Texas & Oklahoma Bolting the Big 12. Joining the SEC?

Texas and Oklahoma may bolt the Big 12 and join the SEC.

Thoughts?

I think that it is a good deal for both OU and UT. A hell of a lot more money and national exposure.
Plus it can bring back the Texas Arkansas rivalry which was a big deal years ago.
For years Frank Broyles and Darell Royal tried to get a annual games going.
And if they are smart, it will bring back the UT and Texas A&M game back.
And the Red River Shootout is a huge deal. It is as big as the Iron Bowl to folks here in Texas and Oklahoma.
And just watch. I will bet you dollars to dog nuts that Jerry Jones will be pushing to get some of those games played in his place.
The Arkansas and Texas A&M contract runs out pretty soon. So Jerry will try his best to get the Red River Shootout and/or the UT Vs. A&M games there.
I feel sort of sorry for some of the other teams in the Big 12. They have had a recruiting edge because OU and UT was in the conference. It will be interesting to see how schools like TCU and Texas Tech will do in the long haul.

The result of this will likely start a push that will lead to the end of college football as we know it. The goal is a Superleague.

Really, really Bad idea. All we will have is Ohio State, Clemson and a team from one enormous super conference in the national title games. This makes college football worse, not better. It also blocks a lot of good SEC teams from a chance. Horrible idea.

Agree. Nike and ESPN will join forces in the 32-team Superleague. Clemson and Ohio State will form the basis of the Superleague, as will Florida and Florida State. Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Houston, Baylor, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, and others will work on Nike’s Superleague.

Once we have a Nike Superleague, college football will be worse off. 32 teams play for the title and an iPPV model for each game. I believe there won’t be conferences but instead whoever’s left will be irrelevant as big-time college football will be down to 32 schools by Nike and ESPN in what will effectively be a pro development league. Players paid big money by ESPN and Nike. Once you sign with Nike in training camp, you’ll be set in those 32 teams and choose one of those.

This is the beginning of the end I was talking about when we discussed paying players for playing college sports.

It’s going to take real money…and the SEC is trying to set itself up for major paydays by poaching the biggest names in the Big 12.

This now sets up a viscous cycle that is going to end up eating college athletics alive.

It didn’t have to be this way. All they had to do was simply change how amateur and professional athletics operate and it would have fixed everything.

Here’s how it works. First off, we stop kidding ourselves about people going to college for one to three years before turning pro. If a kid doesn’t want to go to college (or isn’t right for college and shouldn’t go), why force them to?

Secondly, turning pro shouldn’t mean burning bridges for good. If the pros doesn’t work out, why can’t they simply go to the college ranks instead?

Let the go pro, or let them go the amateur route, and let the switch as often as they can until the college eligibility runs out.

Yeah, kids are going to milk this and see if they can hang in the pros, and go back when they realize they aren’t ready just yet…but it’s a helluva lot better than what we are watching now, which is the death of college athletics altogether.

And what happens to schools like SU and Akron that simply cannot command the resources to compete?

You will have a handful of schools with college athletic programs, and the rest of the colleges will adapt the Ivy League model. How is that any better? Spoiler: It’s worse, much worse.

Kids that might otherwise be given an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty in their lives will now be shut out because they aren’t good enough to play in the Superleague. Is that the win you were looking for?

The Superleague will effectively sign players up at 15 or 16 in summer events. The players will be signed to play in Nike events, and then by the time they’re 17 they will only be allowed to visit Superleague members. No promotion or relegation. Just the same 32 schools that will be members each year. All games in iPPV.

The NCAA will pick up the crumbs. Notre Dame and Texas A&M will be the two largest schools not in the Superleague. Those who did not participate in Nike-organised youth camps will play NCAA and not Superleague. Revenue will be less but television coverage will favour the NCAA because the Superleague will be iPPV each week. Sponsors and fan bases will probably want more media.

I’m a big Cincinnati fan. The only upside is it gives them a better shot at being selected for the playoffs.

But overall, this is the worst idea college football has ever come up with.

How do you feel about Cincinnati joining the Big 12 conference?