Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo
Go after TV markets...U of Houston, U of Cincinnati. Notre Dame would be cool, but if you think Texas is a pain in the ass just wait for ND.
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There are only three types of schools that will join the Big XII right now. The first type is a small city school willing to take a chance they can cash a year or two payday from the Big XII's huge contract. Houston is your prime example, Cincinnati or Louisville would be your top end example, you might throw Air Force here as well.
Then there's the big independent school who already has their own network and for some reason sees the Big XII setup as ideal for them to have the benefit of their own network plus conference membership for the other sports as well. Notre Dame and BYU are the prime examples.
Then there's the third wildcard category. A top school in a weak conference decides it can launch its own network and make it profitable. So, it decides to take a chance forego the longer travel and see if they can make it pay off for them. Miami and Florida State would be this example.
The wildcard scenario isn't happening.
The small city schools on their own don't bring anything to the conference "except a warm body". Nobody is going to feel like the Big XII is here to stay by adding Houston or getting TCU to switch. Plus, they don't really secure that much more of the Texas market.
The only solution is Notre Dame or BYU. One of those have to decide it is worth their while or this whole thing just won't work. If you could get both and add a Louisville or even an Air Force to go to 12 again, it would be better.
I really don't know the interest level or what the Big XII will "work" to make the Big XII attractive to them. So, instead of listing the reasons why not, because everyone already knows those, let me give some possibilities why they might:
Conference membership helps recruiting. The reason independents have almost become a dinosaur is because conference schools provide a format of interesting teams that become rivals that recruits either want to play for or against. Notre Dame has been in serious decline since the Lou Holtz days on the football front. The opportunity to compete yearly against OU and Texas, or the opportunity to rule a North division to go to a conference championship game may finally be appealing to them.
Have your own network. One of the reasons for going indy these days is to exploit your own network. But if a conference will give you the best of both worlds, it might be attractive to do so.
NBC. NBC, as we know, has rights to Notre Dame home games. The reason conference contracts have gone up is because sports are seen as "DVR proof" programming and the college arena is still largely up for sale. NBC has recently bought the Versus Network to bolster their sports programming. NBC could see this as an opportunity to get into the ESPN/FOX deal with the Big XII if Notre Dame is now part of the Big XII, even more so if adds BYU.
The Texas-Notre Dame connection. DeLoss Dodds has a very good friendship with the Notre Dame AD. It is interesting to note that when Dodds mentioned possible teams to add, he mentioned Notre Dame, almost in passing, almost as if hinting. The Big XII ADs do seem very confident about their ability to survive if A&M leaves. Could this be underlying their commitment. I mean, if Dodd has given assurances that if A&M leaves the Big XII can feel fairly confident in Notre Dame coming into the fold, well, I might like my position too.
So, those are my points for optimism. I am in no way claiming ND or BYU are on their way as soon as we can kick, I mean, try unsuccessfully, to keep A&M from joining SEC obscurity. I'm just saying that if by some miracle it does occur, these are some reasons it might.