SEC expansion: It’ll happen soon, and there’ll be a 14th team
One of these teams would balance Texas A&M, and not the one in gold. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
For a dizzying minute, it seemed Texas A&M might land in the SEC soon enough to qualify for the 2011 conference title. Then the SEC offered no invitation and the Aggies decided to take a moment to assess options, and some folks are taking this to mean the whole deal — not there ever was an actual deal, but you take my meaning — is off.
To such folks, I offer this from Jackson Browne, who may or may not have ever seen a college football game: “Don’t think it won’t happen just because it hasn’t happened yet.”
The key point: Texas A&M wants out of the Big 12 because it hates the thought of sharing a shrunken conference with the overweening Texas Longhorns, who are about to launch their own TV network in collaboration with, wouldn’t you know, ESPN. Before it jumps, A&M wants to find a soft place to land. The SEC has made it clear it’s willing to be that place.
No, the SEC hasn’t said so. On Sunday its presidents met and “reaffirmed our satisfaction with the current 12-institutional alignment.” But this is posturing. The SEC, with its five consecutive BCS titles and its billion-dollar TV contracts, doesn’t want to irk anybody by appearing grabby. (The New York Times has reported that SEC commissioner Mike Slive had a heated phone conversation with Dan Beebe, his Big 12 counterpart, last week.)
The SEC has to figure out how to finesse this so its coming expansion — and expansion is absolutely coming — won’t leave the league mired in lawsuits or render it a villain in the court of public opinion. The SEC will be happy to ask Texas A&M into its living room when the Aggies officially say, “Please.” And they will.
The SEC also needs time to triangulate. The best conference isn’t going to sit on an uneven number. It needs a 14th team, and maybe a 15th and a 16th. It was rumored over the weekend that Florida State was SEC-bound, along with Clemson and Missouri, two schools that have nothing in common. The SEC’s problem won’t be in finding a new member or even three new members; the problem will be in identifying the best fit.
The Big 12 is already down to 10, and would Oklahoma want to remain in a league in which, due to the Longhorn Network, it faces a competitive imbalance? The ACC’s ballyhooed expansion hasn’t worked, and the schools who care most about football — Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech — must ask themselves if they want to linger in a conference that has had a hard time drumming up interest in its championship game. (In existence only since 2005, the ACC title tilt is on its third city.)
Loading ...If you’re the SEC, would the proper complement to Texas A&M be another Big 12 refugee? Or would Virginia Tech, say, offer better geographic balance than, say, Oklahoma? The Aggies would give the SEC even deeper entree into the fertile recruiting ground of Texas, but Oklahoma recruits Texas, too. Would Florida State do anything to broaden the SEC base? Would Clemson? (Remember, the league already has members in both states.)
A factoid to note: The conference hasn’t expanded with Slive as commissioner. Indeed, each of the other five BCS leagues has taken on new members since the SEC grew to 12 in 1991. Even as critics contend that college football is out of control, it must be said that college football’s flagship league has been content to go with what it has.
As the landscape keeps changing and bigger programs come into play, the SEC cannot be content much longer. It wouldn’t want Texas A&M and Oklahoma follow Nebraska to the Big Ten. If high-profile programs are determined to relocate, the SEC will be duty-bound to open its gated community.
It will, but not just yet. The Texas A&M scenario flared so fast that nobody was ready for it. By the end of the year, Slive will have done his due diligence and his league will be ready to grow. To 14 teams, I’ll venture, with Virginia Tech being the 14th.
By Mark Bradley
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465 comments Add your comment
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:41 pm
I don’t think FSU moves. I don’t think UF would want them, even though they play them already. It will be Clemson or VT will be ask IMHO.
BrotherHOg
August 16th, 2011
6:41 pm
Why does everyone assume that the fans and members of the SEC want to add more teams? Apparently we are doing just fine in regards to the football aspect and we have had a few national championships in basketball this past decade. Adding more teams would lessen the talent pool by watering it down. Instead of these talented young men attending 12 schools; they can spread out and attend 14. A&M would not have the recruiting advantage; they would open up the recruiting advantage to the SEC. I like the egotistic approach aggies have when saying that they have an open invitation. Which I regard as extremely funny; seeing that Big Brother was offered a spot on the team first; but declined; now little brother thinks they are the best in the World because of there “Open invitation!” If the SEC had a brain, they would push UT harder because they bring much more to the table; and a heck of a better TV market because of UTs national followers. FSU, Clemson, and GT are out of the question, they do not increase the TV market share and they dilute the talent pool for the current SEC teams in the respective states.
Get your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
August 16th, 2011
6:41 pm
People
GT would be a joke to the SEC
Look at all SEC games they are full and except for 3 of them every stadium is 89,000 +
Bobby Dump stadium is 18,000- and is never full unless UGA fans fill it every other year
nash
August 16th, 2011
6:42 pm
If Missouri and, Clemson join the conference would that force Auburn to uses its real mascot the War Eagle?
Chris
August 16th, 2011
6:43 pm
I used to love to go to games in Clemson. That was a great atmosphere and college town. It will probably be FSU and Tex AM though.
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:43 pm
The jury is out if Richt can win 10 games again…ever……..The slide is real. I’m pulling for him, but after the last two years, like Obama, he’ll have to show me and not tell me.
5150 UOAD
August 16th, 2011
6:45 pm
nash it didn’t make Miss St or UGA have to get a new one.
Bama never uses it’s REAL Mascot ever.
Get your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
August 16th, 2011
6:47 pm
People
GT would be an embarrassment to the SEC
Look at all SEC games they are full and except for VANDY MISS ST and Ole Miss every stadium is 89,000
Get your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
August 16th, 2011
6:47 pm
Bobby Dump stadium is 18,000- and is never full unless UGA fans fill it every other year
5150 UOAD
August 16th, 2011
6:48 pm
JB Ok I can see that.
I don’t see the draw for the SEC and FSU. It doesn’t increase the TV foot print much. New TV markets is what drives the BIG Money and with more teams the SEC has to get more new TV viewers.
Get your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
August 16th, 2011
6:49 pm
Bobby DUDD stadium is 18,000- and is never full unless UGA fans fill it every other year
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:49 pm
ACC is a good fit for Tech. The game has changed since the Dodd era. Tech has stuck to their academic pedigree and that’s a good thing.
Big Man
August 16th, 2011
6:50 pm
Lol @ G. Tech clinching the Atlanta market for the SEC!!! Make a trip to Atlanta and see all the UGA bumper stickers…..check the SEC championship game location and attendance……and early season Chick Fil A classics in Atlanta….LMAO!!!!!!!!
Funny……..
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:52 pm
The SEC NEEDS Texas and Va. for recruiting and TV
Beast from the East
August 16th, 2011
6:52 pm
I’m telling you guys there is no way FSU, GT or Clemson get an invite. Why would UGA, UF or USC allow it? What would they gain? The answer is nothing. I’m with Delbert on Missouri…..IF the expansion happpens.
Delbert D.
August 16th, 2011
6:52 pm
I can’t see Florida wanting to give FSU any additional edge in recruiting in the state. Also, what is the advantage for the SEC? The Tallahassee-to-Pensacola TV market?
The Truth
August 16th, 2011
6:53 pm
Seriously people? UVA & Louisville? You might as well go and throw out Coastal Carolina, App State, Furman, & West Georgia…heck, throw in a high school team or two as well. UVA hasn’t been relevant in football since before the 2011 recruiting classes were a mere drunken gleam in their fathers’ eyes. Louisville plays at Papa Johns Stadium, and boasts zero legitimacy as a football power. Honestly, TAMU doesn’t exactly make me want to run and shout from the mountain tops either. The SEC shouldn’t accept anything less than top-tier schools if they are looking to expand. OK, TX, FSU immediately come to mind. Outside of those schools, there’s a significant drop-off.
BrotherHOg
August 16th, 2011
6:54 pm
JB: Obviously, the SEC needs no one for recruiting; let there record speak for itself
Beast from the East
August 16th, 2011
6:54 pm
Enter your comments here
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:54 pm
I meant VT and the state of Virginia, Not UVA.
The Truth
August 16th, 2011
6:55 pm
Tech is out of consideration simply because the ‘females under 200 lbs & regularly shave’ to male ratio is too high.
Make my Day
August 16th, 2011
6:56 pm
Lets discuss the new look conference. In order of power rankings this year.
East:
VT
USC
Florida
Georgia
Clemson
Tennessee/Kentucky
Vanderbilt
West
Alabama/LSU
Florida St
Arkansas
Texas A&M
Miss. St.
Auburn
Ole Miss.
And that is a wrap …folks….
Overall our beloved dawgs would fit somewhere between 9-11 in the conference. 6-9 if lucky and turned things around.
Auburn
The Truth
August 16th, 2011
6:57 pm
I think the real story here is that the bands of the SEC need some additional strenght. Let’s go out and get FAMU & Grambling. Killer bands – that’s the ticket! Who’s with me?!?!
wsj
August 16th, 2011
6:57 pm
If anything, I think conferences should split and become smaller so that everyone can play everyone in a regular season. 10-team conferences will mean 9 conference games with 3 out-of-conference games. Either that, or add more regular season games.
JB
August 16th, 2011
6:57 pm
Brother, recruiting is the icing. TV is the prize. If Texas can cut a TV deal, the SEC is frigging GOLD.
wrap up 14 or 16 teams and then you have the SEC network. ESPN looks like Kilroy peeking in the window. That would be a BILLION dollar deal…..and make every SEC RICHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
bob
August 16th, 2011
6:57 pm
As others have said, you can forget Va Tech. The Virginia legislature and the University of Virginia spent themselves driving the ACC to accept Va Tech vice Syracuse. Ain’t no way in hell that VT comes even if they want to because UVA wouldn’t even consider joining the SEC (not that they would be invited). If it is true that Carolina, Georgia and Florida are going to block their sister schools from joining, the SEC really does have to go West. Mizzou doesn’t seem like a good fit, but they have two advantages. Lots of TV sets in St. Louis and Kansas City and they do not have another state university that will tie their hands. They have a good overall athletic program with excellent basketball tradition and an ever improving football program.
That would give you 14. Then, if you go for 16, try for OU and OK State. The Cowboys are an improving program and they have an excellent basketball tradition. OU is the absolute best option available in any conference and is one of the Top 5 programs in the history of College Football.
This is not perfect, but it draws on new territory. OU is a natural rival for Arkansas. A&M the same with LSU and Arkansas, not to mention the line between College Station and Tuscaloosa that is still there with Gene Stallings.
The Truth
August 16th, 2011
6:58 pm
VT would be a mid-tier team at best in the SEC. They can’t even regularly win the gAyCC.
mick
August 16th, 2011
6:58 pm
fsu and clemson don’t make sense. vt does. and blacksburg is actually further south than lexington. im sure mb knew that.
The truth
August 16th, 2011
6:58 pm
Virginia Tech and Texas A&M would fit in well with the SEC, redneck fans and pitiful academics.
HelluvaEngineer
August 16th, 2011
6:59 pm
VaTech[sic] is a much better fit in the SEC than the ACC. Their schools has the ideal mullet to jorts ratio that suits the rest of the ACC (sans Vandy). As the second-lowest ACC institution academically, the SEC is naturally a better fit. Moreover, they boast an impressive record of players’ run-ins with the law that even UGA fans can admire. Blacksburg is much more akin to the likes of Starkville, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Fayetville, and Lexington that Boston, Miami, Atlanta, and the Research Triangle. They do have a solid football program to boot, but we’ll see what happens when Beamer retires. In short, they’re a natural fit for the SEC.
JB
August 16th, 2011
7:00 pm
Go study truth…………or to the Varsity
Amos Alonzo Stagg
August 16th, 2011
7:00 pm
the 16 team super conferences are coming as a precursor to a 16 team (8 conference champs and 8 at large) playoff, so I think Clemson and FSU will both be in the SEC before all is said and done (and possibly GA Tech). why? because Clemson USC, FSU-UF and Tech-UGA will not fall victim to scheduling prohibitions. Or maybe the Dawgs and Jackets will just square off in the Chik-fil-A Bowl EVERY year, as neither will ever get close to the BCS championship (take the short money and the gravy from the Title Game payout)
Jack
August 16th, 2011
7:00 pm
The truth- 3 of the last for championships were won by vt and they can’t regularly win?
Mid tier would certainly be above where uga has been the past 2 seasons.
Dawg48
August 16th, 2011
7:01 pm
What makes college football so great is it’s traditions! When teams like auburn and Georgia have been playing each other since 1892 their is history and rivalry the same with a lot of teams. To me throwing in 2 or 4 more teams would take away from those games to not be a yearly meeting! Don’t screw up our football!
Va Dawg
August 16th, 2011
7:02 pm
I find it interesting that there are so many experts on the politics in the Old Dominion. For those of you who care Va Tech is not tied to Virginia. Virgina blocked attempts for Va Tech to enter the ACC at it’s inception back in the 50’s and for years thereafter. UVa views Va Tech as a cow college just as the pencil neck nurds at the North Ave trade school view us. If it wasn’t for Governor (at the time) now Sen.Mark Warner putting pressure on Virginia president John Casteel and the state legislature Syracuse would now be residing happily in the ACC. Virginia Tech is a football school. They have SEC type fans and an SEC type atmosphere at their stadium. While the facilities are not yet to the scale of the SEC they are a good fit for the SEC. They are in the ACC only because it was a step up from the Big East and gave them more respectability in the sports world (and also got them ESPN attention which then shamelessly pimped them for years after). Also outside of the military academies Va Tech and Texas A&M have the largest student cadet corps in the country. They would be the perfect cross division rivals that would give us a Army/Navy type of rivalry every Thanksgiving. Plus the obvious of adding two new states and new television markets. I would also favor the addition of Clemson and Florida State down the road but for Numbers 13 and 14 I agree with Mark. It is Texas A&M and Va Tech with no questions.
joe
August 16th, 2011
7:02 pm
Ok- and let’s invite Ohio ST, Nebraska, and Pittsburgh! The SEC is big enough, let the Aggies, FSU, Clemson, Louisville and the other interested parties form their own conference. No realignment-
Amos Alonzo Stagg
August 16th, 2011
7:03 pm
forget VT, the SEC should go after the best team in the Old Dominion; James Madison U!
JB
August 16th, 2011
7:03 pm
“The truth” is a Techie who is not over the best Tech team in 20 years losing to the worst UGA team in 20 years, At Grant Field, on National TV, favored, and on the way to a BCS Bowl, which also resulted in a smack down. ACC champs and all……..whoops………ex ACC champs.
Stinger2
August 16th, 2011
7:03 pm
Beast from the East: Any SEC school except maybe KY/Vandy/Ole Miss should want GT. They would be assured of an easy conference win.
Mad
August 16th, 2011
7:05 pm
Mark
Do you believe that mega expansion, which is coming, would kill rival games if teams like gt and uga, clem sc fsu uf were split up? Because I think if you go to 16 teams, then you will have to play 10 conference games. That leaves 2 ooc games. And you know at least one will be a cupcake and most teams will probably want another cupcake in the middle of the season. So Sayanora rival games. College football would stink if the gt uga game went away. I guess we can consider gt a cupcake since were 9-1 this decade.
Beast from the East
August 16th, 2011
7:05 pm
Stinger2,
Not UGA. They would block it.
JB
August 16th, 2011
7:06 pm
You bet we would Beast.
Beast from the East
August 16th, 2011
7:06 pm
Mad,
I think expansion would surely kill some rivalries. The expansion in the SEC to 12 teams already killed UF/Miami.
7576DAWG
August 16th, 2011
7:09 pm
The SEC will not let anything happen until Texas A&M straightens out their legal mess. Texas A&M should have gone to the SEC last summer before they signed a 10 extension to their contract with the Big-12. All legal matter will have to be settled with nothing coming back against the SEC. If that happens Texas A&M will most definitely get an invite.
Nate
August 16th, 2011
7:10 pm
The sec should take Miami. With the news today, they would fit right in.
BrotherHOg
August 16th, 2011
7:10 pm
The SEC will make money from winning and for having the majority of the best conference games. We do not need an SEC network because all of the SEC games are broadcasted on ESPN or CBS. If you start making it a super-conference; the dominance will dissipate with excuses. Further more; with all the rambling about the SEC cheating and all of the hatred thrown in its path; why not take the high road and remain a solid conference. Aggies agreed to stay in the Big 12 when it was on the brink of collapse; now because they are tired of being left out by Big Brother, they create havoc for all of the others that did remain in the Big 12 (i.e., KU, KSU, Mizzo, ISU) They are obviously (as they state) out for themselves, why bring a spoiled-brat step child into the conference where problems are at a minimum?
JB
August 16th, 2011
7:11 pm
A&M would have lot’s to gain. Imagine telling blue chips in Texas the Big Game glamor and excitment of LSU one week, on to Bama, then Auburn, then Florida………. all on National TV. Give them something to think about.
Mad
August 16th, 2011
7:12 pm
But beast,
Correct me if I am wrong, but Miami UF was never a big rivalry. I began watching CF in the mid 80’s and I don’t remember that game at all. I do remember Fsu Miami. I hope we don’t lost the Gt Uga game. That would suck.
HelluvaEngineer
August 16th, 2011
7:13 pm
mean mullet length exceeds 4.7 inches… check. percentage of fans wearing jorts exceeds 43%… check. median adult fan whose highest of education does not exceed 10th grade… check. football factory… check (though they’ll need to work on populating the NC trophy case that has hitherto been vacant). rabbid fanbase that can speak intelligently of nascar… check. program that boasts some impressive arrests among student-athletes…. check. meager-at-best academics…. check. Virginia Tech is taylor made for the SEC.
SEC
August 16th, 2011
7:13 pm
The bottom line is the SEC will get who it wants and it will not matter if the ACC,Big 12 or Big east likes it or not.Georgia tech will never be considered for the SEC again,the SEC already owns the Atlanta TV market and Ga tech brings nothing to the table that would be advantageous for the SEC, small fan base, little modern football tradition (53% wins since 67′), and for those thinking Vandy would voluntarily leave the SEC for a smaller payday had best think again.