A year ago as the BT began to test the waters of mega expansion, the college sports nation reacted. But when it was all said and done and the B1G had made its move, a super conference in the midwest wasn't a reality, but a 12-team Big Ten was.
The Big 12 tried to slap a band-aid on its wound with a hastily- designed TV deal and conference re-structuring and everyone knew it wasn't a permanent solution...little did we know how temporary it would be.
The 10-team Big 12 will soon be an 9 team and with Texas A&M leaving...and like when the BT was changing, rumors are swirling about other parts- Mizzou (who clearly wants out of the B12), FSU and Clemson could all move to the SEC as well, and help form a 16 team, all-sport super conference. If this were to happen, what would happen in the BT?
My thought is that without a whale wanting to join and a greater stake in the Northeast TV market, no move will come from Delany and Co. In fact, I would guess it would take other schools coming to the B1G boss, not vice-versa.
EsPN was first to report the rumors of the new quasi-Southeast Mega Conference...and some reports directly contradict the whispers...but why wouldn't Mickey & Co. try to grease the wheels a bit? EsPN already has a heavy vested interest in the SEC and making this conference have longer arms and more TV interest would do nothing but help Disney.
We'll see what happens in the coming days/weeks...but it's getting interesting...Again.
Might not be smiling for too long
3 comments:
That's an interesting group of schools, if it turns out to be accurate. FSU and Clemson do make sense to me, with Florida and South Carolina already in the SEC. Florida State and Texas A&M also have strong all-around programs.
Missouri, though ... their geographic rivals would be in the Big Nine or our conference, their academic profile would be grossly out of place in the SEC, and television doesn't seem as though it would be that big of a deal, unless the SEC Network has a deal similar to BTN's that has a reduced cost in states where a conference member plays ... and even if that's true, adding A&M makes a big enough difference that I don't know if they'd even notice Missouri.
If they're going to raid the ACC, why not take Georgia Tech instead? They're probably similar to Missouri, if not better, in both academic and athletic profiles, plus they already have a natural rival in the conference. (Of course if that happens, then it starts the whole Missouri-to-Big-Ten thing that happened last time, where we discuss how teams with weak profiles would match our conference in some ways, but not enough to justify expansion.)
I think Miami is a no-brainer for the SEC, especially if they're going after FSU...Mizzou simply must have put out some sort of smoke signal for the SEC- they clearly want out.
I talked to some of my family in St. Louis about Mizzou last month, and they say that Mizzou wants out of the Big 12 in the worst way. Most of the northern schools feel like they get the short of end of the stick in the Big 12, Missouri especially feels this way. It pieces do start to move, look for the Big 12 to invite BYU to join - that is, if there are enough teams left to even have a conference at that point.
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