretty risky move though. They would then force the Texas (and contingent) to merge with the Pac 10. The Mountain West picks up remaining Big 12 teams. Then they hope that the ACC/Big East moves and SEC moves start happening so that Notre Dame ends up feeling forced to join up. Obviously if we end up with 4 super conferences that essentially secede from the NCAA then Notre Dame would want to be a part of that.
Think about it this way. The Big 10 network brings more than $20 million to each of their 11 existing schools. Any school they add has to bring in at least $20 million per year of television value just for the existing schools to not lose out on the deal. Is Missouri going to be able to do that? Not a chance. Could Nebraska? Maybe. Notre Dame or Texas knocks it out of the park.
Don’t assume that the new member will get a full share of the TV revenue right away. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do, but they could offer a school like Missouri or Nebraska a fraction of what the other Big 10 schools get and they would still make more than they do in the Big 12.
Anyway, there’s a report out there right now that the Nebraska regents have agreed to join the Big Ten and an announcement will be made Friday.
The thing is that if the Big 10 can get to 12, 14 or 16 teams they can then have a championship game and that will be an additional big moneymaker.
I think the whole deal hinges on the PAC 10. If they go to 16 teams, then the SEC is going to counter, in order to maintain it’s place as the top football conference, at least in widely held opinion. If that happens, schools will be scrambling for a spot in the other two Super Conferences, because anybody that doesn’t is going to end up playing for 5th place in the BCS standings year after year.
I saw Chip Brown’s most recent story, and I think he is the best source on all of the expansion stories. Nebraska might be responsible for paying a $10MM exit fee for leaving the Big 12. It looks like Missouri may not get an offer after all. They might get left out of all of this after being the most vocal about wanting to leave.
I think the Pac 16 deal hinges on Nebraska leaving which hinges on Notre Dame turning the Big 10 down.
Mizzou has a Curator’s Board meeting this Thursday and Friday and they have informed the media that athletic conference affiliations are NOT on the agenda. OTOH, the insiders say there will be some resolution by June 17.
My insider points out that cable systems pay the Big 10 Network 70 cents per subscriber inisde the Big 10 “footprint”, but only 10 cents per subscriber outside. Hence, the Big 10 wants as large a footprint as possible. Missouri adds the St. Louis and Kansas City markets, Syracuse and Rutgers bracket New York City. Also, Notre Dame and Nebraska add shine.
If Missouri and Nebraska bolt for the Big 10 (and it’s not considered a done deal for either school), then Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado. will go to the Pac 10 to form the “Pac 16.” The Pac is already in negotiations with Comcast to form its own version of the Big 10 Network, and the additional schools would give it a stranglehold everywhere west of Missouri.
Then the schools east of the Mississippi will form two more 16-team conferences, and the four superconferences will exit the BCS and negotiate their own TV package (and grabbing all the good bowl games.)
Of course that leaves the Big 12 as the Little 4 – Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and Baylor.
Under this scenario, the whole thing really hinges on Nebraska, assuming they announce their intentions before Missouri. And this afternoon, the Omaha World Herald is reporting NU has decided to jump.
Texas President and AD have supposedly told the coaches that the Big 12 will not be salvaged. It looks like UT and five others to Pac 10. Remains to be seen whether Colorado or Baylor is in that group. I assume Colorado.
We’ll see if Missouri ends up getting an invitation to the Big 10.
Also, soon to come is some congressman representing states that get left out of this process pushing to end the tax exempt status of the athletic departments. Can’t wait until Congress gets involved.
The scenarios are making my head hurt!
FWIW, the St Louis Metro area (at least the East of the River) should already be in the Big 10 Footprint. St Louis is not that far from Champaign, Il.
It’s really a shame that the Texas schools are (apparently) a package deal. Texas would be a pretty great fit for the Big Ten. The others, not so much. Of course, the others don’t fit into the Pac 10 either. The Big Ten and Pac Ten (as they stand today) are probably more like each other than any other two conferences.
I did read that Berkeley is objecting to Baylor joining the Pac 10 due to their religious affiliation.
I am beginning to think ND may join. They have in the past made decisions on the cautious side of things, to avoid the possibility of a big screw future. I don’t know if they will, but they have to be really considering it this time.
Man this kind of pisses me off. I am a huge Big Ten Fan, and yeah I am all for the conference gaining respect, and more money to my school is always a good thing. But in case some of you don’t know the story of the bullshit that is the Big Ten network:
It is a network based on extortion, pure and simple. Their business model makes it totally irrelevant if any ever watches it all all.
To sum :
When the existing network deal ended, they decided to keep all the big ten sports rights to themselves, and only sell to ABC etc on a game by game basis.
Then they went to Comcast, Dish, DirectTV etc and said. “Hey guys we have this new station, you will put it in every package and pay us the 20 cent(or whatever it is) monthly fee for every cable subscriber in the Midwest”
The providers laughed and said"Are you fucking crazy? They already hate us for our prices. We can’t jack up the prices for everybody 20 cents a month for a pissant station that has maybe 30 hours of TV anybody will ever watch a year for every damn subscriber. We will put it in the “Sports stations only crazy people care about” package that costs 5 bucks a month"
Big Ten said nope, “all or none”, then started announcing “The evil providers want to force all you smart, sexy, and big penis sports fans in the Midwest to pay 5 bucks a month, but we are on your side, we won’t cave until they provide it for the 20 cents a month option we want”
Then one( I don’t remember who) caved. And the pieces fell into place.
Big Ten moved all the good games to the BTN for the start of the year. People went into the local bar Saturday morning to watch the game and found out, “it’s not being shown here, our network doesn’t carry BTN”. So people called around until they found a bar that had a carrier with BTN.
Now Saturday Football is big for the sports bar owners. They were losing a lot of money, so they started taking their 5 or 20 box subscriptions to the carrier that showed the game. But still Comcast et all held firm. “If we jack the cost for everybody up 20 cents we will lose enough customers it’s not worth it”
Then the evil genius began to reveal itself. They started running adds that basically said "We are so sorry that so many of you will not be able to watch Michigan OSU this year[sub]unless you switch carriers[/sub]
The game is one of the most important for all bar owners, not just sports bar owners. They can make 1000’s with a packed bar standing room only starting at 11:00 AM. They all made plans to switch carriers. Plus the game is a huge party day at homes, and the carriers would have lost 10,000s of customers, which is not something they can shrug off.
So they all settled, and put it on the standard packages for .20 a month for everybody.
As soon as all the multi-year contracts were signed. The Big Ten started selling off all the things that were watchable because ABC, ESPN Fox sports etc will pay them a whole lot more for rights then they can get from advertisers on their pissant little network. The only things BTN shows is stuff nobody else is slightly interested in. If they just went to black screen 24/347 a couple dozen people might notice.
Their brilliant plan was to make everybody pay for something they are never going to see. And that is the load of bullshit that is driving all this re-org situation,
The only good part is that the purest form of evil left on Earth, the cable companies, got ass-jacked good because the 20 cents was enough of a last straw to make some people drop it altogether.