MIZZOUEXPANSIONAPALOOZA 2011™: Pac-12 says, "Not Expanding. We're Good."

by D-Sing on Sep 21, 2011 1:09 AM CDT in MIZZOUEXPANSIONAPALOOZA 2011™

Some men do just want to watch the world burn.

And we have seen a lot of burning over the last few days, until the news dropped late Tuesday night that the Pac-12 presidents said that they were not expanding. Also, the remaining Big East football schools met Tuesday night and pledged their loyalty to one another.

So that means that after all of the words that were spilt over the interwebs and Twitter the last few days...nothing has changed.

Again.

I blame myself, partially, for allowing myself to get caught up in the drama like a fool, chasing the vapors and specters of rumors and innuendo. I've allowed myself to go down the rabbit hole way too many times over the last year and a half or so that Expansionapalooza™ has taken place. Each time I promise myself to not get swept away, and yet as a sports blogger/writer, I feel obligated to comment on it.

And each time rumor has us tantalizingly close to leaving this conference for (perceived) greener pastures, the football gets pulled away time and time again:

The question becomes this:

Now what?

Again, if "sources" are to be believed, and Missouri can move to the SEC, is that something that the Board of Curators and the Chancellor should pursue?

Or is it in our collective best interest to try and prop up the Big 12, side with Oklahoma and try to see if some reform can be forced through that includes equal revenue sharing and attempt to expand the league back to 12?

I believe that there are pros and cons to both approaches. Heading off to the SEC would require a drastic readjustment of expectations, formation of new rivalries (although I believe that the Arkansas one would be feisty right off the bat) and all of the other attendant issues that come with relocation. It would be exciting for a while, until the grind set in and we found ourselves getting crushed by LSU and Alabama on a regular basis.

Or we could try and mend the fences at home, in our neighborhood where we've been for a long time—some of our neighbors have been with us for over 100 years, while others only joined us about 15 years ago. We're like family and while sometimes (oftentimes) we don't get along, and while the situation is currently a little unstable at the top, we know the devil in the details. We know how everyone else operates, and it would allow for a comfortable existence if some of the hiccups and the infighting could be fixed.

And the problems are fixable, but this is not something that can (or should) be patched up overnight. This is going to take time, and it should take time to rebuild. It's hard to have trust in a shaky foundation, and there is no foundation shakier right now than the one that this conference is built on. Major, major reinforcement would be necessary. But again, it is not an impossible task.

I don't know what the right move is to make. If this was me and it was an individual decision, I would go ahead and move to the new conference. But I am a bit of a nomad by nature, and so the appeal of the new is interesting and intriguing to me. I know lots of others are traditionalists and would be inclined to stay, and it is hard to say that either approach is incorrect.

I do know that lots of money is at stake, from television dollars to research monies to donations for athletics as well as for the general fund. Recruiting is at stake as well. So an informed decision needs to be made, and it needs to happen quickly.

I wish I could say that tonight's announcement by the Pac-12 was the end of it. I really do. Sadly, it isn't and it is only a matter of time before things start burning again:

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Something will have to give

Especially east of the Rockies. You cannot have the Big 12 with 9, the SEC with 13, and the Big East with 6 (in football). My money is still on the Big East disintegrating and leaving 5 power conferences. One to the SEC to complete them, two plus TCU to the Big 12 (or one, TCU, and BYU although I don’t care for that personally), and maybe the Big 10 takes in one + ND or two to strengthen their east coast presence. South Florida is likely boned, though.

by shaffe on Sep 21, 2011 1:51 AM CDT reply actions

Soultion

Get Louisville, West Virginia, and TCU. Tell BYU thanks but no thanks, we don’t need a 900 mile outpost. Cincinnati and Rutgers join the Big 10. The SEC gets what the SEC wants and peels away an ACC team who then gets replaced with one of UConn or S. Florida. The loser gets relegated to mid major status. Sorry.

Only makes one team a loser. Has two conferences of 12, three of 14. The Pac Whatever has a few tasty candidates for future expansion still in BYU, Boise, or whoever the next western power will be. I’m not sure the Big 12 can really go bigger due to the relative lack of (quality) schools in the central time zone not already committed to a major conference. They’d have to take a big big gamble on Memphis, Tulsa, or another Texas school.

Of course this whole thing only works if the real cracks in the foundation are fixed – starting with intelligent leadership that possesses some vision and makes decisions for ALL members instead of the big boys.

by shaffe on Sep 21, 2011 2:09 AM CDT up reply actions

Someone may have a better grasp of what exactly Baylor was suing over so this may not be it, but

if I remember correctly, wasn’t Baylor’s whole reason for threatening a lawsuit against the SEC/A&M because their departure was (at the time) was possibly going to kill the Big 12 and lose them a ton of money? If Mizzou does in fact have an offer from the SEC, is there any possibility that we could accept, leave the Big 12, and avoid being sued by Baylor since the Big 12 would not collapse in that scenario? If the anonymous booster’s comments have any bit of truth to them, and the SEC in fact did approach Mizzou after the Big 10 fiasco played out, then maybe this could work out?

by TheHamburglar on Sep 21, 2011 2:32 AM CDT reply actions

IF (and a big if) we have the SEC invite

and I’m not sure why the SEC wouldn’t look at Oklahoma now instead of us…

but if we have the invite on the table, I’m not sure what to do. I’m actually not that worried about the whole “oh Lord they gonna crush us” argument—are LSU and Bama really tougher programs to face year in, year out than Texas and OU? In either conference, for a program of Mizzou’s stature to win it you’d have to have the perfect scenario like 2007 where your big recruits all pan out and a few of your little recruits turn out to be big and then one or two of the usual powerhouses are down a little, and even then, you need the ball not to bounce of T-Rucker’s hands at the start of the second half against Oklahoma.

I’ll agree that the bottom of the SEC is stronger than the bottom of the Big 12, and yeah, that might mean that some 8-4 seasons become 6-6 seasons, but I suspect that both conferences, for a school like Missouri, are about equally difficult to flat-out win in the rare seasons like ‘07 when we’re actually really good.

The stability and big money of the SEC are attractive. For entirely personal reasons (specifically, I have friends in faculty jobs at Ole Miss and Auburn) the prospect of travelling to SEC away games is kinda fun. But then, tradition does matter, not just for school identity and so forth, but also because there have been plenty of years where Mizzou basketball would not have had a Big Monday or CBS game if not for the perception of the networks that MU-KU is a special game regardless of the rankings. Certainly it’s better for Kansas City if Mizzou stays in the Big 12.

Look, I hope these are the real options, because they’re both pretty good options. I guess I’d vote SEC right now just because I don’t trust that this crap isn’t going to start up again in the next couple years, but I also think that if Mizzou left but then the Big 12 nevertheless found a way to stabilize, we’d regret the decision a few years down the road. It’s a tough call.

by Professor Chaos on Sep 21, 2011 2:33 AM CDT reply actions

and I’m not sure why the SEC wouldn’t look at Oklahoma now instead of us…

If so on SEC interest, OU and OSU are probably a package deal and I’m not sure the SEC will take OSU to get OU so, I think the SEC has more of an interest in MU especially since MU has an interest in coming over and after A&M, the SEC could get to 14 and move Auburn over.

I think if the SEC thinks Super Conferences are inevitable, it is missing a great opportunity to get OU, OSU, MU and A&M to add to LSU, Arky, OM and MS in the West; I’m not sure OU has any interest in the SEC for one thing. I agree, if both options are on the table for MU, they are good to have.

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GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!

by mjtig on Sep 21, 2011 3:09 AM CDT up reply actions

As long as it is known that while things burn...

… we didn’t start the fire. (Year-old self-share alert)

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by RPT on Sep 21, 2011 6:09 AM CDT reply actions

Massive haterade in the Birmingham News

Of course, Scarbinsky is a Berry Tramel-level douche, so this should come as no surprise. Using his logic, Missouri should refuse to join a league with Alabama in it since they lost to Louisiana-Monroe a few years back and ignore their recent championship.

by AlaTiger on Sep 21, 2011 6:18 AM CDT reply actions

Link

Linky

by AlaTiger on Sep 21, 2011 6:57 AM CDT up reply actions

/sighofrelief

/whatnow?

Proud resident of Kansas City MO

by TigerChief on Sep 21, 2011 6:22 AM CDT reply actions

We don't have regents, we have curators

But, yeah, if we have an sec invite we should go. It’s best for the longterm stability of the program. The big 12 is about as stable as a game of Jenga.

by jschooltiger on Sep 21, 2011 7:01 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

Thanks for the copy edit

I was talking and writing at the same time, and the school I was talking about has regents, so that’s why that slipped in there.

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by D-Sing on Sep 21, 2011 10:33 AM CDT up reply actions

Okay, so what happens now to OU's "DEMANDS"

If they don’t have any leverage (“we can leave for the Pac-1X”) then aren’t those demands pretty pointless? To me the fact that the Pac-12 decided NOT to let the Okies in makes the Big XII more unstable in the long term, since the reforms that Oklahoma was advocating are less likely to happen now.

I guess #IBEEBELIEVE was more effective than we hoped.

"I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order. Like they should be."

by BigMOman on Sep 21, 2011 7:46 AM CDT reply actions

With Nubs and Aggie gone and Oklahoma turning on them

Texas no long has the bloc they need to stop supermajority votes. If the other 8 schools choose to stand against them, they can either submit or bolt. Bolting would require submission to Larry Scott or take the risk of independence. Deloss Dodds’ tactical brilliance has led them into a box canyon. They can either surrender or fight to the death.

by Gaknar on Sep 21, 2011 11:28 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't know why you made me think of this.

It’s sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life… or death. It shall be life.

"Every absurdity has a champion to defend it" Olivar Goldsmith

by 1Believer on Sep 21, 2011 12:09 PM CDT up reply actions

A Brief Plea To The Powers That Be

Here’s a thought: We know that, at this point, the definition of insanity is staying in the Big 12 and thinking that this realignment business isn’t going to happen Every. Single. Year.

And it doesn’t matter, really, whether or not the Big 12 adds more teams. We could add TCU, SMU, BYU, Boise, Cincinnati, Louisville, SEMO, the Harlem Globetrotters and Manchester United, but the problem that exists in the Big 12 today would still exist tomorrow: Texas has too much power, and OU, Mizzou and the rest don’t approve of that.

But one thing’s changed for Missouri, hasn’t it? If this offer from the SEC is real — and for the sake of this hypothetical, let’s assume it is — then Missouri finally has something in its favor:

Leverage.

Because Baylor’s proposed lawsuit hinged on one thing: Whether or not OU was staying in the Big 12. If they’re staying, the Big 12’s likely staying together, and Baylor doesn’t have to worry about being left out of a BCS conference.

But Missouri…. Missouri’s in a different situation. Missouri has two options:

Stay in the Big 12, where — unless Texas shares the revenue for the Longhorn Network — these realignment shenanigans are pretty much going to keep happening every year.
Join the best football conference in America.

The only thing stopping Missouri from going to the SEC is the threat of a lawsuit from Baylor, who would have to prove “tortious interference” on the part of the SEC. (Hence the reason why the SEC denied that it had extended an offer to Missouri yesterday. The SEC doesn’t want to get its asses sued.)

Except that Baylor’s got no need to sue now, since the Big 12 looks like it’s staying alive, and the conference could always just go and add an additional member to fill Missouri’s spot. Unlike OU or Texas, Missouri can’t break this conference singlehandedly, so Baylor’s still in position to keep collecting those precious Big 12 TV dollars.

So if the lawsuit is off the table, the SEC is definitely in play for Missouri.

Of course, there’s a second option: Use the leverage with the Big 12 to get something out of Texas.

Why wouldn’t Missouri use this SEC offer to leverage more TV dollars out of Texas? Missouri’s in a position of power here. Texas can’t leave for the Pac 12. Neither can OU. But Missouri’s got a way out.

And when you’ve got leverage like that, as one Chicago politician once (allegedly) said, that’s fucking golden.

So here’s my request to the Powers That Be here at the University of Missouri: Don’t stand pat. Our Tigers are in a position of power. We can go to a better conference and likely avoid a lawsuit. We could stay here, with our traditional rivals, and get more money for the University.

Either way: We have leverage, and we need to use it. Missouri’s in position to get itself the best deal possible.

Please: Let’s take advantage of it.

by earlyonions on Sep 21, 2011 8:15 AM CDT reply actions

This all just plays towards my wish.

Keeping together the current members of the Big 12. Fix the Big 12 by firing Beebe, hiring a progressive, fair and protective replacement, add one to a few beneficial teams and put Texas and LHN into check. The Big 12 makes sense, now it needs to make more than just cents. This conf is full of proven winners that are always in the top 25 of every sport.

by McZou on Sep 21, 2011 8:33 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

Well.....Poop!

I had pretty much talked myself into the SEC option and it seems like that door will be closing now. Didn’t Gabe’s article make specific mention of “barring any unforseen events.” I’d say that the Pac 12 staying at 12 would pretty much qualify.

My main concern is that this changes nothing for the Big Dysfunctional. There will still be instability, schools will still be looking for greener pastures and Texas will still act like Texas (they are who we thought they were). Meanwhile, a golden opportunity could slip away from us if the SEC decides they can’t wait until we are free from this terrible conference and moves on to another expansion candidate.

On the plus side, I am going to give OU fans a tremendous amount of crap about “opening their blouse & getting rejected” this weekend!

by N8 on Sep 21, 2011 8:42 AM CDT reply actions