Conference Realignment Thread: Pac-12 Presidents To Vote On Expansion

by Avinash Kunnath on Sep 20, 2011 4:20 PM PDT in General

This is your open thread for anything involving conference realignment for today. Here's the latest news.

Things are moving quickly toward at least Oklahoma and Oklahoma State entering the conference.

Pac-12 officials tells AP vote by presidents on whether to expand expected by end of week.

Pac-12 source on presidents vote this week: "Larry (Scott) wouldn't call a vote if he didn't know the outcome beforehand."

It could also mean that Scott thinks everyone will reject it, but it's not likely he'd be dumb enough to call for a conference quorum if he didn't believe he had the votes. Scott has been set on a sixteen team super conference since he became Pac-12 commissioner, and it looks like he's almost there. Cal might be a little worried about Oklahoma academics, but it's not likely to be a stumbling block to admission.

Texas might take longer. I discuss why at Pacific Takes.

The Longhorns have a lot of work to do though if they plan on negotiating themselves (and likely Texas Tech along with them) to a Pac-16. They need to reduce the scope of the Longhorn Network, and by reduce I mean "find the exhaust vent to dump proton torpedoes through to blow to a million pieces". They need to agree to equal revenue sharing, something they have tried their best to evade at every juncture. The Pac-12 is hardballing Texas, and they aren't going to let up on those issues until they're all in or out.

Oklahoma thus tried to strong-arm the Longhorns to stay in the Big 12. Their demands for Texas sounded pretty familiar (and fairly unreasonable).

The other reform the Sooners demand is Texas and ESPN retreating on some its plans for the Longhorn Network. The UT/ESPN partnership angered Big 12 members on two counts: 1) the network reached an agreement with Fox Sports to move a conference game to the Longhorn Network; and 2) The Longhorn Network announced it would show high school highlights even after the conference voted to keep televised high school games off school-branded networks.

Either Texas is going to concede a lot of the things they would have conceded in a Pac-16 to Oklahoma to stay in a watered-down Big 12, or it looks like we're going to have some new members soon. It's just a matter of who will end up joining them.

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Waiting for the dominoes…

no bear, no care

by EchoOfSilence on Sep 20, 2011 4:35 PM PDT reply actions

"Conference Expansion: Now as disturbing as a Lars von Trier film"

"The Bear will not quit, the Bear will not die." -Joe Kapp

by Whohah on Sep 20, 2011 7:24 PM PDT up reply actions

lol

California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!

by atomsareenough on Sep 20, 2011 8:45 PM PDT up reply actions

Mate in three.

by Utah-UCLA alum on Sep 20, 2011 4:43 PM PDT reply actions

Wilner has a piece up:

On the topic of voting (nine CEOs must sign off on new members), it’s important to consider Scott’s management style.

Before coming to the Pac-12, which was then the Pac-10, he ran the Women’s Tennis Association — an international organization of independent contractors with their own agendas.

Yes, he is bold and creative. But he’s also a pragmatist and a consensus builder.

He’s in regular communication with his CEOs, including ASU’s Michael Crow, chairman of the league’s executive group, and knows exactly what the presidents and chancellors want. (Update: OSU’s Ed Ray replaced Crow as chair this summer. My mistake.)

Scott is not going to call for a vote on new members unless those new members agree in advance to work within the Pac-12′s framework.

For example: If Texas doesn’t agree to participate fully in the league’s revenue-sharing plan … if Texas doesn’t agree to fold the Longhorn Network into the Pac-12 regional network structure … if everyone isn’t on board with a 16-team division alignment … then Scott isn’t going to bother asking for a vote on the Longhorns.

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by TwistNHook on Sep 20, 2011 4:43 PM PDT reply actions

Viva Scott!

no bear, no care

by EchoOfSilence on Sep 20, 2011 4:48 PM PDT up reply actions

Love that this expression caught on. Viva Scott indeed.

by Glanko on Sep 20, 2011 10:05 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Definitely the right way to do things

If you want to see the wrong way to do things, just take a look at how Fake Dan Beebe is doing right now.

by Avinash Kunnath on Sep 20, 2011 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Direct Message to Craig James: You seem to have a pretty good idea of how the world of athletics works. Call me re: Big 12.

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CaliforniaGoldenBlogs: Read It | Follow It | Like It | Wear It

by TwistNHook on Sep 20, 2011 4:59 PM PDT up reply actions

The press release about a vote is also a shot across Bevo's bow.

by Utah-UCLA alum on Sep 20, 2011 5:00 PM PDT reply actions

Dammit. I hate expansion

In other words, Go Bears!

by royrules22 on Sep 20, 2011 5:21 PM PDT reply actions

go on a diet then! :)

Deposed (and recently graduated!) #1 Indian

by boomtho on Sep 20, 2011 5:28 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

I’m a little leary of Larry making Texas “his bitch” and strong-arming their way into the Pac16 because Larry made it the best and only option. Feels like a recipe for unrest down the road, whereas I don’t think we’d have that in a Pac12 or even a Pac14 era.

On a related note, does anyone know if Colorado-Nebraska plan on reviving their rivalry as an OOC game? I always loved that one.Way more interesting than CU-CSU.

"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark

by carp on Sep 20, 2011 6:11 PM PDT reply actions

Expansion Plus

Did I already mention what a great addition to the conference the coeds of Texas will be. The annual HOT bowl, ASU v UT, will be a sight to see for all pac-16 fans at least once before they pass on the great Rose Bowl in the sky.

by YleeXOtee on Sep 20, 2011 6:59 PM PDT reply actions

The Pac-12 shall live!

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6998751/pac-12-conference-decides-expand-further

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CALIFORNIA ANGELS . . . ANAHEIM DUCKS . . . CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1937 • 1947 • 1951 • 1957 • 1959 • 2002 • 2007

by AndyHogan14 on Sep 20, 2011 8:29 PM PDT reply actions

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