Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[_lh]

Its not about being an XU fan. I live in Cincinnati and Cincinnati fans are fair weather. UC couldn't draw flies to football games for 35 years. They used to make basketball season ticket holders during the Huggins years buy football tickets if they wanted basketball tickets. They had a minor blip for 3-4 years where about 2/3's of their games sold out. Their stadium is terrible for big time football. They would sell out for Texas and OU for a while but not the others and if UC was not winning, they would not even sell out the big games. UC would not win enough in the B12 so eventually they would be Iowa St. with less fans. UC would not have been a good addition back then and they aren't today.

You may think the same about Houston and maybe you are right. Fact is, the B12 doesn't really like either of them. The B12 made a mistake not taking Louisville when they did but not really when they passed on the others.

[NJRedman]

Its not about being an XU fan. I live in Cincinnati and Cincinnati fans are fair weather. UC couldn't draw flies to football games for 35 years. They used to make basketball season ticket holders during the Huggins years buy football tickets if they wanted basketball tickets. They had a minor blip for 3-4 years where about 2/3's of their games sold out. Their stadium is terrible for big time football. They would sell out for Texas and OU for a while but not the others and if UC was not winning, they would not even sell out the big games. UC would not win enough in the B12 so eventually they would be Iowa St. with less fans. UC would not have been a good addition back then and they aren't today.

You may think the same about Houston and maybe you are right. Fact is, the B12 doesn't really like either of them. The B12 made a mistake not taking Louisville when they did but not really when they passed on the others.

Well once again I disagree. You are comparing games against CUSA team to games against Big XII teams. They had great showings for their entire run in the Big East against teams like UConn, USF, Rutgers and Cuse. They have a great stadium for college football (Once again I watched a decade of Cincy FB games) and have been upgrading it over the last ten years.

My thoughts about Houston are right. It's a city dominated by A&M which is an hour and a half away from Houston. Adding yet another team to the conference from Texas brings no new money from the TV partners. An actual new market and by Big XII standards is a pretty big one is valuable to the conference. The fact they haven't expanded has nothing to do with the choices of schools and more to do with the greed of not wanting to split the money with anyone else. The XII is basically being held hostage by the Longhorns until the GoR runs out and they can start taking offers from the other power conferences. Until then they will squeeze every last drop of money out of the conference. Logical thinking would have had them expand back to 12 with the 3 I and others mentioned and TCU.

My prediction is UT, OU and maybe 1 to 2 others will leave or be kicked out (Cough Baylor Cough) and will be replaced by the best from the American/MWC. They keep the Big XII name and possibly the access bowl slot depending on who they lose and who they retain.

KSU
ISU
OSU (Maybe)
Tech (Maybe)
WVU
Baylor (Maybe)
TCU (Maybe)
Cincy
Memphis
BYU (Only if it continues to be a power conference)
USF (Maybe)
UCF
UConn
Temple (Maybe)
Houston (Maybe)

[_lh]

Well you are wrong about UC and we can just leave it at that. UC's stadium is old and small. I have been there a ton. It is great for high school football playoffs, FC Cincinnati games but not big time football. They have like 4 bathrooms. No parking and it is a nightmare getting in and out of the area.

UC fans (few that they are) are fair weather and will not support a bottom third B12 team. The general area has mostly OSU fans as well. The B12 sees this and that is why they have passed on adding UC.

[DeltaV]

Its not about being an XU fan. I live in Cincinnati and Cincinnati fans are fair weather. UC couldn't draw flies to football games for 35 years. They used to make basketball season ticket holders during the Huggins years buy football tickets if they wanted basketball tickets. They had a minor blip for 3-4 years where about 2/3's of their games sold out. Their stadium is terrible for big time football. They would sell out for Texas and OU for a while but not the others and if UC was not winning, they would not even sell out the big games. UC would not win enough in the B12 so eventually they would be Iowa St. with less fans. UC would not have been a good addition back then and they aren't today.

You may think the same about Houston and maybe you are right. Fact is, the B12 doesn't really like either of them. The B12 made a mistake not taking Louisville when they did but not really when they passed on the others.

Could this be a sign that these 'superconferences' spanning multiple geographical regions aren't really all that they're cracked up to be? TV money is starting to decline, making the old argument of trying to get as many media markets as possible less of a factor. What matters is quality of the games; and geographical proximity matters as well. Cinci started doing well when they were playing teams that were both reasonably good and geographically somewhat local. To Cinci, many AAC teams aren't good or local. To the B12, Cinci isn't as good or local.

Does anyone have a lot of contact with BIG or ACC fans? Are Clemson and FSU really happy to be playing Syracuse or Pitt, or Michigan playing Rutgers? Some expansion did make sense...Miami and VaTech to the ACC, even Nebraska to the BIG isn't crazy, but expansion for the sake of expansion might be over. If we move into a world where you can pick and choose which games you watch on the internet, a good, local rivalry matchup (say, Pitt vs. Cinci or Syracuse vs. UConn) might gain more viewers than a manufactured 'conference' of, say, Texas Tech vs. Cinci.

[NJRedman]

Well you are wrong about UC and we can just leave it at that. UC's stadium is old and small. I have been there a ton. It is great for high school football playoffs, FC Cincinnati games but not big time football. They have like 4 bathrooms. No parking and it is a nightmare getting in and out of the area.

UC fans (few that they are) are fair weather and will not support a bottom third B12 team. The general area has mostly OSU fans as well. The B12 sees this and that is why they have passed on adding UC.

Hahaha "Well you're wrong and i'm right so lets end the conversation there!" Nooooo i wont just accept that you are right. You are a biased X fan who hates UC. I'm an unbiased fan of college football and I've watched Cincy for a decade in the Big East. They would be the best option for the Big XII if they chose to expand.

[Xudash]

Good night Irene.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/oklahoma-ad-says-big-12-expansion-is-dead-for-the-time-being/

[_lh]

Well you are wrong about UC and we can just leave it at that. UC's stadium is old and small. I have been there a ton. It is great for high school football playoffs, FC Cincinnati games but not big time football. They have like 4 bathrooms. No parking and it is a nightmare getting in and out of the area.

UC fans (few that they are) are fair weather and will not support a bottom third B12 team. The general area has mostly OSU fans as well. The B12 sees this and that is why they have passed on adding UC.

Hahaha "Well you're wrong and i'm right so lets end the conversation there!" Nooooo i wont just accept that you are right. You are a biased X fan who hates UC. I'm an unbiased fan of college football and I've watched Cincy for a decade in the Big East. They would be the best option for the Big XII if they chose to expand.

I have lived in the area for over 40 years and know it very well including what UC fans are like. You watched 6 UC games well Kelly was the coach. I know way more about it than you.

UC fans would not support a bottom third league team. There are going to be 40,000 people at UC's stadium today for a minor league soccer exhibition. It is the shinny new sports toy. UC can't get that many for most of their games because there are not that many UC fans. They are fair weather and root for Ohio State, ND or other big time programs.

[GoldenWarrior11]

In a perfect world, there would be a P6 Northeast conference - which was attempted for years by Joe Paterno and the possibility of which was killed when the ACC raided the Big East for Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2011. It would help regionally and geographically for the schools, as well as compete against the other power conferences in football.

Army
Boston College
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
Louisville
Memphis
Navy
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
Temple
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

[adoraz]

In a perfect world, there would be a P6 Northeast conference - which was attempted for years by Joe Paterno and the possibility of which was killed when the ACC raided the Big East for Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2011. It would help regionally and geographically for the schools, as well as compete against the other power conferences in football.

Army
Boston College
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
Louisville
Memphis
Navy
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
Temple
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

Don't see how that would be successful. 7/14 of those teams aren't currently desired by the power conferences. The few teams worth anything would be poached and you're left with the AAC.

[GoldenWarrior11]

In the case of Boston College, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and West Virginia, all schools were once considered powers in the old Big East - with each finishing in the top-10 at least once while a member. Due to their new memberships in respective conferences, none have come close to duplicating the same success and, in the case of BC, Pitt, and Syracuse, all three have struggled mightily since leaving the Big East.

My point is that there is something to be said about building off of regional rivals that promote and highlight local talent. West Virginia traveling to Texas for their biggest conference game and Boston College/Pittsburgh/Syracuse being an isolated trio in the Northeast within the ACC is a big reason they have not achieved the same level of success. Now, another big factor is the step-up in competition, but that competition is nowhere close to being within proximity of those schools, and in the case of all of them, in warmer and nicer climates. Opening up a pipeline to the Florida, North Carolina and Texas schools in football created an even larger hill to climb when facing off against their (now) conference schools. It's also a big problem for fans wishing to travel to games when they are nowhere close to campus.