Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell. | Page 255 | The Boneyard

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

Thamel: As expansion charade finally ends, where does Big 12 go from here?

Within:

Where do schools go from here? (BYU, Houston Cincy, USF/UCF discussed)

>>UConn: There’s been a popular media theory floated that UConn could explore moving to the Big East in basketball and then move football somewhere else. That’s highly unlikely, as the $10 million and 27-month wait that’s required to leave the AAC is virtually untenable. (Cutting back the 27-month window would cost more money.) UConn would have paid it knowing there was a Power Five payday on the other end, as it would have made the money back quickly. That wouldn’t be the case going to the Big East. UConn is one of many schools facing difficult financial decisions, as it’s nearly impossible to fund football on the AAC’s modest television contract. (The AAC deal runs through 2020 and pays just $126 million from ESPN for the entirety of the deal. There’s a secondary deal with CBS, but the spending significantly outweighs the income for most AAC schools.)<<

>>AAC: One can imagine a few employees of the American Athletic Conference clinking glasses of celebration in Providence on Monday night. The outlook for the league looked bleak in August. But is sitting tight good enough? “We are not going to sit back and be identified as irrelevant and accept status quo,” said a source in the league. “We don’t want to be labeled by others as not adding value. It’s not true. We expect our leaders in the league to find solutions.” Could that mean the AAC looks at adding schools before its next television negotiation? That likely depends on whether the AAC can find value in the new media market—Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, etc. Would attempting to lure a brand name like BYU or Air Force change the financial paradigm on a deal? BYU would be unlikely to go, but much will depend on what the marketplace looks like in a few years. All we know is that it should look much different, but speculation beyond that is tricky.<<
 
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Kellis Robinett‏@KellisRobinett
@ddkuester @mellinger
Texas wanted Houston. Northern schools said no. OU wanted BYU, honor code made that impossible. Here we are.


Kellis Robinett@KellisRobinett
K-State beat writer for the Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star.
 
John E. Hoover: Big 12 Conference expansion was always just a bluff to get more money

The Big 12 Conference spent hundreds of thousands of dollars paying two independent consulting firms to figure out, among other things, if expansion was good for the league or not.

Ultimately, those firms determined expansion from its current membership of 10 would be beneficial.

So Big 12 CEOs authorized commissioner Bob Bowlsby to solicit presentations from 11 schools who desperately wanted into a Power 5 conference — presentations that have been reported as costing between $10,000-15,000 each.

And Sunday and Monday, those same Big 12 presidents and chancellors met for 6 ½ hours and came to the conclusion that expansion, well, it’s just not the Big 12’s cup of tea.

...“We don’t feel a sense of urgency to expand,” Boren said, “just for expansion’s sake.”

That’s obvious. The Big 12 was never interested in expansion. This was a money grab, plain and simple, a bluff with the television networks.

...And hey, who can blame the Big 12 for such a bluff? The league — which was minutes from dissolving in 2010 — will now die a slow but profitable death, with each school taking in more than $30 million annually. Services are pending, but interment should be sometime around 2025, though sooner than that is certainly possible depending on what Oklahoma and Texas want to do.

John E. Hoover: Big 12 Conference expansion was always just a bluff to get more money
 
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I think UH became a poison pill for Big XII expansion. UT wanted them only b/c of about 332 acres they have in Houston as a potential UT expansion campus (and to kowtow to State politicians pretending that they are a team player). I think UH will oppose that now. Most of the other schools were not happy with another team in Texas which would steal recruits from them and which was ranked only 187 among US News National Universities. The conference really needed 4 new states for TV purposes rather than a SWC reunion and the presidents would want the highest ranked academic institutions. The Big XII GOR ends in 2025 and the LHN in 2031 - I really don't see anyone else picking up that network as ESPN which has lost about $48 MILLION on it so far will NOT renew it unless it becomes a conference network - they are simply losing too many viewers and Disney will continue to pressure ESPN to cut costs anywhere possible. In 15 more years the landscape will really be much different than today in terms of telecommunications, computer networks >> TV networks. This doesn't take into account the lawsuits against the NCAA and the possibility that most private schools might drop FB if those copy and paste "closed head injury" lawsuits gain any traction in the courts. Finally, the country is being flooded with immigrants for whom FB means soccer so the long term TV viewership likely will decline as the population changes - I believe this is already under way with the NFL.
 
I'm irrationally angry at these angry responses from UH fans and boosters.

This no-name, garbage excuse of a university has been good at football for what, all of 10 minutes? And they think it's an outrage the Big 12, with 4 Texas schools already, didn't feel the need to add them?

To quote Fishy, "go pound sand."
 
"John E. Hoover: Big 12 Conference expansion was always just a bluff to get more money."

It sure feels like this is true. Brings back memories of when the Patriots said they were moving to Hartford. Everyone in CT got all excited and then, bam, they didn't come after all. Turns out it was just a ploy by Kraft to get concessions from the Massachusetts government. We looked like fools afterward. I've hated the Pats ever since. This time we got played by the Big 12. I guess I have to hate the Big 12 now.
 
Willy Gee said:
"John E. Hoover: Big 12 Conference expansion was always just a bluff to get more money."

It sure feels like this is true. Brings back memories of when the Patriots said they were moving to Hartford. Everyone in CT got all excited and then, bam, they didn't come after all. Turns out it was just a ploy by Kraft to get concessions from the Massachusetts government.
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Massachusetts State Legislature never budged on their firm " No" that they were not going to spend millions of Massachusetts taxpayors monies for a new stadium for Bob Kraft... even after Kraft temporarily took his team to Hartford as his threat to move the team out of Massachusetts. When Kraft blinked in that high states show down however, Kraft came back to Foxboro, and used his own money to build a state of the art stadium in Foxboro. The Mass State legislature is not known for protecting the taxpayors money, but in their showdown with Bob Kraft, they ultimately protected the state treasury, and got Kraft to use private capitol to build his new Stadium.
 
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Yawkey Way said:
Massachusetts State Legislature never budged on their firm " No" that they were not going to spend millions of Massachusetts taxpayors monies for a new stadium for Bob Kraft... even after Kraft temporarily took his team to Hartford as his threat to move the team out of Massachusetts. When Kraft blinked in that high states show down however, Kraft came back to Foxboro, and used his own money to build a state of the art stadium in Foxboro. The Mass State legislature is not known for protecting the taxpayors money, but in their showdown with Bob Kraft, they ultimately protected the state treasury, and got Kraft to use private capitol to build his new Stadium.
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Kraft did get $72 million out of Massachusetts for infrastructure improvements around Gillette, which is a lot less than other municipalities have ponied-up. Of course, such improvements massively helped his real estate investments in the areas. There is also the persistent rumor that Kraft has focused his interest on building a soccer only stadium for the Revs in Boston because the outlining cities that have shown interest, Somerville and Revere especially, are not able to offer Kraft the money he wants from the public. It maybe the key reason he backed Boston's Olympic bid before it blew-up.
 


DAVIS: Where to begin? Well, for weeks it appeared the Big 12 was leaning toward no expansion. Oklahoma president David Boren was the one who started this whole mess, saying the league was “psychologically disadvantaged” for its inability to get a league-wide network. But why the Big 12 put everyone through this ringer only to do nothing is still baffling. If you take all the emotion out of it, this league is probably better off by not adding teams. There’s not a single candidate out there that moves the financial needle in any dramatic way. Sorry, Houston. My apologies, BYU.

Here’s the real problem for Texas. The school has no interest in extending its grant of rights beyond the 2024-25 athletic year. OU won’t do that, either. So let’s drop all the “we’re stronger than we’ve ever been” rhetoric. If that was indeed the case, Texas and OU would agree to extend their TV rights for another decade or so. By not extending its rights, Texas continues to remain flexible.

I still contend Texas will end up in the Big Ten when this is all said and done. Oklahoma will go to the SEC, and the other eight schools will have to fend for themselves. Why schools like Texas Tech and TCU think Texas will “save” them in the end is beyond my comprehension. Every single school in this league should be thinking about itself and nobody else. Memo to the Red Raiders, Horned Frogs and Bears: I promise you the Longhorns are worried about their long-term future, not yours.
 
Mr. Conehead said:
Kraft did get $72 million out of Massachusetts for infrastructure improvements around Gillette, which is a lot less than other municipalities have ponied-up. Of course, such improvements massively helped his real estate investments in the areas. There is also the persistent rumor that Kraft has focused his interest on building a soccer only stadium for the Revs in Boston because the outlining cities that have shown interest, Somerville and Revere especially, are not able to offer Kraft the money he wants from the public. It maybe the key reason he backed Boston's Olympic bid before it blew-up.
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More importantly Somerville and Revere aren't able to offer Kraft the land....they have none.
 
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CardiffGiant said:
Where did this rumor come from?
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dumb.jpg
 
I can't see Texas in the B1G or SEC. I could see the PAC or ACC as landing spots. I can see OU in the SEC or PAC. And as I type this I realize I really don't give a crap anymore.
 
The Funster said:
I can't see Texas in the B1G or SEC. I could see the PAC or ACC as landing spots. I can see OU in the SEC or PAC. And as I type this I realize I really don't give a crap anymore.
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Just a guess on my part (if I was one of the twitterati I would claim it is sourced) but as the B-12 GOR approaches its end, I can see ESPN working out a deal where Texas gets an arrangement with the ACC similar to ND. Added to this, while playing fewer conference games than the remainder of the conference, both ND and UT will sit in opposite divisions and can (under very specific circumstances) qualify for the conference championship game.
 
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Here is the money quote to remember whenever the conference realignment twitterati speaks from their mountain top again:

"I do think Texas one day exits the Big 12, as Lebreton suggests, but the idea that any combination of Texas A&M, LSU, Nebraska and Arkansas would ever consider, let alone leave, the riches, stability and prestige of the SEC or Big Ten to cast their lot with a re-tooled, Longhorn-less Big 12 is asinine. Asinine doesn’t even begin to touch the spot of how clueless, mom’s-basement-blogger, 75-followers-on-Twitter, flat-out dumb that scenario is."
 
Yawkey Way said:
Massachusetts State Legislature never budged on their firm " No" that they were not going to spend millions of Massachusetts taxpayers monies for a new stadium for Bob Kraft... even after Kraft temporarily took his team to Hartford as his threat to move the team out of Massachusetts. When Kraft blinked in that high states show down however, Kraft came back to Foxboro, and used his own money to build a state of the art stadium in Foxboro. The Mass State legislature is not known for protecting the taxpayers money, but in their showdown with Bob Kraft, they ultimately protected the state treasury, and got Kraft to use private capitol to build his new Stadium.
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I was a lifelong Patriot and Steeler fan up until that debacle. Kraft toyed with my greatest sports passion (UConn). I had visions of sharing a pro size Stadium with them. When CT offered him the farm and he eventually balked and went back to Mass, that signaled the end of my Pats fandom. I was used and didn't like it. I swore I'd never root for them again as long as Kraft was the owner. It's been a long time and my hatred continues to ratchet up every year. At this point I could never go back to rooting for them. the cheating Pats & their owner.
 
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