Adios, UT and OU; hello, Big Texas Conference

Tom McKrackin · August 22, 2021

With the University of Texas and Oklahoma University leaving the Big 12 Conference, effective 2025 if not sooner, other Texas universities have an opportunity to create an in-state Division 1 football conference that would:

Cover all major Texas TV markets.
Attract significant Texas corporate advertisers/sponsors.
Preserve or create in-state rivalries and strengths in all sports.
Tie in to established college football bowl games.
Reduce travel costs and increase attendance for all sports.
Open more opportunities for college scholarships for Texas high school athletes.
Accommodate families who want to watch their sons and daughters play.
Generate statewide public and alumni excitement for Texas college sports.

read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reporternews.com/amp/8186122002

untcampbell · August 23, 2021

It is the “power” teams that have to realize this is in their best interest. I am all for helping the teams “below” us, but those “above” have to decide if it works for them. #TexasStrong

GMG

GrandGreen · August 23, 2021

Like Abilene perspective that ACU is mentioned as basketball power but not NT.

/

Aquila_Viridis · August 23, 2021

I've never been to Abilene. It seems like maybe not alot of information is making its way in there. I guess they have it in for SFA though.

greenjoe · August 23, 2021

Abilene is OK.

I like this idea. Where do I sign ?

Wag Tag · August 23, 2021

Interesting concept. I had seen Texas is on its way to passing California in population. The state deserves its own Conf, time to secede ! Finally!

Edited August 23, 2021 by Wag Tag

MrAlien · August 23, 2021

Doubt it will happen, the P5 schools will want to be in a power conference with other caliber schools. And a new conference means all those media revenues are up in the air.

southsideguy · August 23, 2021

Be nice but I doubt, tau smut, Houston, Tech or Baylor would go for it. They are above all this. I sure SMUT and Houston is hoping for a Big 12 invite after all they are equal replacement for UT and Ok, or so they think anyway. The Big 12 left overs are in trouble and they will not be invited to the party. Maybe the American Airlines and Big 12 will merge or reach an agreement.

rhaprez03-04 · August 23, 2021

https://swcroundup.com/about-us

I'm gonna to leave this here. Just take out Texas, Tech, and the Lawn Mower Repair School

greenjoe · August 23, 2021

I wonder if Bret Vito would be willing to weigh in on the “Big Texas Conference” suggested by Glenn Drongoole of the Abilene newspaper or the “Texas” conference floated by Texas Monthly magazine ? Maybe make his own suggestion ?

Edited August 23, 2021 by greenjoe

DentonLurker · August 23, 2021

The problem is that "Texas" conference would only pick up interest in Texas, and quite frankly, without UT or A&M I'm not sure it's really much better than the SBC or CUSA. There would certainly not be much national interest in that conference.

Mike Jackson · August 24, 2021

4 hours ago, DentonLurker said:

The problem is that "Texas" conference would only pick up interest in Texas, and quite frankly, without UT or A&M I'm not sure it's really much better than the SBC or CUSA. There would certainly not be much national interest in that conference.

Better attended conference games with reduced travel cost is the point. By the way A&M didn't have national interest till the Big 12 was being organized. Granted some division foes might be missed a little. Some of them are really fine programs but playing them when doesn't get casual fans to come. Abilene Christian maybe the worst pick up on the new conference schedule. But would it be worse than playing any of the CUSA East, Sun Belt East, or AAC East? None of those programs put buts in seats (except Navy who is oddly in the AAC West while being as East coast as you can get without falling off into the Atlantic Ocean). When cross division school do create buzz from having an exceptionally good season they are kicking all these Texas team's asses and not getting into the playoff so what is the point? A full stadium once every 5 years to watch a ranked East Coast team blow your team out? If we turn the tables in 5 years good luck finding an Alum from FAU, ODU, FIU, UCF, Charolette or etc to talk trash to at work the week after. 🤷🏽‍♂️

greenjoe · August 24, 2021

Drive to every conference game, with the exception of El Paso, and be home that night.

Salsa_Verde · August 24, 2021

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t they just open up a marijuana dispensary in Abilene?

untjim1995 · August 24, 2021

22 hours ago, rhaprez03-04 said:

https://swcroundup.com/about-us

I'm gonna to leave this here. Just take out Texas, Tech, and the Lawn Mower Repair School

This is so great--even though we were never invited or included in the Cool Kids Club of the SWC, one thing that hits home for me, as a Texan born and raised in the 70s and 80s, then off to UNT in 1991, was the greatness of the SWC and the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day outside at 11am, where the champion of the SWC played someone great, often in cold weather, which made it even more fun.

Look, the SWC was never going to be in play for us all because of the location we share with SMU and TCU. We should have had all kinds of channels working for gaining admittance into the Big Eight, which would have LOVED having us and the DFW connections that only OU got every year for the RRS. But we went all in on the SWC, thinking we would be the next UH, but when we get volleyball-spiked into the ground by the SWC privates, basically everyone here in leadership quit on us--and nuked the fanbase with the i-AA decision that will forever haunt us. But the fact that we gave up never has taken away the greatness that the SWC was until Arky left in 1990. After that, it was just never the same, obviously.

But if you have disdain for the old SWC because of our lack of being included, I understand that, but I also believe very much in its greatness for all the reasons that college football today absolutely sucks. It was tight, geographically and thru family/neighbors/churches. Even though Texas, Arkansas, and A&M were huge fanbases, with Tech, Baylor, and UH following them in size, and then TCU/SMU/Rice, they all had equal standing---there was no TV influencing bigger schools to go away to play teams in a conference setup from other time zones. Saturdays in this state were just awesome--as the SWC games involved teams of your town, family, friends, and enemies. And best of all, whoever ran the gauntlet got the ultimate prize around here--the berth in the Cotton Bowl, something we all looked forward to so much. I saw everyone in the SWC, except for TCU and Rice, play in the Cotton Bowl as the SWC rep. I saw Notre Dame, Penn State, Alabama, Pitt (with Dan Marino), Georgia, Auburn, Ohio State, UCLA (with Aikman), Tennessee, Florida State, and USC. Great coaches, obviously, as well. And you can do the same thing with the old Big Eight, just not from one state, but all from one region. They got the Orange Bowl every New Years Night in Miami, but the problem for that conference was that Nebraska and OU just dominated it for so long, except for a couple of season where CU was great, nobody else was even competitive. But again, the reality was that whoever won that conference in that region of the country was getting the prize in the Orange Bowl against an at-large team that was great, too.

Today, CFB has turned into a set of made-for-TV conferences and game matchups to get the same 6 teams in the playoffs, where Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, and LSU will beat down whoever they play until they play each other. That's boring and it will eventually catch up to the networks that have gerrymandered conferences to meet their perceived eyeball test. As we have seen with the NCAA Tournament and with the College World Series, when you don't limit the teams allowed to play for a championship, it creates more interest. Small schools still have fans and alumni that follow them. Ignoring them so you can create a minor league setup that costs an arm and a leg to go to and watch in person, can be easily replaced--and really it has been for a long time now--by games on Sundays with pros that have to earn paychecks. That's the fallacy that ESPN/Fox have bought into and sold people on. Its just not for me--and Ill gladly watch us play a CUSA team in person over watching an SEC game between two NFL-lite teams. Not just because I'm an alum, but because its collegiate football that looks and feels like the product I grew up adoring.

untjim1995 · August 24, 2021

23 hours ago, DentonLurker said:

The problem is that "Texas" conference would only pick up interest in Texas, and quite frankly, without UT or A&M I'm not sure it's really much better than the SBC or CUSA. There would certainly not be much national interest in that conference.

Who cares about national interest? These leagues aren't nationally relevant now. Nobody in the media cares a lick about the SBCUSA or the MAC at all--but regionally, the media and fans of those schools do. The MAC thinks its awesome to have MACtion on mid-week nights, except they get hundreds of people at those games because people cannot drive to those games and get back in time for work or school the next day. They could if they played on Saturdays, but they think getting that guaranteed ESPN money is worth it. I'll make the argument all day long that a regionalized conference, like the MAC has and the SBCUSA could easily duplicate, increases attendance and revenue from other sources by playing games on Saturdays and making a TV deal more regionalized--like Bally Sports or even independent channels in the markets they serve. Think Raycom/HSE back in the day for SWC games.

We, as a lower grouping, need to be smarter than we are at how to fit into today's CFB world. There's a place--and its much closer to the FCS leagues than it is to the Power Conferences and the AAC/MWC.

Edit add--just found a report from A&M that shows they get 60% of their revenue from ticket sales, donations, concessions, and other licensing fees. As much money as that school makes--they get 37% from the SEC and another 3% from 3rd tier rights. At schools like ours, where we get nothing of value from TV, imagine how much better it would be to limit travel, increase fans attending games from both schools, all of whom buy concessions, park, and buy apparel and souvenirs?

Edited August 24, 2021 by untjim1995

PlummMeanGreen · August 24, 2021

•••Amended with spelling corrections.😎

The proposed conference I see on this thread would probably have the same effect as when North Texas was demoted from NCAA D1-A to NCAA 1-AA in 1982. It wasn’t a pretty sight. NT Exes (I haven’t seen since) threw up their hands & said or thought words like.....“enough of this crap, this school is only about regressing downward to mediocrity & I want no part of it.” (And they proved it—as I haven’t seen most of them since).

🤔You think U of North Texas being located in a major league sports market has something to do with most of our alum’s attitudes as far as what they’ll accept? Minor league “anything” (even in Denton) was never going to fly (& it hasn’t). Why not shoot higher then? I think Wren Baker will unless he gets overly unimpressed with our fan base.🤢

My main worry from the OldDenton “group think” tank is that when we hit 50,000 enrollment they’ll want football on campus to be at an intramural level. How’s that you might ask? Well, look at what some of them want now (as one reads this thread) & that after we hit 40,000 plus enrollment? (Hell, the bigger UNT gets the smaller they think)!😳

Then may I suggest which UNT AD would want no part of this Texas Conference or one with such a low profile that will never build a fan & contributions base?

So all can get all warm & gushy about sitting around an all Texas intercollegiate conference campfire singing: 🎶 “Kum Bah Yah, my Lord, Kum bah yah, aren’t we all insignificantly average as hell, my Lord, Kum bah yah?”🎶

🐎...🦅

Edited August 24, 2021 by PlummMeanGreen

untjim1995 · August 24, 2021

2 hours ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

The proposed conference I see on this thread would probably have the same effect as when North Texas was demoted from NCAA D1-A to NCAA 1-AA in 1982. It wasn’t a pretty sight. NT Exes (I haven’t seen since) threw up their hands & said or thought words like this...“enough of this crap, this school is only about regressing downward to mediocrity & I want no part of it.” (And they proved it—as I haven’t seen most of them since).

My main worry from the OldDenton “group think” tank is that when we hit 50,000 enrollment they’ll want football on campus to be at an intramural level. How’s that you might ask? Well, look at what they want (as one reads this thread) once we hit 40,000 plus enrollment?

Then can I suggest which UNT AD would want no part of this Texas Conference or one with such a low profile that will never build a fan base?
Anyone can get all warm & gushy about sitting around an all Texas intercollegiate conference campfire singing: 🎶 “Kum Bah Yah, my Lord, Kum bah yah, aren’t we all insignificantly average as hell, my Lord, Kum bah yah? 🎵

🦅

Let me just say that my dream scenario would be for UNT to be in a much bigger and more relevant situation in the CFB universe. But no conference above us seems to ever have any interest in having UNT as a member--never. Going independent in football COULD change that if you won big enough, but even BYU has trouble doing that in today's world.

You cannot make us into something that we have never been, except for a three year time frame in Hayden's tenure. We haven't been ranked since then. We haven't beaten a ranked team since he was here almost 50 years ago. That decision in 1982 wrecked the dream of ever being higher than we are--its kept us at a low level against the other regional schools that didn't even play football back then because of the anti-athletics vibe. No matter how awesome Wren Baker is--and he is--he cannot fix what our reputation is without winning in football at a much bigger rate than we have done since the Fry days. And I will believe Littrell can duplicate that success only when I actually see it happen...

Edited August 24, 2021 by untjim1995

UNTexas · August 24, 2021

15 hours ago, greenjoe said:

Drive to every conference game, with the exception of El Paso, and be home that night.

I flew out there to watch us play a few years back. It was an expensive weekend and we lost. It sucked.

Udomann · August 24, 2021

so.. Um... Who would watch this conference besides texas? Which is now split 12 ways on viewership with its intended viewers? Smells like bad business.

Diversify that portfolio!

Edited August 25, 2021 by Udomann

Mike Jackson · August 26, 2021

On 8/24/2021 at 10:49 AM, untjim1995 said:

That's the fallacy that ESPN/Fox have bought into and sold people on. Its just not for me--and Ill gladly watch us play a CUSA team in person over watching an SEC game between two NFL-lite teams. Not just because I'm an alum, but because its collegiate football that looks and feels like the product I grew up adoring.

Love your whole post. And college sports in general have accelerated the decline in overall viewership with cut throat business practices that should not have any place when your labor force isn’t just straight up paid and contracted. The bottom half teams of these Power conferences don’t move the TV viewership needle and never have. Smaller regional conferences are better for everyone long term even the Longhorns and Sooners. When these networks start seeing a more significant decline this national TV money will dry up.

NM Green · August 26, 2021

I feel the same way and I’m a college football junkie. Give me an in person football game between G5 programs any day. I’ll tape and watch an Oregon and some sec games but when the production gets too NFLic I lose interest. The playoffs and national championship game are becoming Super Bowl unwatchable. And I don’t watch the super bowl. I don’t like how espn glosses it up to a point it can never live up to.

My sec friends are bloodthirsty though. They can’t wait to shave it down to the 16-25 programs that “matter” and compete in their eyes. more power to them. Power to the Mean Green.
GMG

southsideguy · August 27, 2021

Liberty and NMSU were independent two years ago and had to play and home and home schedule with each other. Look at BYU they play everywhere they can. I think it would be tough for us to go independent.