WVU gone from BE...Slive ( SEC commish) authorized to negotiate with WVU | Page 3 | The Boneyard

WVU gone from BE...Slive ( SEC commish) authorized to negotiate with WVU

Status
Not open for further replies.
It would probably take the SEC some time to get the WVU invite in place, if it were going to happen. Mizzou has been lobbying (everyone in sight) for a year now, and it doesn't even seem close. WVU is farther away than that, although who knows what Oliver Luck has been orchestrating behind the scene. I wonder if Baylor is standing alone, or it is getting behind the scenes support from TX or others. TX wants to keep this thing together more than anyone. They just don't want to share LHN revenues. TX might have to.
 
does anyone really think a Baylor lawsuit will ultimately keep the SEC from getting aTm?
 
w7ffG.gif
 
mattp said:
does anyone really think a Baylor lawsuit will ultimately keep the SEC from getting aTm?
Expand ...
If they have the support of top Politicos in the state offices, it could make it interesting. How do you think Baylor got the invite into the Big 12 over some other options in state?
 
No. First, they don't have a case that isn't frivolous, and universities, with time to analyze, don't run away from frivolous lawsuits. Second, the State of Texas, as a political entity, has no power within the SEC. Baylor's only political play was to keep the Aggies from leaving in the first place, but they've apparently lost this one already.
 
.-.
Great 'toon. Baylor may not stop anybody but they will get some $$ out of it and the SEC doesn't want a Baptist hand in its wallet. aTm will probably have to agree to pay any damages itself. The again, maybe Baylor will drop the whole thing. It can't feel good to be in their position and I don't blame them at all.
 
Excalibur said:
Exactly. Show's over. Last one out turn off the lights.
Expand ...

Maybe you are right, but it is incredibly self-destructive thinking. If WVU does this, it could cost every school in the conference millions of dollars, even if they get into another conference. Why would the Big 10 or SEC give WVU an equal share if the Big East is on the verge of collapse anyway? They would get a Tier 2 or Tier 3 membership, as the Big 10 was rumored to have been considering a year ago, where maybe they get $5 or $10 million compared to the $25 million everyone else in the league is getting.

The ACC's position is much smarter. Swear undying loyalty to each other, giving you credible negotiating leverage when you have to leave.
 
Swearing undying loyalty only works if people believe it. And I am hard pressed to believe that anyone in the SEC doesn't think that at the very least Clemson and FSU would say "yes" in about six seconds.
 
businesslawyer said:
3. If this ( the move to 4 16 team conferences) has to happen, and I don't see why it does, would the three conferences driving the bus get on with it already so that everyone can adjust and get back to watching football please? For the life of me, I still don't see what an SEC member gets by expanding. But what do I know.
Expand ...
This is the biggest wildcard in this game.

Assuming (I know, but for this equation we need assumptions) the P-10 does pull off the UT, TT, OU, OSU expansion to sixteen and after adding (for this example) A&M and WVU, the SEC adds any two of Missouri, Louisville, Va Tech, NC St, Clemson and FSU. The B1G, who may well be the biggest player in this game will still have four cards to draw. Beyond ND, there are no guaranteed targets (and no assurance that ND will join). Could Missouri hold off joining the SEC in the hope that the B1G would have to add them as one of their next four? With Missouri, Kansas (assuming they could break free from KSU) could logically join them in the B1G (if the B1G wanted them) but this would then kill any shot KSU and ISU have at remaining in a major conference. Would Rutgers hold off on BE members joining/merging with the ACC on the hopes that if they are among the few who haven't yet moved the b1G will have no choice but to add them?

For fans and schools who are potentially on the chopping block it would be far easier if the B1G acted aas the P-12 is acting now and the SEC made the jump to sixteen in one step. Unfortunately we will need to live through this soap opera for potentially a few more years as unless the momentum becomes overpowering, the b1G will wait this out for a couple of years.
 
The worst possible scenario for UConn is if the SEC takes WVU as a 14th member, the Big 10 decides to match, and the ACC decides that it's fine with 12 teams. That scenario is very much on the table at this point.
 
Excaliber hit the proverbial nail right square on the head with his post about the show being over. The football schools have to protect themselves. Just to give you guys some insight into the mentality of the catholic hoops schools...in 2004 I had shoulder surgery from injuries I suffered at a fire (full thickness labrum tear, rotator cuff tear). I was extremely lucky to come under the care of a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC who also was part of the medical staff for St John's athletics. We would talk a lot about UConn, St John's and the Big East. This Dr. told me that Fr. Harrington viewed any school not part of the original Big East as being beneath him...and his feeling was that those schools had to do what ever they were told or they could go elsewhere. He also had that feeling somewhat towards the original schools that were football schools as well. If I were a betting man, I would bet that this mindset is still prevelent among those schools today. That's why I can't see the Big East staying together as it is now constructed. A lot of you bring up the next tv deal and throw around some nice numbers. Can you imagine what things will be like when schools like UConn and Syracuse are bringing in say $15 mill a year and Villanova, St. Johns, and PC are only making $6-$7 million a year....that mindset I just mentioned will only become worse. If Big East football is to survive it is time to split away from the basketball schools and go out on their own, or merge with the remenants of the Big 12.....or each go their seperate ways.
 
.-.
epark88 said:
Latest news: aTm has an official SEC offer, provided the individual BXII left-behinds don't sue.

So far, Baylor isn't budging and has brought things to a grinding halt for now. Frankly, I can't blame them...
Expand ...
This is basically the SEC saying to A&M "you resolve the Baylor problem and you're in."

This may at worst need arbitration for A&M and Baylor to come to a settlement (although if the BE were to offer Baylor as some has suggested, we could kill Baylor's argument) and Basylor's role in the demise of thw SWC would damage their position. This may delay the issue for a while but it won't stop it.
 
businesslawyer said:
Swearing undying loyalty only works if people believe it. And I am hard pressed to believe that anyone in the SEC doesn't think that at the very least Clemson and FSU would say "yes" in about six seconds.
Expand ...

They wouldn't be talking to WVU and Missouri if Clemson and FSU hadn't already said "no".
 
Excalibur said:
The worst possible scenario for UConn is if the SEC takes WVU as a 14th member, the Big 10 decides to match, and the ACC decides that it's fine with 12 teams. That scenario is very much on the table at this point.
Expand ...

That is absolutely the worst case. Which is why the right move for the Big East schools is to make some sort of massive separation agreement. Like $50 million over 5 years for a football school departing from the other football schools. Keep the no fault divorce clause between football and hoops. I would have a clause that reduces the departure clause by 80% if 2/3's of the members are in BCS conferences within a year of the first school leaving. Basically, if most of the conference is saved, then the leftovers still get a healthy payday. If everyone is saved, there is no payday, but if one or two teams leave on their own, they get hammered.

The reason anyone would sign this is to:

1) put a floor on the worst case, with 3 or fewer teams splitting at least $60 million if they have to go to CUSA.
2) send a message to other conferences that if you raid the Big East, you will not be able to get teams on the cheap.
3) encourage the Big East schools to hold together until a super-majority have a safe landing.
 
Excalibur said:
SEC has problems with their own members with those two schools.
Expand ...

I have heard that. I am skeptical that a single TV exec told them that WVU was more valuable than a second team in Florida or Georgia. Georgia Tech in particular would seem a great target. It would lock down a huge, fast growing market.
 
.-.
nelsonmuntz said:
I have heard that. I am skeptical that a single TV exec told them that WVU was more valuable than a second team in Florida or Georgia. Georgia Tech in particular would seem a great target. It would lock down a huge, fast growing market.
Expand ...
I don't know what Ga Tech would give them that they don't already get from Georgia.

If it were solely about expanding their television markets, NC St and Va Tech (ACC schools in states with no current SEC presence that the SEC could lure and who would fit with the SEC culture) would be getting far more play.

I imagine that the pace that the A&M addition moved over the summer was due to lack of agreement on who #14 would be but now that nearly all of the obstacles have been removed in adding A&M, the SEC may well have decided who #14 is (or at least have a very short list). WVU would be for the most part a cultural fit, a school the SEC believes would jump at the move and a reasonable brand in both football and basketball. Not a perfect addition but there are few that would fall into that category.
 
Do you think perhaps UConn, Cuse and one of RU/Pitt might form a triumvirate, saying to either the ACC or B1G if you want one of us, you have to take all three? If it does come down to a worst case scenario, that kind of agreement becomes hard to maintain, if the presidents feel it's every school for itself. I guess we'll have an indication of WVU's psychology if they decide to jump, and after that we'll see what everyone else's mentality is.
 
junglehusky said:
Do you think perhaps UConn, Cuse and one of RU/Pitt might form a triumvirate, saying to either the ACC or B1G if you want one of us, you have to take all three? If it does come down to a worst case scenario, that kind of agreement becomes hard to maintain, if the presidents feel it's every school for itself. I guess we'll have an indication of WVU's psychology if they decide to jump, and after that we'll see what everyone else's mentality is.
Expand ...
I'm not sure that any of the BE schools would sign into this but oit is quite possible that (depending on the circumstances) both the B1G and the ACC would view the value of these additions as being greater with all three (the ACC could more easily get away with merely two).
 
The SEC doesn't necessarily care about teams in big markets. If you think about it, no SEC team is really located in a big market, save Vandy. They care more about quality of play, and how much national cache that team brings. The obvious choice here is FSU, but I've read in numerous places that there is a set of schools looking to block FSU at all costs. Why? I have no idea. But I do have a belief that all of tihs could be a charade to eventually get back to FSU as team 14.
 
FfldCntyFan said:
I don't know what Ga Tech would give them that they don't already get from Georgia.

If it were solely about expanding their television markets, NC St and Va Tech (ACC schools in states with no current SEC presence that the SEC could lure and who would fit with the SEC culture) would be getting far more play.

I imagine that the pace that the A&M addition moved over the summer was due to lack of agreement on who #14 would be but now that nearly all of the obstacles have been removed in adding A&M, the SEC may well have decided who #14 is (or at least have a very short list). WVU would be for the most part a cultural fit, a school the SEC believes would jump at the move and a reasonable brand in both football and basketball. Not a perfect addition but there are few that would fall into that category.
Expand ...

Generally, deeper is better than broader when it comes to market penetration. The SEC is better off not having a competitor in big attractive markets like Georgia and Florida, than it is in adding WVU, which is a worthless market, or an NC State.

It is likely that even if push comes to shove, the North Carolina and Virginia schools will each stick together. I think the southern ACC schools would leave for the SEC.
 
Most of you guys are too young to remember that Ga. Tech was a member of the SEC and left b/c it was too hard to keep up. Same with Tulane.
 
.-.
uc1974 said:
Most of you guys are too young to remember that Ga. Tech was a member of the SEC and left b/c it was too hard to keep up. Same with Tulane.
Expand ...

Same with Sawanee University! But I think we are all too young to remember that
 
That's Sewanee, or University of the South. It is a small Episcopal school in Tennessee and left many many years before GT or Tulane. I don't think they are in the discussion about (re)joining the SEC.
 
I believe that the Suwanee comment was made in jest. I don't know exactly when Tulane and Ga Tech left the SEC (I imagine it was the mid 1960's but could have been a bit earlier) but when I began following college football (late 1960's) it was often mentioned (during Ga Tech or SEC games) that they were members.
 
I don't have a sense of humor. I'm old, cranky and wish that the X Univ. to Y Conference stuff would just go away. No one is talking Vandy-UConn.:(
 
UConnRock said:
The "WVU to the SEC" rumor is getting zero traction in SEC country. There is no desire for the SEC to bring in the Wheeling/Morgantown/Charleston TV market and the truth be told, WVU doesn't bring any type of natural rival or eyeballs to the TV screen. The SEC may be backed into the corner by the remaining B-12 teams by having to agree not to take another B-12 team to secure the A&M move. That would eliminate Missouri. There are several ACC teams that would be naturally preferable from a TV market standpoint (Maryland w/ the DC market, NC State to escape the Duke UNC shadow and bring the Raleigh/Durham market, FSU because the Florida market is big enough to split between UF and FSU). I am not even including Clemson as they do not have a huge TV market, but would be a bigger fish than WVU.

As for the Baylor situation.......Baylor is one of the few teams on an island in this whole scenario. OK, OK St., Texas and TTech are negotiating w/ the PAC. Kansas, KSU. Missouri could fall back on the BE. Baylor seems screwed and would fall to the level of SMU and Houston, so I can totally understand their reluctance to sign anything.
Expand ...

This is the first sane post I've read. All we've been hearing is that the SEC doesn't want to duplicate its markets and will be searching out new ones. Well, WV's market is so tiny that it makes the SEC's supposed criteria totally meaningless.
 
uc1974 said:
That's Sewanee, or University of the South. It is a small Episcopal school in Tennessee and left many many years before GT or Tulane. I don't think they are in the discussion about (re)joining the SEC.
Expand ...
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,149
Messages
4,554,860
Members
10,438
Latest member
UConnheart


Top Bottom