Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[uconnphil2016]

Chuck Carlton ‏@ChuckCarltonDMN · 2h2 hours ago
Oklahoma president David Boren says Big 12 meetings are data-gathering not decision-making.

Chuck Carlton ‏@ChuckCarltonDMN · 2h2 hours ago
Boren: "We are concerned with revenue unbalances with other conferences. ... That's the first thing we have to look at."

If that's their first priority, that's huge for us. In that case, we should be an absolute lock and either Cincy/BYU as the second school.

 

[huskymedic]

The difference between Navigate and BVH is what again?

5 letters...

Media valuation.

 

[noeynox]

If that's their first priority, that's huge for us. In that case, we should be an absolute lock and either Cincy/BYU as the second school.

Been saying this for a longgggg time.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Been saying this for a longgggg time.

Yep, and Boren has said it since last fall. I try to remind people, Boren wants to recruit more and better students to OU to boost it's reputation. That's his real goal. He wants to up the academic credentials of the league. It's why I never believed the Memphis or Houston rumors. UConn, BYU and Cinci all help academically. UConn the most, and we easily have the most desirable recruiting base for ordinary students.

 

[junglehusky]

Yep, and Boren has said it since last fall. I try to remind people, Boren wants to recruit more and better students to OU to boost it's reputation. That's his real goal. He wants to up the academic credentials of the league. It's why I never believed the Memphis or Houston rumors. UConn, BYU and Cinci all help academically. UConn the most, and we easily have the most desirable recruiting base for ordinary students.

This is the way university presidents think, and why I have said in the past that UConn and the ACC would be really good fits. Now, I don't know if Oklahoma University or OSU / ISU even Kansas would consider it likely that a significant # of CT & northeastern-US students would start enrolling at their schools (though they would like the out-of-state tuition that they'd pay). But I do think University of Texas would consider that.

 

[junglehusky]

Orlando Sentinel columnist... just a hint of desperation.

There is no downside to immediate expansion, especially since it won't cost the Big 12 anything in TV money. If the Big 12 expands, according to a report at CBSSports.com, the league's broadcast partners — ESPN and Fox — are contractually bound to pay the new programs the same amount of TV money as the existing members. In other words, if UCF and BYU were added to the Big 12, each school would receive $23 million per year without any cost to the existing membership.

So why not bring new money and new blood into the league and see what happens? Think about it: What is the drawback of the Big 12 inviting UCF — the second-largest university in the nation (with an estimated enrollment of nearly 70,000) located smack, dab in the middle of the third-largest state and one of the most fertile recruiting hotbeds in the country? Is there really any disadvantage to expanding into Orlando — the 18th largest TV market in the nation and the fastest-growing of the country's 30 largest regions?

 

[jostar1]

John E. Hoover ‏@johnehoover · 12h12 hours ago
John E. Hoover: What is David Boren’s endgame? It may surprise you
#Big12 #Sooners
What is David Boren’s endgame? It may surprise you

 

[jostar1]

Guerin Emig ‏@GuerinEmig · 12h12 hours ago From Big 12 meetings: Better day for David Boren and OU not enough to guarantee happy ending.
Guerin Emig: A better day for David Boren and the Big 12 not enough to guarantee a happy ending

Cue those Big 12-commissioned studies undertaken by research firms, and the figures they are presenting to CEOs at these meetings.

“I want to see all the data first,” Boren said.

If Boren takes home information and decides the Big 12 can hold its economic own with the SEC and Big Ten — via expansion, the formation of a league-wide media network, the re-installation of a football championship game or any other potential pot-sweetener — odds improve that OU will settle into the Big 12 for a longer haul.

“We don’t have to be dollar for dollar or penny for penny what somebody else is making,” Boren said, “but we have to be in the neighborhood where we’re not extremely disadvantaged. If the gap gets too large, you really have a disadvantage in terms of your ability to fund programs that are competitive.”

There is also the possibility Boren plops down on his couch this weekend, studies the data and realizes live streaming of games is cutting into traditional networks’ ability to pony up for a potential Big 12 Network.

“I would have to say there have been a lot of developments in the marketplace in technology that are even more clear to us today than they were six months ago,” he said somewhat ominously.

 

[noeynox]

Orlando Sentinel columnist... just a hint of desperation.

Turn the Knights into the next Florida or Florida State? Yeah right.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Houston writer: "UH should keep all options open. Maybe Pac 12. (lol)"
UCF writer: "UCF needs mutiny to get in."
Memphis writer(s) begging, school sending out Powerpoints to anyone who will listen.

Don't remember anything either way on BYU.

Cincinnati writers on UC's chances to get in - silent.
Cincinnati's president's Twitter - silent.
UConn writer's on UConn's chances to get in - silent.

Pattern?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Houston writer: "UH should keep all options open. Maybe Pac 12. (lol)"
UCF writer: "UCF needs mutiny to get in."
Memphis writer(s) begging, school sending out Powerpoints to anyone who will listen.

Don't remember anything either way on BYU.

Cincinnati writers on UC's chances to get in - silent.
Cincinnati's president's Twitter - silent.
UConn writer's on UConn's chances to get in - silent.

Pattern?

The people who know they are out, know they are out. The people who know they are at least in the running, know that too.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Houston writer: "UH should keep all options open. Maybe Pac 12. (lol)"
UCF writer: "UCF needs mutiny to get in."
Memphis writer(s) begging, school sending out Powerpoints to anyone who will listen.

Don't remember anything either way on BYU.

Cincinnati writers on UC's chances to get in - silent.
Cincinnati's president's Twitter - silent.
UConn writer's on UConn's chances to get in - silent.

Pattern?

I mean, our writers haven't been COMPLETELY silent. I posted this on the Big 12 Meetings thread.
Jeff Jacobs: Big 12 Expansion? More Like An Implosion

 

[CL82]

I'm just waiting for the leaked information. C'mon Snowden make yourself useful.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I mean, our writers haven't been COMPLETELY silent. I posted this on the Big 12 Meetings thread.
Jeff Jacobs: Big 12 Expansion? More Like An Implosion

I'm commenting more on the trend that our writers aren't talking about UConn's direct chances to get in, offering other alternatives, positing suggestions for staying in the AAC/looking to other conferences, etc. Sure, they report on what's going on down there but more from a factual standpoint and offering opinions on the conference as a whole instead of UConn's positioning. Whereas you look at the media covering the other teams I mentioned and you see them offering other options for those teams and making wild suggestions about what they should do and where they should look to go.

 

[NYUConn]

I'm commenting more on the trend that our writers aren't talking about UConn's direct chances to get in, offering other alternatives, positing suggestions for staying in the AAC/looking to other conferences, etc. Sure, they report on what's going on down there but more from a factual standpoint and offering opinions on the conference as a whole instead of UConn's positioning. Whereas you look at the media covering the other teams I mentioned and you see them offering other options for those teams and making wild suggestions about what they should do and where they should look to go.

I say this with some degree of certainty: UConn reporters are absolutely done with Conference Realignment. They hate writing about it and in the absence of actual information, they won't speculate anymore. Having gone through 3 rounds worth of it over the last decade, they've been burned over and over again and are just over it.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Jake TrotterVerified account‏@Jake_Trotter
The Big 12 championship game will return in 2017.

Jake TrotterVerified account‏@Jake_Trotter
Bob Bowlsby reiterates the Big 12 will reconvene later in the summer and take a hard look at expansion.

Jake TrotterVerified account‏@Jake_Trotter
Boren on expansion: “We still need more information. But we certainly continue to consider possible expansion.”

Jake Trotter ‏@Jake_Trotter 25s25 seconds ago
Bowlsby said the Big 12 will go to divisions “in all likelihood.” References five-team divisions.

ME: CCG first step to expansion, I would think. Curious to see about the holy trinity scenario (CCG, EXP, B12N)

 

[Slasher]

Big 12 announces championship game in 2017, almost guaranteeing expansion. As it has been said over and over, a champ game makes no sense with a round robin schedule.

 

[NYUConn]

Big 12 announces championship game in 2017, almost guaranteeing expansion. As it has been said over and over, a champ game makes no sense with a round robin schedule.

In a 10 team league it guarantees a rematch for the title game, which is less than ideal, as @NOescalators explains:

 

[CoastAtlantic]

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 36m36 minutes ago
Oklahoma president David Boren and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby now addressing media at conclusion of league meetings.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 35m35 minutes ago
The Big 12 will distribute $304 million; average $30.4 million per school for 2016. 20 percent increase from last year.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 35m35 minutes ago
Big 12 board unanimously approved conference championship game. Will begin in 2017.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 34m34 minutes ago
BREAKING: Big 12 will have conference championship game beginning with 2017 season.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 34m34 minutes ago
Big 12’s distribution of $30.4 million per school is — at least for now — a significant narrowing of that gap they're concerned about.

John Shinn ‏@john_shinn 33m33 minutes agoIrving, TX
Bowlsby: It's fair to say, there are still questions about whether adding members is the right thing.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 31m31 minutes ago
Boren: Revenue distribution ($30.4 million per; 20% increase) shows strength of the conference & our ability to continue to improve.”

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 28m28 minutes ago
Boren: “We are continuing to consider possible expansion and what it might do positively and negatively in its impact on the conference.”

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 27m27 minutes ago
Bowlsby: Big 12 “in all likelihood” will go to divisions. Has looked at models with 5-team divisions and still full 9-game round-robin.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 24m24 minutes ago
Big 12 championship game would bring almost $30 million annually, Bob Bowlsby said. “High 20s,” he said.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 21m21 minutes ago
Boren: “The marketplace has decided for us that this is not the time for us to go forward with a traditional conference network."

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 19m19 minutes ago
No one’s saying it, but the Big 12 not doing a league network is 2fold: 1) LHN not going anywhere; 2) TV partners not enthused.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 18m18 minutes ago
Way too early to figure out where the conference title game in 2017 (or beyond) would be held. (Arlington/Houston/KC, start your bids.)

Chuck Carlton ‏@ChuckCarltonDMN 17m17 minutes ago
For a do-nothing league, Big 12 has addressed two of three big issues today: return of football title game and no conference TV network.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 12m12 minutes ago
“Under the best scenarios,” Bob Bowlsby says a conference championship game provides 14-% increase in chances of making the @CFBPlayoff.

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 12m12 minutes ago
Most alarming thing Boren said: Expansion might be yay, might be nay. Or “it may be a consensus that it continues to get revisited." NOOOOO.

Ryan Aber ‏@ryaber 8m8 minutes ago
Bowlsby: Revenue average behind SEC and Big 10, ahead of Pac 12 and ACC

George Schroeder ‏@GeorgeSchroeder 7m7 minutes ago
Fox and ESPN will show Big 12 championship game on alternate years. ESPN even years, Fox odd years.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Chuck CarltonVerified account‏@ChuckCarltonDMN
For a do-nothing league, Big 12 has addressed two of three big issues today: return of football title game and no conference TV network.

ME: Wonder if no conference network hurts our chances...

 

[The Viking]

Not good. A Network could only help us. To me this helps others mentioned over us now that network is off the table.

If expansion even happens.

I wonder if now we go from hoping for expansion to not hoping for expansion in case we lose Cincy, Houston, etc.

On the flip side, this news made the day of Gresh, Dodd and countless others who apparently got weak at the knees at the thought of more expansion.

And this was supposed to be "our day" when the presentation was delivered. Whoops.

 

[businesslawyer]

The "no network" statement is very troubling. If they are not trying to get a network -- especially before the ACC, their survival rival, does -- we have a much, much, much less compelling case for a conference located in the Southwest and Plains.

 

[noeynox]

They said traditional network. Non traditional network i.e. streaming network hurt our chances?

 

[noeynox]

Sounds like it is going to work out as I thought yesterday. They won't expand and force to Fox and espn to pay a billion dollars for schools they currently control for a fraction, but the existing members will split say 250 million.

Basically all schools raising their hands saying pick me, we're used as pawns. Not shocking in the least.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

They said traditional network. Non traditional network i.e. streaming network hurt our chances?

Tough to tell if this is what Boren was referring to or whether he was just giving a blanket no to all forms of conference-specific viewing platforms. If it's the latter, it hurts our case a lot. If they are indeed considering a streaming service, that does help us, though not as much as a TV network since specific DMAs would play less of a role.