Big 12 Press Conference

[firemoose]

Interested to hear what they have to say and see if it's the first move in the next step.

[EastHallApp]

Hope so. Whatever happens, I'm ready to get the wheel turning again.

[WVAppsfan]

Nothing will happen, they will stay where they are at 10 members. ESPN and Fox are going to pay them to stay at 10, and not expand. 12, 14 or 16 teams cost them big $$$$$ which they do not have.

The Big 12 will cease to exist when the gran of rights is up meaning, 2022? We are stuck in the Sun Belt for the foreseeable future.

[firemoose]

We'll know more around 6:30 eastern.

It's amusing that so many people think that everything is only dependent on whether the Big 12 expands or not. That the G5 conferences and their administrators have spent months internally and in discussions amongst themselves based solely on what the B12 plans are. That if they stand pat there will be dozens of Admins throwing papers up in the air and saying "well, that's it". Cracks me up.

[EastHallApp]

We'll know more around 6:30 eastern.

It's amusing that so many people think that everything is only dependent on whether the Big 12 expands or not. That the G5 conferences and their administrators have spent months internally and in discussions amongst themselves based solely on what the B12 plans are. That if they stand pat there will be dozens of Admins throwing papers up in the air and saying "well, that's it". Cracks me up.

I'd be interested to hear more about whatever you know. I have tended to think it's all dependent on the Big XII just because that's always how I remember it happening before (trickling down from the P5). Maybe G5s have realigned on their own in the past but I don't remember it. And then also, with the TV payouts topping out per-team at 12 teams, I figured nobody would look to make any moves if they were already at or above that number of teams.

[Saint3333]

They've never realigned on their own, but they may be a product of the disparity in the TV contracts. Prior to the current CUSA tv deal CUSA had a clear revenue advantage, today SBC and CUSA have virtually the same revenue streams. Actually the SBC comes out ahead due to number of pieces of the pie.

[firemoose]

Simply put...today is not the past. Nothing is off the table as of today. From discussions from people at schools from every G5 so many things are different from years past and they all know that the current situation can't be sustained long term without more burdens being placed on each school. Saint is correct on one of the points in that the CUSA TV deal, which everyone outside of CUSA knew was going to be a LOT less than the previous deal, snapped a few caps. And even though phone calls were already being exchanged, they became much more frequent and much more substantive after the details were leaked.

No doubt things still revolve around the P5's and what they do. But given the current climate and situation it's not the end all, be all anymore. Whether the P5's make moves or not the G5's have some decisions to make for themselves or in a few years those decisions will be made for them, whether they want them to or not.

[Yosef10]

FWIW a picture has been circulating on Twitter that looks like it is basically the Univ. of Cincinnati's banner they use for a back drop for press conferences and it now has the Big12 logo instead of the AAC logo.

[firemoose]

Also a report circulating saying multiple sources at HornsDigest say that no one was added. Just love seeing the rumor mill in full effect today. I just plan to wait until 6:30 to see.

[ComebackShack]

FWIW a picture has been circulating on Twitter that looks like it is basically the Univ. of Cincinnati's banner they use for a back drop for press conferences and it now has the Big12 logo instead of the AAC logo.

Could be a "just-in-case" thing on their part

[eggers76]

According to Yahoo Sports, the BIg 12 is going to stay at 10 teams for now

[EastHallApp]

I don't understand how they handled this process. Why announce publicly that you're looking to expand, go through interviewing basically half the G5, then decide "on second thought, let's just stay where we are." Shouldn't you decide yea or nay on expansion and THEN start considering candidates?

[mtnjax]

I don't understand how they handled this process. Why announce publicly that you're looking to expand, go through interviewing basically half the G5, then decide "on second thought, let's just stay where we are." Shouldn't you decide yea or nay on expansion and THEN start considering candidates?

I think they were legitimately looking to expand until ESPN and FOX came in and said No, we're not paying the extra money for the extra members as part of their TV deal

[AppGrad78]

I don't understand how they handled this process. Why announce publicly that you're looking to expand, go through interviewing basically half the G5, then decide "on second thought, let's just stay where we are." Shouldn't you decide yea or nay on expansion and THEN start considering candidates?

My understanding is the television folks are paying the Big 12 an additional sum of money not to expand. That shoe will drop soon.

[App1990]

What the Big12 does only matters to a few programs at the margin. Houston, BYU, Cinn, etc. that could hit the jackpot by an invitation. For the rest of G5, it will not matter beyond maybe causing eventual changes in G5 to happen sooner rather than later. The G5 mistakenly chased the TV money when it was never going to be a significant revenue stream. They seemed to have totally missed that the P5 business model has little to no relevance to the G5 business model, a gap that is getting larger each year. For G5s, it is about ticket revenue, which means focusing on things that serve and expand their fanbase, and definitely not market size. Rivalries. Road games that fans can travel to. A geographical footprint that makes some sense and keeps travel costs reasonable and athletes missing class reasonable. The current set up for G5s is ridiculously unsustainable, and changes will happen eventually whether or not the Big12 expands.

[hotrod2001]

Whole thing was probably a rouse just to show everyone that there are a lot of schools begging to get into this conference if the opportunity ever arose to join it and therefore has value on par to the other four power conferences.

[Goapps15]

Whole thing was probably a rouse just to show everyone that there are a lot of schools begging to get into this conference if the opportunity ever arose to join it and therefore has value on par to the other four power conferences.

You very well could be right. I still believe they wanted to add until the TV money was not going to increase. The Big 12 will not survive more than another 5-10 years in the current state.

[Saint3333]

They expand the playoffs in the next 10 years and this saves the Big 12.

[appst89]

They expand the playoffs in the next 10 years and this saves the Big 12.

Not sure it's salvageable. With every other conference having long-term grants of rights in place, and both Texas and Oklahoma indicating that they will not sign an extension of the current Big 12 GOR, which expires around 2022, I don't see the Big 12 being viable beyond that point.

[Saint3333]

If the playoffs expand then all five P5 conferences get an auto bid in the playoffs.

Texas isn't going to a conference where they aren't the lead dog and Oklahoma will likely want to stay with them. For the Big 12 to dissolve it would take Texas or Oklahoma (while taking Ok St. with them) to the PAC 12, I don't see those egos taking a hit.