If SEC expands, it needs to hook them Horns
The past week, whether it’s at work or out and about, I’ve been hearing college football fans talking about possible SEC expansion if the Big 10 kicks off the era of 16-team superconferences, and which teams ought to be added.
It’s the kind of subject that leads to spirited and enjoyable debate, with the candidates I’ve heard suggested ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
So here’s my take on all of this:
If the Big 10 adds more than one team, Commissioner Mike Slive has indicated the SEC will be proactive to protect its position. Which probably means going to at least 14 and possibly 16 teams.
But just adding teams isn’t what this is all about. The aim of expansion for the SEC will be widening its television footprint by moving into lucrative new markets. Why add teams (like, for instance, Georgia Tech or Louisville) in markets that the conference already dominates? Splitting up the money more ways only makes sense if there’s more money generated. And that’s only going to happen with a bigger TV audience. (Someone mentioned that Louisville would bolster the SEC in terms of basketball, but that’s basically irrelevent to the discussion. Conference expansion is all about football.)
The Longhorns belong in the SEC. (University of Texas Athletics)
The best way for the SEC to add audience would be to invade the state of Texas. A lot of folks think the Big 12 will start to crumble if the Big 10 takes several of its northern teams, and the University of Texas is the jewel everyone wants. Texas in the Big 10 (as rumored early this year) is a bad fit, and while some think the Longhorns might go to the PAC 10, the SEC seems like a much more natural home for them.
According to former SEC Commissioner Harvey Schiller, Texas would have joined the conference back in 1992 had the Texas Legislature not insisted that Texas A&M must be taken, too. At the time, the SEC wasn’t interested in the Aggies. But if the SEC was going to 16 teams, adding Texas and Texas A&M would work just fine this time around. And if the Lone Star politicians didn’t get involved this time, adding Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC would be even better. Oklahoma isn’t a major TV market, but the Sooners are a marquee team.
And if Texas does decide to bolt to the PAC 10 and doesn’t take A&M with it, adding the Aggies and the Sooners to the SEC would work, too.
So that takes care of two of the four teams needed to reach 16. For the other two, some fans think locking up the state of Florida by taking Florida State and Miami away from the ACC (which probably will end up feasting on whatever’s left of the Big East after the Big 10 is through with it) would make sense. The University of Florida likely wouldn’t be thrilled about both of its in-state rivals being added to the conference, but I doubt they could veto both of them.
So if you just take one, the Seminoles are the better choice, both geographically and in terms of fan support. Miami fans don’t travel well and the U doesn’t even draw well at home (though perhaps they’d put a few more folks in the seats if they had SEC competition on a regular basis). Last time we went through all this, FSU opted to dominate (for a while) the weaker ACC rather than joining the SEC, but that would be less likely in today’s TV-oriented college football landscape.
As for South Florida, a school I’ve heard several fans mention, forget it: not ready for prime time.
For the fourth team, a lot of fans on both sides of the border would like to see the Clemson Tigers in the SEC, and admittedly they’d be a good fit in terms of football culture, location and natural rivalries. But they wouldn’t add much to the conference’s TV appeal.
Virginia Tech, on the other hand, might be more inclined to bolt the ACC, where it hasn’t been all that long, and the Hokies would give the SEC access to the Washington-Baltimore area TV market. So I like that move, unless the politicians in the Old Dominion state throw a spanner in the works by insisting the University of Virginia must be taken, too. The Cavaliers aren’t a good fit for the SEC, so in that case Clemson would be the better choice.
So there’s your menu for selecting four new teams: Texas, Texas A&M or Oklahoma, Florida State or Miami, and Virginia Tech or Clemson. Add those to the SEC and it doesn’t matter what any other conference does.
Would this lineup make it tougher for UGA to win an SEC title? Undoubtedly. But it would make it tougher for Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and LSU, too. And whichever team came out on top from such a conference would have a pretty good claim to being the best team in the country.
Feel free to share your own SEC wish list. …
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240 comments Add your comment
Columbus Tiger - WAR EAGLE!!!
April 29th, 2010
4:21 pm
I like 12 teams – but adding Texas and TEXAS A&M would be huge.
Auburn would need to move to the EAST – makes the most sense.
As long as we play BAMA every year – I am fine with that.
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
4:22 pm
Bama Stan – So, is that a 12 team or 14 team conference? If it’s 12, who gets booted?
TRC
April 29th, 2010
4:27 pm
Call me crazy, but for a team to be in the South Eastern Conference, don’t they need to be in the south east. Sure, Texas and Oklahoma would be fun competition, but how did a couple of mid west teams ever enter the conversation here. It just doesn’t make sense and it’s impractical.
Otto
April 29th, 2010
4:28 pm
Delbert, Stan’s and My vision is 14 nobody booted.
However, I would like to see S. Carolina booted for Oklahoma.
Barry Hollander
April 29th, 2010
4:30 pm
It’s fun to speculate and the SEC might add two teams if other conferences make an aggressive move, but I don’t see either one of those new SEC members being Texas.
It’d be great fun, but Texas loses more than it gains in this scenario. Can’t see them jumping to the SEC.
Otto
April 29th, 2010
4:31 pm
TRC, follow the money it makes perfect sense if expansion does begin. The ACC schools do little to expand TV coverage. The SEC West likes to recruit Texas as it is. UGA has also snagged players form Tx, Rodney Hampton, and Stafford off the top of my head.
Again I do not see the SEC starting this trend but if the Big10 and PAC10 decide to up the arms race, the SEC will respond and in likely a decisive way.
Pat
April 29th, 2010
4:32 pm
Keep dreaming…
GT History
April 29th, 2010
4:34 pm
For history, I would love to see GT back in the SEC (Auburn vs GT, Bama vs GT). They would be one of the dominant teams in the SEC in basketball and baseball. However, I don’t think FSU, Miami, Clemson or GT will leave the ACC. These are institutions with much higher academic standards than the SEC with exception of Vandy. Maybe not FSU so much, but they are probably on a upward cycle in football looking to dominate again. There is no way Va Tech will leave the ACC. After what the Va legislature did to get them into them in the ACC. Plus, the ACC to basketball is what the SEC is to football. The ACC had 5 true national champions since 2000 in basketball. With the exception of this year with Alabama, some of their championships have been subjective (not their fault). Texas in ‘08-09 should have been in that game.
Otto
April 29th, 2010
4:36 pm
Barry, reading the national blogs, and reporters it is possible.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Today-s-hypothetical-Big-Ten-expansion-fantasy-?urn=ncaaf,219766
If Nebraska agrees to move the Big10, Pac10, and SEC will all be lined up in Austin.
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
4:40 pm
14 schools is a good number. 8 conferences of 14 schools = 112. Good number, covers most every school in Div. 1 (120 currently, 4 moving from FCS)
Otto
April 29th, 2010
4:42 pm
GT history Texas should not have been in 08-09 game however it would have made it easier for UF.
Academics will not matter in the ACC if the Big10/PAC10 expansion takes place, the moeny gap will be large enough. The big money is made in Football not a NCAA basketball tournie that is falling in TV ratings. The SEC will not go after an ACC school until after the Texas option is off the table.
bamaguy
April 29th, 2010
4:52 pm
I have always thought the logical choices would be Florida State and Georgia Tech and/or Clemson. Make the in-state rivalry game mean something like Alabama/Auburn, Ole Miss/State and Ohio State/Michigan. It would also mean that GT would recruit much better in state.
william
April 29th, 2010
4:53 pm
Texas is not going anywhere and the ACC is not getting brokern up either. The Big 10 will expand to 12 by adding Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, or Syracuse. The Pac 10 will expand to 12 by adding Utah and BYU. Then the Big East will pick up the pieces and go to 12 teams by pilfering Conference USA’s East Division for 4-5 teams to get to 12. That way everybody (all big 6 conferences) gets their conference championship game and has 12 teams. Only the true conference champs will get a BCS invite. Maybe the remants of the Mountain West and WAC combine into a 12 team conference and get a 7th BCS bid leaving just one at large bid to go out. That bid should go to the winner of a playoff between the two highest ranked non conference champions.
THEN WE GOT OURSELVES A 8 TEAM BCS PLAYOFF!
BAMA STAN LIAR
April 29th, 2010
4:55 pm
W
TRC
April 29th, 2010
4:56 pm
Otto, I know we all recruit in the mid-west and that is a good thing. And the SEC would definitely stand to make a lot of money by acquiring Texas. It just seems that adding teams who are outside the south east to the SEC would compromise the traditions of south eastern football. It would be like the Pac-10 adding Atlantic coast teams, they would need to change there name to the pacific-atlantic 14, or whatever. The South Eastern and Mid Western Conference just doesnt have a good ring to it. Conferences are built around geographical regions. As pointed out by a few people earlier, it would be a brutal road trip from GA to TX for the fans. You are completely right about the money it would bring though. I hate to think that ESPN coverage is the dominate factor in all college football decisions, however.
Otto
April 29th, 2010
5:00 pm
8 team BCS playoff, that is the way the NCAA tournament started, 8 conf champs.
It will expand after something like UT/OU situation from ‘08 takes place a few times as it did in basketball with USC (being left out of the Tournament) and UCLA. It will go 12 or 16 teams, the regular season will be detroyed and college sports in general will fall by the wayside for the NFL and NBA…barf
BAMA STAN LIAR
April 29th, 2010
5:02 pm
We really don’t have 13 national titles,can’t claim at least 6 or 7 because Tuscaloosa News claim we wre national champions.Oh I almost forgot we did finish third is SEC one year and still claimed national championship.Bear Bryant and Elvis were dining at Waffle House together last night then went to Walmart to view crystal championship ball. ROOOOL TIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
FWIW
April 29th, 2010
5:06 pm
While GT was a member of the SEC 1933-1964,
GT recorded the following records against uga:
Wins: 16
Ties: 2
Losses: 14
Otto
April 29th, 2010
5:07 pm
TRC, I see your point but it will be to make more $$$. GT and Clemson will not turn new TV sets on. Texas was the target before Arkansas joined and yes it was about money.
Nebraska vs Penn St or Ohio St. is a Saturday night national game. Clemson/GT and any SEC school is likely regional coverage. FSU and Miami gets intersting but Texas will still be target #1.
Texas IMO has stronger SEC ties than Miami anyways. The 2nd best SEC team often played in the Cotton before the SWC split up. If a state has more passion for HS and CFB than Alabama it is Texas.
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
5:10 pm
The NCAA would have to do another subdivision for even an 8-team playoff, because there are currently 11 conferences and 3 independents in the FBS.
Old Dawg
April 29th, 2010
5:33 pm
One thing most people are forgetting is the reaction of players and Title IX proponents. If these super conferences are created, football players will demand some form of payment because of the increased TV revenue. After that will come demands from non-revenue and women’s sports for payment and increased coach’s salaries. As outlined by Title IX, whatever a men’s sport receives the women’s programs must receive the same thing.
Because of the Title IX a lot athletic programs are going broke because the non-revenue and women’s sports simply don’t generate enough money to maintain their budgets, so they are completed addicted to football money.
As much as proponents of Title IX like to rave about the number of female athletes who have earned degrees etc, it is a financial nightmare for universities. So, like any business, universities are trying to find ways to pay for underfunded and/or financially strapped programs.
DawgTown
April 29th, 2010
5:38 pm
Don’t know adding Texas will be that great….it’s long freakin drive to Austin after Baton Rouge folks
Matt
April 29th, 2010
5:40 pm
Never happen. Texas has 1 team to worry about and thats OU. Why would they leave a conference they often dominate to get dominated by more physical SEC teams? Makes no sense.
'
April 29th, 2010
5:55 pm
Enter your comments here
Otto
April 29th, 2010
5:57 pm
DawgTown, Thats why we have airplanes.
Matt, Have you not been reading? Nebraska, Mizzou and Colorado are open to leaving. Texas needs more than OU to generate the money to compete.
common sense
April 29th, 2010
6:02 pm
Utah, Boise state, TCU, and BYU to PAC 10
ClemsonDude
April 29th, 2010
6:06 pm
The best SEC fit is FSU, Clemson to the east and Texas and Texas A&M to the west…Think about all the rivals that will happen inside the Conference. The renew of the Clemson- Georgia border fight, FSU-Florida game, Clemson-South Carolina game, Texas- Ark game, Texas- Texas A&M games plus an FSU- Auburn game which the schools are very close to each other. Personally, FSU and Clemson are SEC type programs in the ACC. Texas is Texas that has a huge TV market in the State of Texas.
Tech Man
April 29th, 2010
6:17 pm
NO…do not put TECH in the same conference with the muts. They are like there baseball team..no good!!!
Junkyard heap
April 29th, 2010
6:26 pm
Junkie Dawg blogger–get off your crack dude. Taxas will NEVER come to the SEC. Your more delusional than our Herschel Walker.
Dawg 39
April 29th, 2010
6:28 pm
I understand the TV market financial benefits & see where Texas, & A&M makes sense in a lot of ways. However, would it not be good if the annual GA.,GT game, the USC, Clemson Game, & the FSU, UF game were all conference games.
My real preference is for realignment & not expansion. I would prefer to see Ky.,Vandy, & Arkansas replaced by GT, Clemson, & FSU. Still only 12 teams.
Hunk
April 29th, 2010
6:28 pm
You realize if Texas comes to the SEC the days of Jawga winning anything are slim and none.
All I'm Saying Is...
April 29th, 2010
6:52 pm
I say add
Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State, and Virginia Tech
If have to take Texas A&M (and there is precedent here as Virginia State Legislature once voted that you had to take V-Tech if a conference took Virginia) then I say Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State.
5 Buck Box
April 29th, 2010
7:10 pm
FSU in the east and Texas in the west.
Another Dog
April 29th, 2010
7:25 pm
If the SEC took Texas, Oklahoma, and any combination of ACC teams, it would weaken the conference while expanding the television market.
The SEC truly flexes its muscle in the big bowl games, where the SEC top tier has a chance to play the top tier of other conferences. Aside from the Bama consolation Sugar Bowl against Utah, the SEC is regularly winning the marquee bowl matchups. The risk, however, is the difficulty of surviving the SEC schedule. How does adding teams like Texas or Oklahoma help the conference as a whole from a competition standpoint? Unless there’s a guarantee that the SEC champion plays in the National Championship, why wouldn’t you want to bolt for a weaker conference and undefeated seasons.
Breaking up the second most competitive football conference isn’t going to make every other conference stronger. It’s going to put a new team at the top of a crap conference (see: ACC, Big 10, Pac 10.) The SEC ought to take more middle-tier, big market teams (FSU, A&M, to a lesser extent Va Tech.) Adding Texas and Oklahoma to the Pac 10 or even the Big 10 doesn’t make either of those conferences stronger; the Big 12 is ALREADY top-to-bottom stronger than that situation, and still second tier to the SEC. It’s a downgrade for Texas and Oklahoma, competition-wise.
Leebo
April 29th, 2010
7:40 pm
Texas isn’t about to go anywhere. Their only true competition for the Big 12 title is OU. Leave a conference where you have a shot at the BCS every year to bump heads with Alabama, LSU, UGA, UF, Auburn, etc.? Ain’t happening.
Big XII
April 29th, 2010
7:44 pm
Someone is high on crack if they think Texas will join the SEC….You SEC fans are way too full of your conference.
mahmud jimmyjohn
April 29th, 2010
7:50 pm
take VT and FSU
mahmud jimmyjohn
April 29th, 2010
7:51 pm
you cant spell cokcsukcer without OU
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
8:05 pm
“Utah, Boise state, TCU, and BYU to PAC 10″
I said it yesterday, but I’ll repeat it here: It becomes the Best Western Conference.
Texas Fan
April 29th, 2010
8:05 pm
If it means that Delta will lower their sky high airfares from Atlanta to Austin,then bring on Texas into the SEC. OR better yet, allow Southwest Airlines into ATL so we can actually afford to fly to a few games.
Bama Folds With Tail
April 29th, 2010
8:10 pm
Are you kidding? The Alabama redneck mulletheads would NEVER let 16 teams enter the SEC franchise! Especially Texas from the West. Why? That would guarantee some competition to them and we know those Tuscalooser Homers would never endorse REAL competition. They want it real easy. Everything on a silver platter. I say bring on the Horns! And shove em up those elephants that can’t seem to remember if their mascot is an elephant, roll of toilet paper or a cardboard box of Tide detergent!!!!
Between The Hedges
April 29th, 2010
8:12 pm
Give me Virginia Tech over Miami and Texas Tech over Texas A&M along with Texas and FSU and I’m a happy man.
Since FSU delivers the Florida market along with the Gators, there is no need to take Miami. Virginia Tech is a great program that delivers a new market. And since Texas apparently must have a traveling buddy from in state, Texas Tech has a more exciting football product to put on the field and has Tuberville (people say A&M has tradition, but other than being fake military what tradition do they have other than probation and boring football?).
TennDawg
April 29th, 2010
8:13 pm
Why is everybody so confident the Big 12 will fall apart? Texas and Oklahoma rule that conference, so why would they want to come to the SEC where there is so much more competition? It’s not the money, hell they make loads of it where they are, not to mention the Big 12 makes sense geographically. Not so much when you add Texas teams and Oklahoma to the SEC. The SEC should not expand. Leave it the way it is.
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
8:14 pm
Waaaarr-tiger!
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
8:16 pm
Miami is a sinking team. 1-1/2 inches per decade.
Delbert D.
April 29th, 2010
8:19 pm
There have been discussions…by people other than us, who know all…that Boston College will join Notre Dame in the Big-?? to maintain their catholic school rivalry. That solves 1/2 the problem of the longest conference in the country, the ACC.
DIGGITYDAWG
April 29th, 2010
8:37 pm
I’m against all this expansion. It dilutes the tradition and identity of the SEC. The SEC is supposed to be old south teams with history individually and against each other. If we expand as is being discussed, why just have one super conference and be done with it. If we keep expanding the SEC I’ll no longer be an SEC fan, just a UGA fan.
The Uga downward spiral continues
April 29th, 2010
8:40 pm
Stupid blog. Never going to happen.
Sugar Hill Dawg
April 29th, 2010
9:02 pm
Stay at 12 – don’t mess with success. If expansion is inevitable, go to 14 by picking up Texas and A & M, move Auburn to the East. Keep the schedule rotation as is. (I’d rather pick up an annual crossover with the Aggies or Horns rather than Idaho State one year, Louisiana Monroe the next, etc.) If 16 is the goal, Texas, A & M, Clemson, and VA Tech. (The Tennessee – Hokies game could be held at Bristol every year – 160,000 or more?) When The Trade School dropped out of the SEC, they left permanently, as far as I’m concerned. (Anyone who thinks adding Tech would help in the ATL market is a moron! UGA dominates the ATL.)
catsfly
April 29th, 2010
9:27 pm
The state of Ga. puts at most 140k fans (UGa 90k, Tech 50k in the stands each Sat. The state of NC puts at most 235K fans (UNC (60k, State 60K, ECU 45K, Wake 35k, Duke 35k)