Big Move For Cu ? Pac 10 Considering Expanaion ?

[Eagle1855]

If we were Tier 1, we would look even more attractive to another conference.

True. And it would appear we just ran off the woman that was trying to take us there...

[Side Show Joe]

After a little research, I found out that Colorado's Denver media market is the largest T.V. market in the big 12. It's the number 18 market in the country. Missouri's Kansas City market comes in second at around 38. Losing Colorado would really hurt the Big 12 when it comes to signing a new T.V. deal. From what I hear, their current deal isn't so great, compared to other BCS deals.

If Colorado heads to the PAC 10, the T.V. markets of the remaining Big 12 would not be strong enough to negotiate a deal on the same level with the other BCS conferences.

When I first heard the rumors of Texas and the Big 10, I thought it impossible, but now I just don't know. I can't imagine Texas not playing Oklahoma and A&M every year. Then again I remember thinking Texas and Arkansas would always play too.

How does all this effect North Texas? North Texas, like TCU, and SMU, play in the country's 5th largest market. We have the advantage of being a very large public school, while they have a large edge in academics, and are currently more successful on the field. On the good side, if Colorado, Texas, and A&M all exit the Big 12 (Texas will probably be forced to take A&M with them), our size and status as a public university should be a greater desire to the Big 12. The Big 12 has Baylor, and I don't think they don't want anymore private schools. Houston sits in the number 10 T.V. market, and I believe are also a tier 4 school like North Texas. UTEP could also be an option, but I didn't look at the size of their T.V. market. Should the Big 12 be forced to fill openings in the conference, I think the most important characteristics the conference will be looking for are, Large T.V. markets, so they can negotiate for a more lucrative deal like other BCS conferences have, finding schools that are also large public universities, because that is the preferred makeup of the conference, and finding schools within the conferences footprint.

They could look outside the footprint, and try to raid another BCS conference, but the PAC 10, Big 10, and SEC all have better T.V. deals then the Big 12, so those schools will probably not want to move.

Any objections?

[untjim1995]

In the Big XII, as it stands now, you have the following schools that others would find major benfeits in adding:

Texas, A&M, OU, KU, MU, CU, and Nebraska. They either have great traditional programs in men's hoops or football or they carry good size TV markets. Eventually, this whole thing will turn into Mega-conferences and some of the lower level BCS schools will also get left behind (i.e. Baylor, Iowa State, Vandy, etc.) I truly believe that the top 60 programs will separate themselves within the next decade, but I don't know if that will be within the framework of the NCAA or as an outside governing body. The next 60-75 schools will probably stay within the framework of the NCAA, similar to the FCS vs FBS setup now, but it will be that way for all sports.

Again, the top 60 might look like this:

Washington Texas Michigan Arkansas Kentucky West Virginia

Oregon Texas A&M Michigan State LSU Tennessee Pitt

Stanford Oklahoma Wisconsin Alabama South Carolina Rutgers

California Oklahoma State Indiana Auburn Clemson Boston College

UCLA Kansas Purdue Florida UNC Syracuse

USC Missouri Illinois Georgia NC State Louisville

Arizona Nebraska Ohio State Florida State Virginia Cincinnati

Arizona State Iowa Notre Dame Miami Virginia Tech Connecticut

Colorado Minnesota Penn State Georgia Tech Maryland Duke--because of hoops only

Oregon State Washington St Texas Tech Kansas State South Florida Utah--maybe??

BYU could be in this group, too.

How does this affect UNT? Well, I still believe that a new SWC is very possible within the next 10 years or so if major realignment occurs. If a new Super BCS was created as mentioned above, schools like TCU and Baylor would have to consider being in a conference with the other Texas schools that they look down at currently. It would definitely be interesting to see if in the next round of conference shuffling if UNT gets mentioned at all for any possible openings, whether its CUSA or, miraculously, a Big 12 that still had teams with name value.