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https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/34236662/new-big-12-commissioner-exploring-all-options-concerning-expansion

Big 12 media days:

 

"...In his first public appearance, incoming Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said the conference is "exploring all options" when it comes to further expansion, including the possibility of adding Pac-12 schools.

"We're open for business," Yormark said Wednesday when specifically asked about considering schools from the Pac-12. "And optionality is good. And we're vetting through all of them. I think it's fair to say I've received a lot of phone calls, a lot of interest. We're exploring those levels of interest. Nothing is imminent...."

 

The SEC has said Texas and Oklahoma will join the league on July 1, 2025, but there has been speculation that they could join earlier. Yormark said he is looking for a "win-win scenario" for everyone involved.

"That being said, it's important that whatever happens is in the best interest of this conference," he said, "but I look forward to the right time to have those conversations.""

 

i.e. If you open your pocketbook we are very willing to listen.  Sounds like he is not planning on trying to tie UT and OU up until 2025.  I originally thought 2023 was most likely.  Now I think probably 2024 when the SEC/CBS contract expires.

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I think the bottom line is that if the Big 12 can get the 4 corner schools and line up some solid TV deals, we're going to cut UT and OU loose.  Hence the "win/win" comment.

I speculated in either this thread or the other that there was likely some personal anger from Bowlsby towards to UT/OU that Yormark simply wouldn't bring to the proceedings, and his comments today suggest as much.  He's a businessman.

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12 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I think the bottom line is that if the Big 12 can get the 4 corner schools and line up some solid TV deals, we're going to cut UT and OU loose.  Hence the "win/win" comment.

I speculated in either this thread or the other that there was likely some personal anger from Bowlsby towards to UT/OU that Yormark simply wouldn't bring to the proceedings, and his comments today suggest as much.  He's a businessman.

Or the man is actually smart and realizes the need to build the identity of the Big 12 without UT and OU. The Big 12 no longer gains anything from the presence of Texas or OU as the talk about either team will almost always be in relation to the SEC, you don’t want a Big 12 title game between two teams that are literally leaving the Big 12 because the SEC narrative will overshadow the Big 12. Secure the financial compensation and use that to begin building up the new Big 12 brand focus on OSU, UCF, ISU, Cincy and how they are going to lead the Big 12 into a new era.

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2 hours ago, Pimphand said:

I mean I think gutting the PDF is probably the only path forward for the B12 given the ACC GoR runs until something like 2036 and the BDF doesn't have the appeal to lure teams into massive buyouts so unless there is an agreement between the $EC and B1G to dismantle the ACC in unison so that the GoR doesn't apply the BDF likely won't be poaching ACC teams.


Doesn’t matter what the SEC and B1G agree on. They’re not running the show.

 

 

1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

Seems like we're in same predicament, though not as shitty as their situation.  When we leave in 2025, I think we still pay a buyout.  So the issue is ou needs that time to save money?

See: SEC/CBS contract end date. 
 

The money is there to leave today. It was there to leave a year ago.

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29 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I think the bottom line is that if the Big 12 can get the 4 corner schools and line up some solid TV deals, we're going to cut UT and OU loose.  Hence the "win/win" comment.

I speculated in either this thread or the other that there was likely some personal anger from Bowlsby towards to UT/OU that Yormark simply wouldn't bring to the proceedings, and his comments today suggest as much.  He's a businessman.

Yep and he wasn't the one that was blindsided.  Bowlsby was.

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5 minutes ago, Not a Sock said:

Or the man is actually smart and realizes the need to build the identity of the Big 12 without UT and OU. The Big 12 no longer gains anything from the presence of Texas or OU as the talk about either team will almost always be in relation to the SEC, you don’t want a Big 12 title game between two teams that are literally leaving the Big 12 because the SEC narrative will overshadow the Big 12. Secure the financial compensation and use that to begin building up the new Big 12 brand focus on OSU, UCF, ISU, Cincy and how they are going to lead the Big 12 into a new era.

Agreed 100%.

I think it's best for the parties to move on at this point.  I'd prefer this to be the last year of UT/OU in the Big 12.

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8 minutes ago, Not a Sock said:

Or the man is actually smart and realizes the need to build the identity of the Big 12 without UT and OU. The Big 12 no longer gains anything from the presence of Texas or OU as the talk about either team will almost always be in relation to the SEC, you don’t want a Big 12 title game between two teams that are literally leaving the Big 12 because the SEC narrative will overshadow the Big 12. Secure the financial compensation and use that to begin building up the new Big 12 brand focus on OSU, UCF, ISU, Cincy and how they are going to lead the Big 12 into a new era.

This too.  Again, back to the divorcee analogy at some point you have the dignity to say "you know what fucker, you don't want to be here, GTFO."  

 

We shouldn't be on stage with Cincy or BYU.  Looks tacky.

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Just now, closetohumping said:

Yep and he wasn't the one that was blindsided.  Bowlsby was.

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at with the taking it personally thing.  Yormark doesn't have any kind of emotional investment with the outgoing schools.  It's just a situation for him to navigate.

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2 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

This too.  Again, back to the divorcee analogy at some point you have the dignity to say "you know what fucker, you don't want to be here, GTFO."  

 

We shouldn't be on stage with Cincy or BYU.  Looks tacky.

Didn't you guys do a home and home with BYU recently?

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15 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:


Doesn’t matter what the SEC and B1G agree on. They’re not running the show.

giphy.gif

They 100% are running the show.

You taking about Fox and ESPN? They can try to have control and input but they are also competing with CBS and other streaming services, Amazon, Google, and Apple all want to get into live sports too.

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7 minutes ago, mdmost said:

If by recently, you mean 8-9 years ago, sure. We also then had a home and home series with Notre Dame, USC, LSU, and now Alabama. 

At this point that seems recent.  I just have what seem like not distant memories of Texas playing BYU a couple of times.

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Just now, Al_4_ISU said:

At this point that seems recent.  I just have what seem like not distant memories of Texas playing BYU a couple of times.

Longhorn fans have intentionally forgotten all about this, so you're gonna have a tough time talking to us about it. :)

 

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2 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

At this point that seems recent.  I just have what seem like not distant memories of Texas playing BYU a couple of times.

We played them mostly in the Mack Brown era. Charlie got a piece of them in 2014, when they destroyed us. The first of many teams that destroyed us that year. We did a 2 for 1 with them. 2011 and 2014 in Austin, 2013 in Provo. 

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5 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Yes and we got the shit kicked out of us.  What I was getting at is Texas/ou shouldn't be mingling with the new mates in any official capacity next year, it's just sort of weird. 

Yeah the h8ful 8 are already pretty bummed about all this.

Glad they got a new commissioner though, maybe the big12 wouldn't have collapsed without Bowel-sby, now it seems like they will be much better than the AAC and even better than or absorb some of the failing pac and acc.

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1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I think the bottom line is that if the Big 12 can get the 4 corner schools and line up some solid TV deals, we're going to cut UT and OU loose.  Hence the "win/win" comment.

I speculated in either this thread or the other that there was likely some personal anger from Bowlsby towards to UT/OU that Yormark simply wouldn't bring to the proceedings, and his comments today suggest as much.  He's a businessman.

I thought I read that ESPN said they didn't want them earlier than 2025 for programing and contract reasons, which I think is partly true, but also partly posturing, and it was before USC/UCLA move. If we can get not only the 4 corners but UW and UO too, I think there is definitely a way to get ESPN and the other networks to the table to move some things up, make sure that the Big 12 is still strong financially, enough so that it would make it worthwhile to let OU/TX go early for much less than the contract price in a world where ESPN is ready for them earlier than 2025. Until then, there really isn't much reason for the Big XII to not ask for the contract price of early departure. It's not outrageous like the ACC numbers being thrown out there and I think far more defensible in court if it ever came to it, but I really don't think it will be necessary. 

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3 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I thought I read that ESPN said they didn't want them earlier than 2025 for programing and contract reasons, which I think is partly true, but also partly posturing, and it was before USC/UCLA move. If we can get not only the 4 corners but UW and UO too, I think there is definitely a way to get ESPN and the other networks to the table to move some things up, make sure that the Big 12 is still strong financially, enough so that it would make it worthwhile to let OU/TX go early for much less than the contract price in a world where ESPN is ready for them earlier than 2025. Until then, there really isn't much reason for the Big XII to not ask for the contract price of early departure. It's not outrageous like the ACC numbers being thrown out there and I think far more defensible in court if it ever came to it, but I really don't think it will be necessary. 

I suspect the sooner the better for ESPN.  Everyone leaves early, so I don't think it's a contract issue.  Networks sell ads to the game.  Adding Texas and ou will add eyeballs even in 2023.  

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22 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Yes and we got the shit kicked out of us.  What I was getting at is Texas/ou shouldn't be mingling with the new mates in any official capacity next year, it's just sort of weird. 

I agree with that.  I thought you were saying Texas has no business playing BYU.

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11 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I thought I read that ESPN said they didn't want them earlier than 2025 for programing and contract reasons, which I think is partly true, but also partly posturing, and it was before USC/UCLA move. If we can get not only the 4 corners but UW and UO too, I think there is definitely a way to get ESPN and the other networks to the table to move some things up, make sure that the Big 12 is still strong financially, enough so that it would make it worthwhile to let OU/TX go early for much less than the contract price in a world where ESPN is ready for them earlier than 2025. Until then, there really isn't much reason for the Big XII to not ask for the contract price of early departure. It's not outrageous like the ACC numbers being thrown out there and I think far more defensible in court if it ever came to it, but I really don't think it will be necessary. 

Not a lawyer, but if you go off precedent, everyone else has been able to negotiate a lower fee, except us, for now. 

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6 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Not a lawyer, but if you go off precedent, everyone else has been able to negotiate a lower fee, except us, for now. 

I think grants of right came into existence after the last big round which makes it much more difficult than before, and was the entire point. To me these buyouts are like liquidated damages clauses that have to be somewhat reasonable and based on some identifiable metric to be enforceable. It seems to me that $80 million or whatever it is for OU and Texas is reasonable and a decent estimate based on how high the tv dollars are these days, while $450 million for the ACC or whatever is out there is way out there and probably not legally defensible. I'm a lawyer but this is based on some intuition and limited experience as I have not worked on large media contracts.

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1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

I think the acc knows this so maybe they’ll make a move too

Their only move is to desperatly beg Notre Dame to come on board, which will probably fail. 

I think they are going to be sitting tight with a newly powerful Miami team to compete with Clempson and a bunch of lower tier teams surrounding those two.

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I'm not sure who the ACC would add. They already have 14+ partial Notre Dame for football. WVU is a natural fit but they must have really pissed someone off there. If we add PAC teams I'd like to see WVU move on (UCF too) as the geography is getting absurd.

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13 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I'm not sure who the ACC would add. They already have 14+ partial Notre Dame for football. WVU is a natural fit but they must have really pissed someone off there. If we add PAC teams I'd like to see WVU move on (UCF too) as the geography is getting absurd.

Long term, a Big XII mega-conference that picks up Pitt, Louisville, and perhaps a couple others to fill out an eastern wing would be ok with me (this obviously supposing that the ACC collapses at some point as the most valuable properties there get picked off). 

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41 minutes ago, LTbear said:

Long term, a Big XII mega-conference that picks up Pitt, Louisville, and perhaps a couple others to fill out an eastern wing would be ok with me (this obviously supposing that the ACC collapses at some point as the most valuable properties there get picked off). 

Sounds great on paper but again that gor is daunting.  

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2 hours ago, mdmost said:

We played them mostly in the Mack Brown era. Charlie got a piece of them in 2014, when they destroyed us. The first of many teams that destroyed us that year. We did a 2 for 1 with them. 2011 and 2014 in Austin, 2013 in Provo. 

IIRC, 2011 was a one-and-done, 2013 and 2014 was a home-and home?

1 hour ago, 'stache said:

I'm not sure who the ACC would add. They already have 14+ partial Notre Dame for football. WVU is a natural fit but they must have really pissed someone off there. If we add PAC teams I'd like to see WVU move on (UCF too) as the geography is getting absurd.

I think having the conference span 4 time zones would present some opportunities and advantages.

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7 hours ago, statsman said:

That’s a great point. Adjacent to it is the gamesmanship between the two conferences. Why did the SEC break its handshake agreement with the Ags and take Texas? Because it kept the B10 from taking Texas. That could also be a factor in evaluating the ACC schools for B10 and SEC membership. 

You may be on to something. The Sec could sense a UT association with the B1G

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2 hours ago, 'stache said:

I thought I read that ESPN said they didn't want them earlier than 2025 for programing and contract reasons, which I think is partly true, but also partly posturing, and it was before USC/UCLA move. If we can get not only the 4 corners but UW and UO too, I think there is definitely a way to get ESPN and the other networks to the table to move some things up, make sure that the Big 12 is still strong financially, enough so that it would make it worthwhile to let OU/TX go early for much less than the contract price in a world where ESPN is ready for them earlier than 2025. Until then, there really isn't much reason for the Big XII to not ask for the contract price of early departure. It's not outrageous like the ACC numbers being thrown out there and I think far more defensible in court if it ever came to it, but I really don't think it will be necessary. 

It was simply posturing.  ESPN would prefer we are there in 2024 when they get the CBS contract, not to wait until 2025.  I would suspect SEC and ESPN are fairly indifferent about 2023 vs. 2024.

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1 hour ago, mdmost said:

Gundy is such a little baby. I guess he can have Bedlam against Tulsa every season since they're on the schedule through 2030. 

 

It's been an almost automatic loss for Gundy for most of his life.  With the lane open now to win conference titles and make an expanded playoff, I understand not wanting to play it.  Hopefully though the series resumes once things settle down. 

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As stated up the page, it's best for the Big 12 to settle with Texas/OU and focus on building the new Big 12 brand. All the talk in their conference centered around two brands that will no longer be around is not good for business. With that said...

Big 12 has an incentive to kill not only the PAC but the ACC in order to stabilize its membership as the clear #3 conference. If the Big 12 settles the GOR with Texas/OU, they now set a precedent for future litigation in the ACC. It now becomes easier for the ACC powers to leave the conference for the SEC/B1G in the future. ACC dying is good for the Big 12. They can add the PAC and the very best of the leftovers in the ACC. The Big 20 Conference I mentioned several pages back is then a possible reality.

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3 minutes ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

As stated up the page, it's best for the Big 12 to settle with Texas/OU and focus on building the new Big 12 brand. All the talk in their conference centered around two brands that will no longer be around is not good for business. With that said...

Big 12 has an incentive to kill not only the PAC but the ACC in order to stabilize its membership as the clear #3 conference. If the Big 12 settles the GOR with Texas/OU, they now set a precedent for future litigation in the ACC. It now becomes easier for the ACC powers to leave the conference for the SEC/B1G in the future. ACC dying is good for the Big 12. They can add the PAC and the very best of the leftovers in the ACC. The Big 20 Conference I mentioned several pages back is then a possible reality.

Yes that would involve them not being emotional and having foresight.  With new leadership that may be the case. 

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1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Yes that would involve them not being emotional and having foresight.  With new leadership that may be the case. 

No doubt the new commissioner has helped change the tone in the room; but I think the USC/UCLA news has also helped change the thought process. The Big 12 now tastes blood. It knows it can be the "leftover conference" that survives conference realignment. They see stability for themselves, which wasn't there a few months ago, and that means branding power matters more now.

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2 hours ago, mdmost said:

Gundy is such a little baby. I guess he can have Bedlam against Tulsa every season since they're on the schedule through 2030. 

 

LOL, good.  I can go back to being an OSU fan like in the 80's.  They literally lost over 95% of the time for an extended stretch vs OU so nobody, and I mean nobody in Norman saw it as a rivalry.  When they'd be top 10 and lose to us, they would always be my second favorite team.  Let's go back to that.  It will be like when you all root for UTSA.  Nobody sees UTSA as a threat of any kind vs UT and osu can go back to being exactly that to OU.  Enjoy that mulletdouche. 

edit: 1967-1994  26-1-1 lol

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7 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

LOL, good.  I can go back to being an OSU fan like in the 80's.  They literally lost over 95% of the time for an extended stretch vs OU so nobody, and I mean nobody in Norman saw it as a rivalry.  When they'd be top 10 and lose to us, they would always be my second favorite team.  Let's go back to that.  It will be like when you all root for UTSA.  Nobody sees UTSA as a threat of any kind vs UT and osu can go back to being exactly that to OU.  Enjoy that mulletdouche. 

edit: 1967-1994  26-1-1 lol

Gundy has been the HC there for 17 years, he's unquestionably the best HC in OK State history, he's probably going to end up in the CFB HoF, and he has three wins against Oklahoma.    

Outside of a vocal minority of Okies who are die-hard Pokes, there's very little actual hatred in Bedlam.  If they go a while without playing, most of the state of Oklahoma will cheer for both schools whenever they are doing well - as was the case for most of their respective histories.  The big difference between the two places is that OU has had a lot more to cheer for.  

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13 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Bro, that was our winning % versus just about anyone for the better part of 40 years. 

True, but you guys had a handful of very good teams.  Hey I was a huge fan of many of those teams.  Barry Sanders, Thurman, Hart Lee Dykes etc.  There were some legit teams that ran into OU and lost.  

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