Around the Big Ten

[entropy]

from pbc..

http://northwestern.rivals.com/showm...id=901&style=2

Conference Officials Meet; New Texas Faction Strongly Pushes for B1G Invite Reply

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Big Ten officials met today to discuss how the conference could and should accommodate both Texas and ND. In short, the conference believes that the membership of each school can be accomplished largely within the context of the terms presented. Some other interesting developments have taken place in the last few days.

Over the weekend, a new group of Texas stakeholders made a very aggressive push to the Big Ten conference to invite UT to the conference in the short term. The scenario proposed would involve the start of athletic competition in the conference by UT as early as 2012. This group did include official representatives of the university, along with other influential boosters. In response, the conference expressed the need to speak with only one consistent, designated group of UT representatives.

Separately, the more familiar UT representatives, who have conducted conversations with the Big Ten in the past, reaffirmed the approach that Texas should not initiate the breakup of the Big XII conference in order to join the Big Ten for political considerations. These representatives once again stated to conference officials that membership in the Big Ten conference (in accord with the terms presented last week) remains Texas' preferred conference affiliation option. The Big Ten also strongly impressed upon this group of UT representatives the need for university representatives to conduct conversations with the conference in one unified voice.

However, in discussions related to the terms presented, the Big Ten responded favorably. The Big Ten is preliminarily in agreement, particularly with the scheduling considerations and the "approximate" target date of 2014 for affiliation. The conference also strongly affirmed that it will not allow third parties, especially third party television networks not controlled by the conference or the universities, to dictate or strongly influence the terms of membership in the conference for either school. The conference expressed its displeasure with the manipulative reporting disseminated by certain television networks.

Conference officials believe that significant potential synergies exist between the Longhorn Network and the Big Ten Network. The officials expressed the belief that all of the expanded conference's stakeholders can achieve this potential with greatly reduced third party network involvement. Each network would gain significant opportunities to independently grow and expand together, under the control of the Big Ten Conference and its expanded institutional membership (and specifically NOT through control delegated to third party television networks). The super network that would result from this affiliation could dictate the terms of viewership in a way that ultimately benefits the mission of the expanded conference and its schools, along with their supporters. The Big Ten will remain open to any arrangement, including the formation of regionalized "Big Ten Networks," that ultimately achieve this goal.

Big Ten officials initiated conversations with Notre Dame stakeholders to keep them apprised of the discussions with both groups of Texas representatives.

Also over the weekend, a group of representatives from the University of Oklahoma again contacted the Big Ten regarding the potential for their own membership in the conference, in what was characterized as a "last ditch effort." The Big Ten once again respectfully informed that group that the Council of Presidents and Chancellors has already ruled out the addition of either Oklahoma school, primarily over concerns related to academic fit within the conference.

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An update to the original PBC update…

“The second group of boosters came in to push the envelope now with the B1G. As in they want Texas to publicly get the B1G invite tomorrow, with no conditions from UT, without regard for the political situation or for the other Big XII members.

The “official unofficial” Texas delegation has consistently expressed to the Big Ten a desire to allow other schools to break up the conference before making Texas’ move official.

The conference’s posture toward Texas remains unchanged.”

[Jamie H]

I guess MSU wanted to look like Baylor

[Jamie H]

Since when did Sparty adopt green and gold as their school colors?

When? Just ask the marketing department!!!

There’s a heavy presence of bronze in the look, which a statement from MSU says adds “an authentic strength and durability synonymous with the Spartan name.”

WTF? Is EVERY team going to wear some marketing bullshit, I mean "special", uniform when they play us? Why don't we just jump the shark already and have every team wear a different fucking uniform for every game? Hell, they can change colors every week too, giving Nike 10 bajillion different "uniforms" to sell to fans.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Interesting take on entropy's post from the guy at the NWU boards ...... same guy we've heard from that as talent pointed out has been stupendously wrong in the past ..... but the stuff about maintaining independence from the likes of ESPN/ABC, CBS, etc. through expansion of the conference networks gets right to the underlying nutty gritty that's driving all of this hub-bub here.

Anything that makes sense geographically as it pertains to sensible conference membership or with regard to the preservation of CFB's traditional rivalries does not fit into the larger picture of making money. It's about finding and exploiting TV markets through the conference networks and exploiting the drawing power of specific football programs. e.g., having ND and Texas in the B1G is more likely to happen than having Missouri and Pitt. Both ND and UT, as a pair, fit the requirement for good academics and both have huge future drawing power. Missouri and Pitt, as a pair, have neither.

Something else that is widely ignored and misunderstood by CFB fans involved in the discussions about super conferences is that the Presidents will ultimately decide what happens so, academic standing plays a much larger role in conference membership than most believe it does.

I think its all going to work out for the better in the end which is not likely too far off. But, given the foregoing, its a waste of time to talk about what we, as CFB fans, think is the right way to arrange membership in three or more super conferences. CFB is going to be hugely different in 5-10 years than it is now. Traditional rivalries - the best ones anyway - will probably survive only because they generate large viewership. But over time, I think we'll see a lot of the lesser football programs end as they won't be able to afford to play and won't be able to recruit at a high enough level to compete. I actually think that is part of the plan ..... thin out the weakest and let the strongest benefit from the spoils.

[Wild Hoss]

Frankly, this sounds like more burnt-orange bullshit, likely being spewed by Texas boosters who wish to portray it as "Everybody wants Texas" in order to bolter their position vs the remainders of the Big 12.

Both the Big Ten and Notre Dame have flatly repudiated that any of this is going on, and IIRC even an official from UT has done so.

[lineygoblue]

RE: Tejas being accepted into the Big Ten ...

... please ... no ...

Can't we give them OLieO, and call it even?

[Jeff Buchanan]

Talk this morning was Texas to the ACC .....

That makes sense.

[entropy]

hope so.. sorry, but Texas is a cancer. They can't be trusted, no matter how much money they bring you

[Wild Hoss]

Talk this morning was Texas to the ACC .....

That makes sense.

More misdirection...and frankly, ridiculous misdirection IMO. Or desperate misdirection.

I don't think anybody is talking to Texas in an official capacity. They were quiet as church mice in the months leading up to their planned exodus to the PAC last year...we never heard a peep until they'd reached a point where it couldn't be effectively hidden anymore. Now they're all over the place, talking to everybody except the NFC East.

We wouldn't be hearing all this stuff if they had something in the works IMO.

[hodgkal]

I have no use for Texas in the B1G. They are culturally on another planet and the geography is totally incompatible. Can you imagine a Texas-PSU game? Just think what happens when a team has to cross 2 or 3 time zones to play a game in the middle of an intense regional schedule. Stats confirm that the visiting team suffers a decided disadvantage.

Let them stew in their self-inflicted problems.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think you're right, Hoss .....

Nobody is going to let the cat out of the bag if something concrete develops. The more BS we hear, the less likely it is that something big is about to happen.

[Jamie H]

BTW, Texas is in the Central time zone, just like about half of the Big Ten. So there would never be travel across more than 1 time zone.

If you are flying the team, flying from Ann Arbor to Austin is pretty much the same as flying from Ann Arbor to Happy Valley. Might take an extra 30 min to a hour, but that is pretty irrelevant.

The bigger issue would be sports teams that don't fly. The drive to Austin is brutal.

[lineygoblue]

I don't know how else the Big Ten teams from the general Big Ten area would get to Texas, other than flying. A bus trip from pretty much ANY Big Ten campus would be an over-nighter. Austin is a long way inside Texas.

[SeanB]

Regarding those interesting "Bronze and Green" unis for Sparty. They look more like Green and Gold to me.

Someone should have told Sparty that wearing Green and Gold against Denard is a bad idea!

[Jamie H]

OSU looks bad early. Miami is doing whatever they want.