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

[junglehusky]

 

[Alum86]

Greg Fenves‏@gregfenves
As we look at opportunities for Big 12 expansion, I support considering @UHouston for the conference. UH is a huge asset for Texas.


UT President.....

Gresh and Joe harped on this on 1080 this eve. Seems the TX Guv wants the Cougars. And Gresh mentioned some analytics report that really trumps up other Cougars.
BYU. We need a 4 team expansion as we are behind those 2 now, and Cincy

 

[djct1999]

Gresh and Joe harped on this on 1080 this eve. Seems the TX Guv wants the Cougars. And Gresh mentioned some analytics report that really trumps up other Cougars.
BYU. We need a 4 team expansion as we are behind those 2 now, and Cincy

Says who? Gresh?

 

[TRest]

JESUS H.

Eh, he's a politician. He supports consideration, not inclusion.

 

[Exit 4]

Gresh and Joe harped on this on 1080 this eve. Seems the TX Guv wants the Cougars. And Gresh mentioned some analytics report that really trumps up other Cougars.
BYU. We need a 4 team expansion as we are behind those 2 now, and Cincy

Shouldn't we ban any mention of Gresh? Mods? He has no clue that his job with the most powerful AM station in CT is to find the sunshine on all things CRA related for UConn. It is not a place to be fat and stupid and display one's ignorance.

 

[sub legacy]

My own personal, rationalized guess:

4-teams: BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UConn make the most sense.
2-teams: Probably boils down to BYU + Cincinnati. If BYU doesn't work out for whatever reason, then maybe Cincinnati and UConn.

 

[jostar1]

Matt Brown ‏@MattBrownCFB · 6h6 hours ago
Well, we know the new Big 12 teams won't be both UConn and UCF, because Oklahoma and Texas won't allow a bigger rivalry into the league.

Matt Baker ‏@MBakerTBTimes · 6h6 hours ago
@MattBrownCFB I hope, then, that UConn/UCF both stay where they are. They can take away Border War, UT/A&M...but never the Civil Conflict!!!

Matt Brown‏@MattBrownCFB
@MBakerTBTimes Oh it would be devastating. Worse than losing the Backyard Brawl and OU-Nebraska.

Matt Brown ‏@MattBrownCFB · 6h6 hours ago
@BenKercheval The conFLiCT is a national treasure and I will accept no arguments against this

David Ubben ‏@davidubben · 6h6 hours ago
Big 12 can't hide from reality that Red River simply can't measure up to The Civil Conflict

 

[4in16]

Matt Brown ‏@MattBrownCFB · 6h6 hours ago
Well, we know the new Big 12 teams won't be both UConn and UCF, because Oklahoma and Texas won't allow a bigger rivalry into the league.

Matt Baker ‏@MBakerTBTimes · 6h6 hours ago
@MattBrownCFB I hope, then, that UConn/UCF both stay where they are. They can take away Border War, UT/A&M...but never the Civil Conflict!!!

Matt Brown‏@MattBrownCFB
@MBakerTBTimes Oh it would be devastating. Worse than losing the Backyard Brawl and OU-Nebraska.

Matt Brown ‏@MattBrownCFB · 6h6 hours ago
@BenKercheval The conFLiCT is a national treasure and I will accept no arguments against this

David Ubben ‏@davidubben · 6h6 hours ago
Big 12 can't hide from reality that Red River simply can't measure up to The Civil Conflict

Uh, don't they know there is nothing civil about The conFLiCT.

 

[billybud]

Memphis: FedEx has been dangling millions of advertising dollars in front of the Big 12 in exchange for a Memphis invite to the Big 12. On top of that, in a letter to West Virginia president Gordon Gee, Memphis president David Rudd said that the school's "partnership with FedEx would uniquely position [Memphis] to request only a portion of new revenue for several years until renegotiation of the conference media [rights] agreement occurs." In other words, Memphis, conceivably, would be willing to accept partial distribution of conference revenue all the way until 2024-25. That would be worth millions to current Big 12 members and should, at the least, command the league's attention.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Memphis: FedEx has been dangling millions of advertising dollars in front of the Big 12 in exchange for a Memphis invite to the Big 12. On top of that, in a letter to West Virginia president Gordon Gee, Memphis president David Rudd said that the school's "partnership with FedEx would uniquely position [Memphis] to request only a portion of new revenue for several years until renegotiation of the conference media [rights] agreement occurs." In other words, Memphis, conceivably, would be willing to accept partial distribution of conference revenue all the way until 2024-25. That would be worth millions to current Big 12 members and should, at the least, command the league's attention.

How does a public company do that?

 

[UCFBfan]

Memphis: FedEx has been dangling millions of advertising dollars in front of the Big 12 in exchange for a Memphis invite to the Big 12. On top of that, in a letter to West Virginia president Gordon Gee, Memphis president David Rudd said that the school's "partnership with FedEx would uniquely position [Memphis] to request only a portion of new revenue for several years until renegotiation of the conference media [rights] agreement occurs." In other words, Memphis, conceivably, would be willing to accept partial distribution of conference revenue all the way until 2024-25. That would be worth millions to current Big 12 members and should, at the least, command the league's attention.

By this same logic they should be perfectly fine then when they are left in the AAC after all this is done, right? FedEx is giving them all this excess cash so their athletic budget should be able to stay right where it is, no matter where they are....oh wait.....This is such a crock of s&%#t

 

[auror]

How does a public company do that?

Somebody needs to send a letter to their shareholders. Nothing shareholders love more than disapproving of wasteful spending.

 

[amory]

How does a public company do that?

Exactly. Whole thing is ridiculous. Very nice that FedEx is based in Memphis, doesn't mean they can just give money to the Big 12.

F Memphis anyway. Piece of garbage school with 2 good football seasons in its history. Shouldn't even be in the conversation.

 

[billybud]

Same way that Nike helped blow up Oregon into a contender...a reported $300 million in contributions reported so far by Phil Knight. Either personal money from a billionaire or a corporate contribution.

Or T Boone Pickens and his $500 million in contributions to Oklahoma State...as he famously said about his name on campus..."it'll be a hell of a long time before someone says, 'who the hell was that guy' ".

 

[Vuce]

Mike DeCourcy from Sporting News listed his top 4 candidates for realignment - BYU and Cincy were 1 and 2.....then MEMPHIS at 3 and UConn at 4. I guess he is not considering academics at all - if we thought Louisville was rough in terms of what they bring to the table academically, Memphis isn't even on the map! I was also wondering how FedEx would be able to just pay off the Big 12 on behalf of the school?! Here we go again people

 

[billybud]

And, while not as well know as Phil Knight or T Boone Pickens, Fed Ex's Fred Smith is worth $2.3 billion....what's a couple of hundred million when you have 2,300 million?

 

[amory]

Mike DeCourcy from Sporting News listed his top 4 candidates for realignment - BYU and Cincy were 1 and 2.....then MEMPHIS at 3 and UConn at 4. I guess he is not considering academics at all - if we thought Louisville was rough in terms of what they bring to the table academically, Memphis isn't even on the map! I was also wondering how FedEx would be able to just pay off the Big 12 on behalf of the school?! Here we go again people

Academics were never going to matter. In 2016 all that matters is what your record was the previous football season

 

[billybud]

There are some programs with very wealthy entrepreneur contributors....Under Armour's Plank at Maryland, T Bonne at Okie State, Phil Knight and Nike at Oregeon, the Gaylord's ($80 million contribution) at Oklahoma, McClane at Baylor ($200 million contribution). John Arillaga at Stanford (100's of millions in contributions) and on...

 

[amory]

I wonder why FedEx even cares about Memphis. I guess because so many of their graduates end up delivering packages?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

I wonder why FedEx even cares about Memphis. I guess because so many of their graduates end up delivering packages?

While your question was probably more about delivering the punchline....I decided to read up a bit on Mr. Smith. I thought he had some link to the school beyond geography, but he doesn't. Actually...he went to Yale....and his son played college football at North Carolina and is currently an assistant coach with the Titans.

Most interesting..in the early days...he went to Vegas and won money to cover his fuel bill to keep FedEx afloat. Not sure if it's true...but a cool story none the less.

Something is wrong when the future of a school is decided by where a billionaire decides to live or start their business.

 

[HuskyHawk]

<sarcasm> Yup. We kin excuse Kansas and Iowa and West Virginia fer fightin again state rights, but if the entire whoppin state of Connectycut hadn't jumped on the yankee bandwagen, we'd still be sippin mint julips on the porch of antebellum mansion instead of electrocutin' ourselves stealin cable for our double wide.</sarsasm>

You, sir, are a silly person.

I think you're right, because OK and TX aren't the south, not really. But in UConn's prior experience it was a factor. FSU, Clemson, GT and perhaps others, didn't want another Yankee school in the ACC, a league with a long southern tradition. I think that was a very big factor favoring Louisville.

 

[billybud]

I don't think it was the "south" that made the difference. For FSU it was football...and it was a certain comfort from having played in the same Metro Conference together with Louisville.

FSU played Louisville in the 1970's and 1980's in football...and had no football experience with UConn.

Saying that, there are many fans like me who prefer a conference that is not spread over many regions, and the move into the northeast is still something the conference is struggling with.

Rivalries, I guess, may be manufactured like the Civil Conflict, but it is difficult to build a great rivalry between programs far removed from each other..

Notre Dame has been one of the few programs that has done so over time.

 

[noeynox]

If Memphis has such big bucks influence from FedEx why the he'll does our athletic dept dwarf theirs in size and revenue?

 

[billybud]

If Memphis has such big bucks influence from FedEx why the he'll does our athletic dept dwarf theirs in size and revenue?

It is not that they currently have big bucks, only the promise of future big bucks if selected to the Big 12.

 

[Adios]

Given everything I have read (non-twitter) and some conversations with people that have more knowledge than me, the Dude, Flugar and most of the media, Uconn is in a fight versus BYU for #4.