Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.
Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.
Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.
The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.
Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.
If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.
There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.
Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.
Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.
Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).
If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.
Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.
Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.
There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.
Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.
It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.
Someone posted that they had to leave by Nov. 1 for the most favorable situation in terms of any exit penalty, and if they wanted to start in the SEC next year.. am I remembering that correctly? [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
Missouri Moves Closer to Joining SEC
By PETE THAMEL
The University of Missouri is heading down a path to join the Southeastern Conference, said a university official with direct knowledge of the situation.
The person said that Missouri’s decision to apply for membership to the SEC was “inevitable and imminent,” although a specific timeframe has yet to be set. Missouri’s Board of Curators will meet on Thursday and Friday at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where the process of withdrawing from the Big 12 and applying to the SEC is expected to begin. Expansion is not listed on the agenda, but there is a private session scheduled Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
After it applies, the person said that Missouri expected “no problems” with gathering enough votes among SEC presidents for it to become a member.
Although the interim Big 12 commissioner, Chuck Neinas, said last week that he expected Missouri to play in the Big 12 still in 2012, it was possible that it could start play in the SEC as early as next year. Missouri would become the SEC’s 14th member; the league added Texas A&M in September. The SEC would prefer 14 members, as scheduling is a much simpler process with two seven-team divisions.
It is expected that the SEC presidents will tie the same caveat about legal entanglements to Missouri’s application that they did to Texas A&M’s. The SEC has made it clear that they want no part of any legal problems, which held up Texas A&M’s admission for more than a month.
Missouri has emerged as an unlikely linchpin in expansion, considering it has never won a Big 12 title in football. But the futures of the Big 12, the SEC and the Big East were tied to Missouri’s decision.
This news dampens some optimism for the Big East, which appeared to be gaining momentum toward reviving its football fortunes. The exits of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Texas Christian have the league struggling for survival, and Louisville and West Virginia are considered strong candidates, along with Brigham Young, for Big 12 expansion.
The Big East has made it clear that it would like to add Boise State, Air Force and Navy in football and Central Florida, Southern Methodist and Houston in all sports. The potential problem for the Big East is that it needs stability to remain attractive to potential new members.
Neinas said recently that if Missouri left, the Big 12 would settle at 10 or 12 teams. The Big 12 chairman Burns Hargis, the president of Oklahoma State, said Saturday that he would prefer a 12-team league, but acknowledged that his preference might not matter.
The loss of Missouri would leave Big 12 membership at nine, meaning a likely expansion of one or three universities, prompting more uncertainty and shuffling on the collegiate landscape.
Originally Posted by :
Missouri appears to have finally made up its mind to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC, three sources close to the situation told Orangebloods.com.
Originally Posted by evenfall:
Someone posted that they had to leave by Nov. 1 for the most favorable situation in terms of any exit penalty, and if they wanted to start in the SEC next year.. am I remembering that correctly?
Missouri appears to have finally made up its mind to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC, three sources close to the situation told Orangebloods.com.
The process is expected to begin Thursday or Friday, when Missouri's board of curators is scheduled to meet in Kansas City, the sources said.
Interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas had indicated last week that Missouri was likely to be a member of the Big 12 in 2012-13 no matter what it decided. But sources said Missouri may try to become a member of the SEC in 2012-13.
The deadline for football scheduling in the 2012-13 school year is fast approaching, so Missouri's application could fit right under that deadline, the sources said.
If Missouri leaves the Big 12, there are differing views about if the Big 12 should proceed as a 10-member or 12-member league. But it appears the leading candidates to replace Missouri are West Virginia, Louisville and possibly BYU, the sources said.
If the league were to expand to 12, it could be all three.
BYU was long considered a top candidate to join the Big 12, but sources said BYU lost interest when the Big 12 appeared to be destabilizing in early September.
Since the Big 12 has talked about granting Tier 1 and 2 TV rights to the conference, BYU has felt better about possibly joining the Big 12, sources said. Although, it's unclear where BYU would be on the list of replacements for Missouri, the sources said.
One source said the top choices to replace Missouri would still be West Virginia or Louisville if the league was to remain at 10 members.
It's been a strange journey for Missouri, whose chancellor, Brady Deaton, was the head of the Big 12 Board of Directors and worked hard to hold the Big 12 together after Oklahoma expressed an interest in exploring its conference options on Sept. 2.
But as Missouri's board of curators and others at MU became more enamored with the idea of joining the SEC, Deaton had to step down from his position as head of the five-member Big 12 expansion committee and as the head of the league's board of directors.
Missouri also played a role in realignment in 2010 as its Gov. Jay Nixon told the Associated Press the Tigers were probably a better fit in the Big Ten than in the Big 12. Those comments prompted a group of six schools in the Big 12 (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado) to become targets of the Pac-12.
Nebraska ultimately got the Big Ten invitation, and Colorado left for the Pac-10.
Missouri would become the 14th member of the SEC, joining Texas A&M as members of the Big 12 to bolt for that league.
The SEC would be picking up its second American Association of Universities (AAU) member in Missouri (Texas A&M is the other). The AAU represents to top research universities in the country. Currently, only Florida and Vanderbilt are AAU members in the SEC.
As long as it appears the Big 12 will survive as a conference, it is unclear what legal threat the SEC may face from schools such as Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas.
But if Missouri was to leave the league, the conference realignment dominoes would begin falling again.
Originally Posted by :
two sources indicated to PowerMizzou.com on Monday morning (confirming information from separate sources over the weekend) that "everything was on track" for a move by Mizzou to the SEC. One source said "I'm 100 percent sure we're going to the SEC." The same source said that movement on the issue was expected at this week's board meeting.
Orangebloods.com confirmed that information with its sources in a report on Monday night.
Pete Thamel of the New York Times reported early on Monday evening that a source indicated "Missouri expected 'no problems; with gathering enough votes among SEC presidents for it to become a member.
The next step for the Tigers would be a "conditional withdrawal" from the Big 12 Conference. The withdrawal would be conditional in that it would depend upon the Tigers' acceptance into the SEC.
Multiple sources, both connected to Missouri and to the SEC, have told PowerMizzou.com over the last few weeks that if commissioner Mike Slive wants the Tigers in the SEC, he would have little problem securing the required votes. A super-majority of nine of the 12 schools would have to approve the addition of Missouri.
One of the reported hang-ups for Mizzou's move has been division alignment in a 14-team SEC. Putting Missouri in the West makes the most geographic sense with Auburn moving to the East. However, it has been reported that Alabama objects to those moves because it could cost the Tide its annual football game against Tennessee and because of potential recruiting advantages for Auburn. A popular proposed solution has been adding Missouri to the East Division with Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.
When Texas A&M stated its intention to explore conference options, it took 17 days before the Aggies submitted their withdrawal from the Big 12. It took another week before A&M was accepted by the SEC. Friday marks 17 days since Missouri's declaration of free agency.
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
Kietzman said that there has been absolutely no interest in Mizzou. None. Who are you going to believe, Kietzman or your lying eyes?
Kietzman actually said that with a straight face? I can't imagine what tomorrow's meltdown is going to be like.... [Reply]
West Virginia is such a weird fit. They're like 12 hours away from any other Big XII school. You almost have to try and bring in Louisville too you'd think. Of course BYU is probably even worse... everyone is about a 1000+ mile trip for them. [Reply]
I think Louisville is the Big XII's number one choice. Not sure how they are going to get around the 27 month exit requirement for them though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
Kietzman said that there has been absolutely no interest in Mizzou. None. Who are you going to believe, Kietzman or your lying eyes?
Originally Posted by mnchiefsguy:
Kietzman actually said that with a straight face? I can't imagine what tomorrow's meltdown is going to be like....
He's now changed his argument to the Big 12 is awesome and Mizzou will never win a game in the SEC, and the KSU fans have followed like lemmings. [Reply]
Originally Posted by eazyb81:
He's now changed his argument to the Big 12 is awesome and Mizzou will never win a game in the SEC, and the KSU fans have followed like lemmings.
KSU fans don't listen....just you MU and KU dorks.
Durr...did you HEAR what Kietzman said today!?!#11 [Reply]
