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Exactly. There is a conference hierarchy flow chart that is followed. Nobody is going to the ACC or Big 12 from C-USA. The AAC and MWC are the feeder conferences to the ACC and Big 12. That's why it's imperative that we make the AAC our next goal.Originally Posted by Champ967
D06 is correct in that Landon's article is nothing but rumor. At the same time, the realignment rollercoaster will move forward.
By June 2016, the Big 10 is expected to add 2 more schools. Brett McMurphy of ESPN has talked about this a couple of times in the past 18 months. Each Big 10 school loses millions each year with the league at 14 rather than 16. It costs Fox (formerly NewsCorp) more than $100 million each year in lost revenue from the Big 10 Network with the league not being at 16, as Fox is co-owner of the network. McMurphy believes the two additions will be Missouri and UConn. This is the invitation Missouri officials privately covet because of the money the Big 10 brings to the table on the academic side. Grants of TV Rights in the ACC and Big 12 prevent any additions from those leagues.
The SEC would need a replacement. East Carolina? It has to be someone that isn't already in the ACC or Big 12.
The ACC is in the same boat. It launches its stand-alone network in August, 2015. It will immediately cost itself millions per school by being at 14 rather than 16. Temple is sitting in a Top 5 media market and could be added with another AAC school. If Cincy could guarantee carriage of the ACC Network on basic cable in the majority of cable systems in Ohio, I am certain that would get them an invitation.
As for the Big 12, if they are left out of the CFP and feel they have to add schools to go back to having a championship game, they only have to add two in the short term. It would surprise me if Houston isn't one of those schools. As was said previously in this thread, they have moved heaven and earth to be next man up. I believe they will be rewarded for that.
In the longterm, Texas' Longhorn Network will eventually become the Big 12 Network. It's no secret the Longhorn Network has been a financial disaster for ESPN. They have basically given it away. Gordon Gee's comments in the speech that got him ousted at Ohio State a couple of years ago confirmed this. Over the past year, the Big 12 schools have been looking for a way to make this conversion, where each school would get the same type of money Texas is getting. The problem is schools like Oklahoma and Kansas just entered into their own deals for third tier TV rights that can't easily be bought out for several more years.
The Big 12 will also eventually get to 16, but it will take another 5-7 years, maybe longer, and the conversion of the Longhorn Network. When Colorado left the league, the Big 12 Presidents vowed to never expand the conference into the Mountain time zone again. They eventually invited West Virginia. So that takes the MWC schools and BYU off the table.
So if Houston has already been added to the Big 12, and UConn, Temple, Cincy, and East Carolina are in other leagues, to whom does the Big 12 turn if it's going to expand to the east? Which 5 schools eventually receive invitations? Remember, back in 2011 the Big 12 had conversations with Tulane.
The Cajun fans may be delusional, but there will be openings in the Big 12. There just not going to be filled by a Sun Belt school. And that's why it's important for Tech to keep moving forward, as Dawg06 says. Even if Tech isn't a part of an expanded Big 12, the AAC might eventually become what is largely CUSA today. No school will want to be left behind if that happens.
And the rollercoaster rides on!
La Tech
GSC=> SLC=> Sun Belt=> IND=> BWC=> WAC=> CUSA
Six conferences and at least one stint as an independent, all in the last fifty years or so. Forgive me if I left a conference or two out. Anyway, we've ended up in CUSA. Just where we all wanted to be. Though its not quite the same CUSA that we so coveted, we should enjoy our new home a few years before we start bitching about wanting out. It's obvious that Tulane, Tulsa, Memphis, Houston, and SMU don't want to be associated with us. We need to accept that fact. All the money in the world hasn't been able to change their sorry plight in athletics, so why do we so desperately desire their acceptance? Name recognition among those of us 50 and older is about the only thing those schools have going for them. At least it does as far as athletics go. I say we start a tradition of winning CUSA championships competing against schools that want to be associated with us. UNT, UTSA, USM, MT, UAB, and Rice make up a great regional conference division for us. Every single one of those schools has a higher athletic budget than we do and we're very lucky to have made it into CUSA when we did. We won the CUSA battle over UL-L, the one school that we absolutely had to win it over. That fact is going to be huge for us over the next 10 years. I plan to enjoy them.
Good post and great perspective.
What a rude response. There is nothing idiotic in thinking that the B12 et al will pick up the teams that benefit them the most. That means money or help the conferences credibility. I respectfully disagree that teams must go through the AAC or MW before they can go higher. If Tech or even ULL for that matter dominates there conference for years and win all/most their OOC games (provided their strength of schedule is high) then they will be hard to keep out of the top 25 and any team that stays in the top 25 consistently will not be over looked.
And if you cannot respond to a fellow tech fan without being insulting, then just don't respond.
I don't understand your statement above. Can you explain this? Why couldn't the SEC simply pluck someone from the ACC or Big XII??
Shouldn't there be a WAC in there somewhere?
I can see leaving the BE out, since they never actually played there.
Good catch.
WAC should be between SWC and CUSA
Good catch. I never read his posts because they lack substance.
Because the sec would not be allowed to show that team on TV.
The current ACC members signed all their media rights over the conference. For 15 years, IIRC, with no buyout provision.
Same deal for current Big12 members.
your mamaGood catch. I never read his posts because they lack substance.
Yikes! Thanks for the explanation.
Now that you mention it, I think I do remember the ACC teams making that commitment a while back. But how did Maryland escape the ACC for the Big 10? Didn't they go to court over that issue? And can we presume that since Maryland is in the Big 10 today, that it's possible to still escape?
The waiver of rights came in response to Maryland's departure.
Before that time, it was assumed that an exorbitant buyout would be sufficient to keep schools from leaving.
I apologize for insulting you. I did not intend to. I only meant to point out that most people find it ridiculous that UL-L fans speak of getting an invitation to join the Big 12. I think that most people would view our chances of Big 12 membership as pretty ridiculous too.
The only realistic opportunity for us to move to a new conference (especially an increasingly beneficial on) is if one of or a few of the following occur:
A) Win NC in bball or at least final four appearance followed by more appearances
B) Big12 implodes and we end up in conference made up of left overs and a few others
C) Our football program puts together 10 winning seasons in a row (including some access bowl wins) and our fan base doubles and this coincides with NCAA tourney appearances regularly during this time frame and the next round of realignment we would be in a better position than we have been the last few go rounds
Just my view point.
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