****The official NEW new conference realignment thread.****

[Saul Good]

the second thread has been pronounced dead.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by qabbaan

Not to split hairs, but Clemson is not in North Carolina, though considerable numbers of fans are

The point is that those fans travel currently to road games because they are manageable drives to all, and that's what their fans do. Road trips are cheap and you can cram four or five people in a vehicle and everybody gets there for a split of gas money. Nobody is going to buy airfare and rent cars and hotel rooms to visit Lawrence or Manhattan or Ames, or Waco or Lubbock. They might head over to Austin or Norman because it'll usually be a big game but it's not like the local schools, the old big 8, will see a lot of benefit from road fan travel. The fans will have far fewer travel options overall. If its good for the program it's good for the program, but you can't really argue it won't hurt fan travel.

I said Clemson doesn't count, thats why I was ignoring SC. (Clemson would be in their division if they left the ACC)

edit: also, how many normal people with actual jobs are going to do that? Its over 10 hours to Wake and over 10 hours back, the piddly amount of money saved on gas isn't worth the sheer hassle, time, and exhaustion of that drive.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by alnorth

So, you are going to travel to see the sights, but not necessarily for the boring-ass game when the Noles lay a beatdown on the hapless Deacons?

I'd rather stay home if the game's not any good.

I'd rather drive somewhere cool. Short of that, I might drive somewhere boring just for the game and having fun on a road trip with friends. I would also be willing to fly to a game if it's somewhere cool (and the ACC cities are, by and large, pretty cool towns). What I'm not going to do is fly to Morgantown or Manhattan.

[KcMizzou]

kevin kietzman ‏@kkwhb

Bill Snyder says if/when Big 12 goes to 12, the current vote goes against two divisions! What is wrong with these guys?

Jason Anderson ‏@J680Anderson

So, what, the top 2 teams in the Big 12 would play each other for the Championship Game? No divisions makes no sense for ISU/KSU/Tech/Bay/KU

[Codered]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

kevin kietzman ‏@kkwhb

Bill Snyder says if/when Big 12 goes to 12, the current vote goes against two divisions! What is wrong with these guys?

Jason Anderson ‏@J680Anderson

So, what, the top 2 teams in the Big 12 would play each other for the Championship Game? No divisions makes no sense for ISU/KSU/Tech/Bay/KU

Yep, Texas and Oklahoma still hold all the cards. Some things stay the same.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I'd rather drive somewhere cool. Short of that, I might drive somewhere boring just for the game and having fun on a road trip with friends. I would also be willing to fly to a game if it's somewhere cool (and the ACC cities are, by and large, pretty cool towns). What I'm not going to do is fly to Morgantown or Manhattan.

Your priorities are a little weird. You fly to save time and hassle, not because the big city airport is cool.

If its worth driving to a big city, then it is not worth flying there. (where "worth" also includes time, hassle, and effort, however you monetarily value that sort of thing for yourself) If its worth driving to a small city, it is not worth flying there. If the drive is not worth it, then the flight might be worth it depending on the time you save.

The cost difference really isn't much, you are renting a room either way. The reason to choose the flight is "oh God, I'm not driving that", not "oh cool, Boston!". If you want to go to Boston and you are only 2 hours away, you'll be driving there, not flying. If you aren't excited about Manhattan even with the game and you only live 2 hours away, you aren't driving or flying there.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

kevin kietzman ‏@kkwhb

Bill Snyder says if/when Big 12 goes to 12, the current vote goes against two divisions! What is wrong with these guys?

Jason Anderson ‏@J680Anderson

So, what, the top 2 teams in the Big 12 would play each other for the Championship Game? No divisions makes no sense for ISU/KSU/Tech/Bay/KU

I don't believe this report, even if it came from Snyder, he's not a university president fully in the know.

You can't have a CCG without divisions.

[Setsuna]

I'm glad the Big XII survived. Out of all the other conferences I like the Big XII the best because their cheerleaders were always ridiculously hot.

[qabbaan]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

kevin kietzman ‏@kkwhb

Bill Snyder says if/when Big 12 goes to 12, the current vote goes against two divisions! What is wrong with these guys?

Jason Anderson ‏@J680Anderson

So, what, the top 2 teams in the Big 12 would play each other for the Championship Game? No divisions makes no sense for ISU/KSU/Tech/Bay/KU

I'm starting to feel like the have-not Big 12 schools remaining are going to get trampled in all of this.

[frazod]

Originally Posted by qabbaan

I'm starting to feel like the have-not Big 12 schools remaining are going to get trampled in all of this.

Yeah, big time.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by qabbaan

I'm starting to feel like the have-not Big 12 schools remaining are going to get trampled in all of this.

This is not beneficial to OU/UT. They will always have to play each other no matter what, but being in the south, at least everyone else in their division will also have to play them both so its even.

If there's no divisions, KU/KSU/ISU/BU/whoever are going to inevitably luck out and avoid playing both of them, get an "easy" schedule, and may finish with the best record. They might be considered a fraudulent champ, but thats the way it'd happen sometimes.

If this isn't some stupid fever-dream, I'd suspect that it was that block pushing for this, NOT UT or OU.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Nobody. That's kind of my point. Ames and Manhattan and Lawrence weren't exactly glamorous for Mizzou, but at least the fans could drive there.

And we are back to this. Columbia fits in well with Ames, Manhattan, & Lawrence. I don't even care if you ridicule those cities, but you have to include Columbia in it as well.

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Nobody. That's kind of my point. Ames and Manhattan and Lawrence weren't exactly glamorous for Mizzou, but at least the fans could drive there.

ditto

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

And we are back to this. Columbia fits in well with Ames, Manhattan, & Lawrence. I don't even care if you ridicule those cities, but you have to include Columbia in it as well.

Manhattan < Ames <<< Columbia < Lawrence

[alnorth]

Kinda funny how every time there's a wild rumor in the Big 12, a lot of people are hasty to jump in and proclaim it to be proof that OU and UT rule the conference. Even when a wild-assed rumor, if true, would HURT those two schools, no time to analyze, it must be favorable to them.

I think some coaches and AD's might be getting overly emotional about the round-robin, not considering all the ramifications of going to 12, and Snyder's senile mind may have picked up on it.

There's no way the Big 12 is divisionless at 12, the NCAA wont allow a championship game, and it would screw the stronger schools (OU, UT, to a lesser extent TT and OSU as well) who have to have permanent rivalry games with each other.

A school like K-State would love this plan, every 4 or 5 years or so, they'd randomly avoid playing both of them. KU made it to the orange bowl partly because they avoided playing both UT and OU, they'd love to see that happen again. (at least with divisions, doing that might only get you a division title and you still have to play a CCG before winning the conference)

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

And we are back to this. Columbia fits in well with Ames, Manhattan, & Lawrence. I don't even care if you ridicule those cities, but you have to include Columbia in it as well.

I would agree. Florida to Columbia MO is not a very compelling trip for fans. Ames to Columbia is a fun road trip because it's an easy drive.