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

[atom58]

The LHN is an albatross not only to the Big XII but also to Texas who cannot get into any other conference as a full member with that network still running. The other issue is you don't really see them wanting to take a back seat to Alabama in the SEC, Southern Cal, etc. in the Pac 12, Michigan and Ohio State in the "Big 10", or the NC schools in the ACC. When they come to their senses, they will support a 2 to 4 team expansion to keep their regional conference running - my thought anyway.

 

[CL82]

The LHN is an albatross not only to the Big XII but also to Texas who cannot get into any other conference as a full member with that network still running.

Uh, sign us up for that albatross please.

 

[huskymedic]

Consider source...

Geoff Ketchum ‏@gkketch 2h2 hours ago
Per Multiple sources: Big 12 expansion is gaining little ground. No school has six votes at this point, let alone the eight needed.

 

[sportsart]

Consider source...

Geoff Ketchum ‏@gkketch 2h2 hours ago
Per Multiple sources: Big 12 expansion is gaining little ground. No school has six votes at this point, let alone the eight needed.

It's pretty obvious that expansion is not going to happen. There isn't going to be this breakthrough where all of a sudden 2 or 4 teams magically get the votes.

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say no expansion. I'll be back for my victory lap in late October.

 

[huskymedic]

Pete Thamel@SIPeteThamel 2 hours ago
My Big 12 expansion update: Houston and Cincy surging. BYU crumbling. Everyone still laughing at Boren.
Big 12 expansion process drags on, with dysfunction only constant for league

Longer read but essentially:

• The Big 12 adds Cincinnati and Houston: 60%
• Nothing happens: 30%
• Something wacky happens: 10% - Always leave the Big 12 wiggle room for the unpredictable. Could there be four teams added for a money grab and an entrée into Florida? Sure. But the only school not yet mentioned that is still perceived to have a realistic chance in all this is Connecticut. Yet UConn's chances have dimmed as BYU's candidacy has crumbled, as both could have conceivably been added as football-only. UConn would have placed its other sports in the Big East. (UConn's candidacy really got hurt when the league decided against a television network, as UConn's Northeast market was a much better sell than its football program.) What else wacky could happen? Nothing should be left off the table. But for now, only Cincinnati, Houston, BYU and Connecticut have a reasonable chance. And it appears Cincinnati and Houston have pulled away. But this being the Big 12, we know there's a lot of time left for something strange to happen.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Unfortunately, I think Thamel's scenarios are closest to what is actually happening. With BYU's candidacy crumbling due to the Honor Code, so does ours. We never had a shot at getting in over UC, and the more press UH gets the slimmer the chance we get in over them.

 

[Exit 4]

Unfortunately, I think Thamel's scenarios are closest to what is actually happening. With BYU's candidacy crumbling due to the Honor Code, so does ours. We never had a shot at getting in over UC, and the more press UH gets the slimmer the chance we get in over them.

Perhaps only a nasty protest from Fox could save us now. Fox doesn't want Houston, it wants UConn. It wants something to make FS1 a legit channel east of the Mississippi.

 

[Kolumbo]

Anytime someone suggests the Big 12 and UConn football only, I just can't think of anything wackier. It is maddening I tell ya.

 

[CL82]

If I were in the room I'd argue:

1. ESPN has made it clear that it will prop up ACC and not the B12. There is a considerable rish that we not recieve as good a deal at the end of current TV contract.
2. We have the opportunity to add X million per school if add two schools from now to end of contact and 2X if we add 4. ESPN and FOX are contractually bound to pay us this increase.
3. Our GOR laspses in 2015. After that we are at risk of teams leaving. At 10 teams, we can't sustain a loss of one of more teams, but at 14 teams at least we have a chance.
4. If the Big 12 breaks up there is a risk that many schools in the conference now will not get into another P5 conference.
5. Between now and 2025, there will be no other schools to choose from.
6. Bringing in the best available schools allows them to grow in stature by 2025, helping to assure the conferences survival.
7. We have already publically committed to expansion.
8. Let pick the best 4 out there, maximize our revenue and position ourselves as well as possible for the future.

 

[businesslawyer]

It's pretty obvious that expansion is not going to happen. There isn't going to be this breakthrough where all of a sudden 2 or 4 teams magically get the votes.

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say no expansion. I'll be back for my victory lap in late October.

How can you find room on the track with the number of posters here who seem to be constantly taking victory laps?

 

[SubbaBub]

Consider source...

Geoff Ketchum ‏@gkketch 2h2 hours ago
Per Multiple sources: Big 12 expansion is gaining little ground. No school has six votes at this point, let alone the eight needed.

Of course not. They are still negotiating. Whichever schools they decide to expand with already have 10 votes.

That's how this works. The deciding faction is withholding their votes from anyone viable until they decided not to.

Six votes you say? Meaning four holdouts. UT, BU, TT, and TCU are 4 schools of one side. Hmmm.

Conversely OU, OSU, WVA, KU, KSU, and ISU are all presumably against Houston, until they aren't.

These med-iots (copyright pending) are trying to sell us that there has actually been a vote cast in the matter and said vote is somehow binding.

To quote a very funny commercial, "That's not how any of this works."

 

[bobbyinaz]

If I were in the room I'd argue:

1. ESPN has made it clear that it will prop up ACC and not the B12. There is a considerable rish that we not recieve as good a deal at the end of current TV contract.
2. We have the opportunity to add X million per school if add two schools from now to end of contact and 2X if we add 4. ESPN and FOX are contractually bound to pay us this increase.
3. Our GOR laspses in 2015. After that we are at risk of teams leaving. At 10 teams, we can't sustain a loss of one of more teams, but at 14 teams at least we have a chance.
4. If the Big 12 breaks up there is a risk that many schools in the conference now will not get into another P5 conference.
5. Between now and 2025, there will be no other schools to choose from.
6. Bringing in the best available schools allows them to grow in stature by 2025, helping to assure the conferences survival.
7. We have already publically committed to expansion.
8. Let pick the best 4 out there, maximize our revenue and position ourselves as well as possible for the future.

Who is leaving and where are they going?

UT would certainly have choices but why would they leave? They are making similar money to SEC & B1G schools already and they get to remain the king of the conference. Neither the SEC or the B1G are taking OK

They haven't committed to expansion. Neither Bowlsby, Boren or any of the other mouthpieces have said "WE are expanding. It's just a matter of who & how many"

 

[Vuce]

Houston is MUCH more palatable to the non TX schools with 4 teams than it is with 2. You only invite Houston and another and 5 of the 12 schools are in TX as opposed to 5 out of 14. They go to 12 schools with Houston as one of them then the non TX schools deserve what they get.

 

[The Viking]

Exactly Vuce, there is no way IMO they go 5 of 12 in Texas. 5 of 14? Sure, that seems far more palatable. I mean with UConn and BYU you get brand names, Cincy is solid all around, Houston is on fire with football, which is obviously a huge thing in all of this.

And yet is the Big 12 really worried about ESPN's feelings? If that's true, that to me is the weirdest thing about this. ESPN is not a "friend" of the Big 12 (outside of U of Texas) the way they are "friends" with the ACC.
Plus 10 years from now who knows how your games will be distributed let alone what TV network you may or not be dealing with. 10 years is an eternity the way things are developing now.

UConn/BYU/Cincy/Houston makes a ton of sense. Maybe Flug is right - BYU has to make some kind of public announcement about changes to "the code" to get the ball rolling toward expansion.

 

[BKarchitect]

Just put most media and insiders on ignore. Really guys - I feel bad for you. These guys don't know crap. They may have heard something from somebody who knows somebody in a Big 12 athletic department but to think any of them have an accurate chart on who has 6 votes and who has 4 hanging up on their wall is absurd. All they are doing is speculating - the same thing we are all doing yet they simply get to pass it off as "news" or "insider info". It's not. Bob Bowlsby - the commissioner of the Big 12 conference...HE doesn't know how his presidents are going to vote. He admitted as much and he has no control over it - no matter how great the information and guidance he is trying to dish out to his presidents is.

At the end of the day, there are 10 individual presidents who have very different opinions about what is going to happen. And if somebody wants to write an article about why that in and of itself means expansion likely won't happen, that's fine. But when they start dropping vote counts and trying to get cute with the info, that's when you know they are full of it. You'll also notice that nearly every time one of these hacks writes a piece, they end it with the all-time classic out of: "but hey, it's the Big 12 so anything can happen! (so if I'm wrong about everything, don't blame me...in fact, at some point I've said every scenario is going to happen - so really, I'm right!).

 

[BKarchitect]

I can just see a week from now, Boren or Bowlsby comes out with some public statement that it vaguely "pro-expansion" but really is simply another non-statement statement - and the herd of media types will all of a sudden start tweeting about how they've heard there was "a major breakthrough" with regards to BYU or UConn or the non-Texas schools giving in to Houston or what the heck ever and they'll all act like they knew that expansion was too good for the Big 12 to pass on.

Until the October meeting, skepticism about any report pro or con expansion is the way to proceed.

 

[SubbaBub]

Funny thing about negotiations is they rarely end up outside the parameters of the initials positions. Sure, you occasionally have some group epiphany or one side finally sees a path they didn't consider. Sometimes an alternative benefit is thrown in, but most of the time it ends up like it does on Pawn Stars. Both sides giving in a little until some reaches it's take it or leave. Unless, of course there is no deal to be made. Then it dies.


Unless TX can't be brought to the table, I think there is a deal here because it is someone else's money and they don't get any by hitting eject. They also need it.

 

[huskymedic]

Pete Thamel@SIPeteThamel 2 hours ago
My Big 12 expansion update: Houston and Cincy surging. BYU crumbling. Everyone still laughing at Boren.
Big 12 expansion process drags on, with dysfunction only constant for league

Longer read but essentially:

• The Big 12 adds Cincinnati and Houston: 60%
• Nothing happens: 30%
• Something wacky happens: 10% - Always leave the Big 12 wiggle room for the unpredictable. Could there be four teams added for a money grab and an entrée into Florida? Sure. But the only school not yet mentioned that is still perceived to have a realistic chance in all this is Connecticut. Yet UConn's chances have dimmed as BYU's candidacy has crumbled, as both could have conceivably been added as football-only. UConn would have placed its other sports in the Big East. (UConn's candidacy really got hurt when the league decided against a television network, as UConn's Northeast market was a much better sell than its football program.) What else wacky could happen? Nothing should be left off the table. But for now, only Cincinnati, Houston, BYU and Connecticut have a reasonable chance. And it appears Cincinnati and Houston have pulled away. But this being the Big 12, we know there's a lot of time left for something strange to happen.

Andy Gresh ‏@TheRealGresh 1h 1 hour ago
@uconn fans, @SIPeteThamel will join us today at 3:35 to talk CFB, and his great piece today on the Big 12. @WTIC1080

It's like he goes out his his way to find/revel in whatever he can to antagonize the fan base ( I get it drives ratings but...).

 

[BKarchitect]

There's an assumption that there is all this back-and-forth horse trading going on behind the scenes on a daily basis...but why is there this assumption that the process is that fluid and dynamic among the Big 12 presidents? Bowlsby has been in touch with individual presidents with pertinent information. Individual presidents have probably been talking in-house with their administration and AD's. And a few of the presidents who have close ties may have spoken with one another. But they haven't all sat down in a room with one another or been hanging out over happy hour trying to come up with solutions. Assuming all this trading is going on, that all this inside info is being passed around by presidents or between presidents by associates and that they are constantly haggling with each other like buddies in a fantasy football league - that's mistaking what this conference is and has been this entire century - a bunch of institutions with their own motives loosely connected but not driven in any way by a conference umbrella and frankly, not known to be particular conversant with one another...or even moreso, purposefully not frank with their intentions.

When they meet in October and all actually have to be in the same room? That's when I expect the firework to actually begin.

 

[Exit 4]

Andy Gresh ‏@TheRealGresh 1h 1 hour ago
@uconn fans, @SIPeteThamel will join us today at 3:35 to talk CFB, and his great piece today on the Big 12. @WTIC1080

It's like he goes out his his way to find/revel in whatever he can to antagonize the fan base ( I get it drives ratings but...).

Ratings? WTIC has ratings?

 

[TRest]

Andy Gresh ‏@TheRealGresh 1h 1 hour ago
@uconn fans, @SIPeteThamel will join us today at 3:35 to talk CFB, and his great piece today on the Big 12. @WTIC1080

It's like he goes out his his way to find/revel in whatever he can to antagonize the fan base ( I get it drives ratings but...).

He and Joe d. both agreed the other day that having guests on to talk about B12 expansion was a waste of time because Boren's comments mean nobody knows anything about what will happen. So let's get a guest who is ruling us out.

 

[huskymedic]

Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB)
9/16/16, 2:51 PM
Heard from a source today that the notion of "football only" members being added to the Big 12 is gaining some traction.

 

[Marty Jackson]

I can just see a week from now, Boren or Bowlsby comes out with some public statement that it vaguely "pro-expansion" but really is simply another non-statement statement - and the herd of media types will all of a sudden start tweeting about how they've heard there was "a major breakthrough" with regards to BYU or UConn or the non-Texas schools giving in to Houston or what the heck ever and they'll all act like they knew that expansion was too good for the Big 12 to pass on.

Until the October meeting, skepticism about any report pro or con expansion is the way to proceed.

it's like that awkward silence when you're on an elevator... for some reason, the mediots can't help themselves so they have to write about something. even if it's 100% make believe.

 

[bobbyinaz]

Personally, I had a long former residence in Tallahassee with several degrees earned from FSU and have only traveled through parts of WVa which has some beautiful scenery like New River Gorge, but if you don't think the leadership of the other conferences is not carefully watching the Big XII expansion drama unfold, I don't know what to tell you.
It has the potential (i) to remove the best remaining G5 pieces such as UConn off the board on the one hand, and (ii) possibly could result in the disintegration of a P5 league on the other hand - less likely I think.

The leadership of the other conferences do not care about any G5 pieces. If the SEC or B1G ever add any additional members they will be schools in existing P5 conferences that specifically targeted to add huge dollars to their war chest.

You have essentially posted this response in every thread so it's apparent that you really don't understand anything about CR. To think that either of those conferences are "carefully watching" the clown show the B12 is running is about the most absurd thing that has ever been posted on the BY. Congratulations!

 

[UC1995]

Ratings? WTIC has ratings?

For those out of state anyone want to give a recap?