Nothing will happen until the details are reached on the revenue sharing (and the ceding of television rights) but if this does get signed off on by the current (eight or nine, depending) members of the B-12, there could be worse homes than this.
1 - Yes, we will be bound (pretty much an indentured nservant) to that conference for six years but it is not out of the realm of possibility that the invitation to wherever would take effect (our actually joining) four or five years down the road. If it is the ACC we want as our final destination, there wouldn't be any pool of candidates for them to look into instead of former BE schools so there won't be any risk of losing a spot in that conference. If the B1G is to be our ultimate destination, we are likely a half dozen years away from being where they would consider us anyway.
2 - Yes, there is a large likelyhood that we would not receive the revenues that Texas does. We won't anyway regardless of where we play and if all tier 1 and tier 2 revenues go to the conference, we will end up making more in the B-12 than we would have in a reconstiuted BE 9and possibly in what the BE would have been). The biggest argument on remaining with the catholics is revenue potential (vs football memebrs starting a new con ference). If there is more money to be made here, it becomes a no brainer.
3 - What would we pay for a medium term set of home and home football games with Texas and Oklahoma? The intangible value of these games has to be iun the millions of dollars. Could we land a home and home series with schools like Texas Tech or Okie St? Would we turn down a medium term home and home series with Kansas or Kansas St? We had a home and home with both Iowa St and Baylor and I doubt that anyone with a realistic outlook would say we are beyond the point where we should do it again. We've played each of Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma in home and home men's hoops games and from what I understand the only reason we didn't renew with Kansas (in the 90's) was that they didn't want to agree to equal home and road games. Baylor and K St (on on occasion Okie St) have all been quality teams in recent years as well. We also can fill our non conference schedule (in men's hoops) with former conference mates from the BE.
I doubt that this will move anywhere near as quickly as most want (we want an answer yesterday, we'll be lucky if the B-12 solves the ceding issue by Halloween) but we should know what's going on before the football season ends (which in reality isn't all that long).
