The wild scramble begins: Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12
And the Aggies come marching into the SEC. Who'll be joining them? (AP photo)
The mad shuffle has begun. Texas A&M has told the Big 12 not to leave the light on for any Aggies anymore, and if you’re counting you’ll note that the Big 12 has been reduced to a Puny 9. That’s the way of this zero-sum game: Your loss is somebody else’s gain.
Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement Wednesday: “We are seeking to generate greater visibility nationwide for Texas A&M and our championship-caliber student-athletes, as well as secure the necessary and stable financial resources to support our athletic and academic programs.” And if that doesn’t sound like, “Hellooooo, SEC!” … well, my name’s not Rockey Felker.
It’s all but certain the SEC will seek to balance the Aggies’ arrival by enfranchising a 14th team, but these endeavors can assume a momentum unforeseen. (Back in 2003, who’d have thought the ACC would wind up with Boston College and not Syracuse?) The SEC might decide to expand to 16, which brings us to the overarching point:
Any school the SEC adds must come from somewhere.
Geographically, the prime poaching ground would seem the ACC. It’s believed the SEC isn’t interested in adding teams in states where it already has outposts — meaning: no Georgia Tech, no Florida State, no Clemson — so that would, by process of elimination, leave Virginia Tech, North Carolina, N.C. State and Maryland as targets. But would the latter three choose to break an alliance of more than a half-century’s standing? Would Carolina, which is big on basketball, want to leave its old pal Duke?
The ACC must be on its guard. The league has forged a nice fat football contract with ESPN, but everyone realizes that, regarding the sport that pays the freight for most every athletic department, the SEC is the place where the biggest money flows and the brightest lights shine. If you’re serious about college football, the SEC is the place to be.
When it added Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College, the ACC sent the message that it was getting serious about the sport. Alas, that plan hasn’t found fruition. So what, knowing the SEC will surely seek to pounce, can the basketball league do?
Larry Williams, who covers Clemson for Tiger Illustrated, made an intriguing proposal a couple of weeks ago:
Everyone is wondering whether the ACC will be proactive to secure its place amid the anticipated conference realignment Armageddon, and we tend to frame it all in football terms. But what if the ACC’s audacious move consisted of raiding the Big East of some of its basketball jewels (Connecticut? Syracuse? Louisville? Pitt?) and supplanting the Big East as the nation’s premier basketball aggregation?
That would be one way to go. But the other BCS leagues will try to strengthen themselves in the months ahead, and it’s just as likely the Big East and the Big Ten will take a run at ACC schools. (And the Pac-12, having already scarfed up Colorado, might well try to pick the carcass of the Puny 9.)
This is, in sum, going to get messy. High-minded academic institutions will be scrambling to find the best fit — i.e., the most money — and conferences will be down on bended knee to try to lure/keep these high-minded institutions lest their league fall to the level of Conference USA, and pretty soon we’re going to end up with Southern Cal in the Atlantic Coast Conference. (Don’t laugh. Know who’s joining the Big East next season? Texas Christian.)
As bad as all this figures to be, it might also be good. College sports have become the place where cognitive dissonance runs riot. We wax poetic about the color and pageantry of these stirring tableaus, but when you cut through the color and pageantry you’ll find these games aren’t games at all. They’re performances staged by massive businesses. Shocking revelation: Businesses run on money.
As much as college sports attempt to tug at our heartstrings, it’s the purse strings that count. Texas A&M got miffed that Texas is making too much money with its Longhorn Network, and the Aggies want to go where they can get rich, too. And so it begins. When it ends, the map of college athletics will have been redrawn.
By Mark Bradley
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259 comments Add your comment
Mike
August 31st, 2011
6:50 pm
@10 SEConds
So what about that gentlemen agreement that the SEC president got about not invite school like Fla St., Tech, and Clemson. I think that will be the same case in this situation with TCU.
My choice is
1. OU (OSU has to come with them)
2. Missouri (A true dark horse in this)
3. NC State
4. WVA
5. ECU
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
6:53 pm
Also, the Big Ten doesn’t want or need a South Atlantic school like Georgia Tech, especially when all of their strategic moves always have been and always will be about attempting to lure in an unwilling Notre Dame.
The Big Ten may say that they want to expand to 14 or 16 teams or whatever, but they’re just selling woof tickets as they’re are just trying to force Notre Dame to hurry up a make a decision to join the Big Ten that ND is NEVER going to make.
The Big Ten doesn’t want Missouri, doesn’t want Maryland, doesn’t want Georgia Tech, doesn’t want Cincinnati, doesn’t want Louisville.
The Big Ten wants Notre Dame and the Big Ten is NEVER going to get Notre Dame.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
6:56 pm
10 SEConds – Flying to Houston for a Texas A&M game from Atlanta isn’t difficult, but all the SEC games are going to be sold out, regardless of whose fans gets them. With these TV contracts, one could assume the conference would rather you watch the away games on TV. Actually, no… the marginal number of fans that would travel would be small compared to the overall viewership, so it shouldn’t make any difference. Having enemy fans at the games makes for better TV.
NCAA football
August 31st, 2011
6:57 pm
In the know…know’s very little. OU and OSU would join the Pac 12 before the SEC. You need to read more press coverage from their campuses and state newspapers. Hope you like John Denver – wait & see unless the bloc is broken allowing FSU or Clemson. Takes 9 votes out of 12 SEC Presidents but UGA, UF, USCe, and KY are the blockers. Who’d want to play FSU yearly? They generally lead the nation in recruiting on years they win 10 or more games. Give them an SEC invite and they win the East 5 of every 10 years. That leaves 5 (guess UF gets 3, with UT, UGA, and USC fighting for the other 2 per decade).
ga gator
August 31st, 2011
6:59 pm
Mark it is not just the money the Aggies are upset about; The Longhorn Network is going to be showing Texas High School Football games. If we think HS Football is big in Georgia and Florida it is even bigger in Texas and showing them on the Longhorn Network is a huge recruiting advantage for the University of Texas over A&M and the other Texas schools.
NCAA football
August 31st, 2011
7:02 pm
Agree ND is not likely going to Big 10 but if they allowed them to keep their own TV network they just might could get them and Texas. WOW…that would take some of the sails out of the SEC Yacht. If that happened I would pay serious money to see a football SEC vs Big14 series each year. Texas vs Bama; OSU vs UF; etc. I would have no chicken in the fight but I would tune in.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:07 pm
NCAA football
August 31st, 2011
6:47 pm
“SEC may be embarrased if the schools they offer are publised. UNC, OU, Missouri, Virginia Tech, and Maryland will not accept invite. That could be a black eye after statement made by SEC Prez that he could find 4 teams in 15 minutes. He might…but it will not be the teams many think.”
If the SEC REALLY thinks that it can get or wants UNC, Virginia Tech and Maryland (the SEC could probably easily get Missouri, but doesn’t really want them and Oklahoma wants no parts of the SEC, trust me) then I would really like to have what they’re having because it sounds like some feel good stuff that is out of this world!
There’s no way that UNC, Virginia Tech and Maryland would leave their comfortable perches in the ACC to join a conference in which they would be eaten alive in football every week in the SEC.
Besides that, UNC and Maryland are basketball schools which see themselves as being just a notch below the Ivy League in the ACC and Virginia Tech is not going to leave a conference in which they compete for the conference title every single year to go to a conference where they would be in the bottom half to bottom third every year.
Also, the State of Virginia would never let Virginia Tech leave the Virginia behind in the ACC especially when UVA and Virginia politicians worked so hard to get VT into the ACC in the first place.
Harrison
August 31st, 2011
7:08 pm
SMU to the Big XII let’s go
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:09 pm
ga gator
August 31st, 2011
6:59 pm
“Mark it is not just the money the Aggies are upset about; The Longhorn Network is going to be showing Texas High School Football games. If we think HS Football is big in Georgia and Florida it is even bigger in Texas and showing them on the Longhorn Network is a huge recruiting advantage for the University of Texas over A&M and the other Texas schools.”
EXACTLY!!!!! Dude, you hit the nail right on the head!
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
7:12 pm
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
6:46 pm
The PAC-12 would like to have games near the west coast, but there are not enough schools. I’m not sure that Cal and UCLA would welcome any schools in the other system, the state university system. The University of California schools are very well represented in the AAU, and they see the “State” schools like San Diego St., San Jose St. and Fresno St. to be much less than equal. I’ve lived out there, and UC-Davis, to name one is a big step up from the State University schools among Californians. California is just different, and they could care less about the opinions of east coast doings. The thing about the PAC-XX is their very long relationship with the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl.
Texas is different, too. The University of Texas is different to an extreme.
Notre Dame is peculiar in that their location is midwest, but their fan base is New York. A lot of actual alumni are there as well as the hoards of subway alumni. I can’t see them affiliating with any conference that is away from their base.
Beast from the East
August 31st, 2011
7:15 pm
“Who’d want to play FSU yearly? They generally lead the nation in recruiting on years they win 10 or more games. Give them an SEC invite and they win the East 5 of every 10 years. That leaves 5 (guess UF gets 3, with UT, UGA, and USC fighting for the other 2 per decade).”
NCAA football,
WRONG! No way they win the East 50% of the time. When’s the last time they even won the ACC? They’ve lost to UF 6 out of the last 7 years. They would be competetive, but NO WAY they would dominate like that. Heck, Bama doesn’t dominate like that and they are a far superior program to the Semis.
Wolfman
August 31st, 2011
7:20 pm
Bottom line… This will increase pressure on the big schools in the SEC to recruit and win, and watch the money flow. The NCAA watchdogs are going to be plenty busy.
Stinger2
August 31st, 2011
7:23 pm
It has been fun reading all of these comments and speculations. Some changes will be made and it will be fun to follow the action and hear more of the fans reactions.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:26 pm
NCAA football
August 31st, 2011
7:02 pm
“Agree ND is not likely going to Big 10 but if they allowed them to keep their own TV network they just might could get them and Texas.”
Notre Dame is DEFINITELY NOT giving up their independence in football and ND is DEFINITELY NOT giving up their relationship with the Big East in nearly every other sport because their relationship with the Big East gives them the spotlight on the biggest stage of all in the New York City/East Coast media.
Notre Dame pulls ALOT of their ACADEMIC recruits from the Northeast (Maryland to Massachusetts, centered on NYC) and has ALOT of their alumni and donor base in the I-95 Northeast Corridor.
Notre Dame’s relationships with the Big East is absolutely critical for them remain viewed as a prestigious school in the much more heavily populated (and wealthy) Northeast.
ND has some important relationships in the Chicagoland and Midwestern areas in which it is geographically located, but make no mistake that all of the big donations, academic recruits, prestige and media attention comes from the Northeastern-New York City social establishment.
The Big Ten and the Chicago establishment could NEVER give Notre Dame want it gets to thrive with a continued East Coast presence.
As far as Texas…Texas is pretty much becoming more and more radioactive by the second to any potential conference suitors.
Any conference that wants to follow the way of the old Southwest Conference and now the Big-12 should extend an offer to Texas, otherwise the Big-12 would be wise to just expel Texas from the conference as soon as possible and just let the Longhorns be their own independent bigheaded problem, which is likely the only way that what is left of the Big-12 will ever have any longer-term stability or viability.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:37 pm
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
7:12 pm
I have seen Californians get a “little” riled, at times (quite frequently, in fact), that Pac-12 teams don’t get the amount of media coverage that teams farther east get. I’ve heard them complain that there teams have to be exceptional to get the same amount of national coverage that more easternly-located teams might get when they’re merely just above-average or even just merely average.
Seeing as though how far west they are, that type of psychological complex, whether real or perceived, shouldn’t be very surprising.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
7:43 pm
The chancellor of Missouri is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Big 12, charged with leading the search for an A&M replacement. I guess it would be embarrassing for him to secretly negotiate with another conference for his school to join. But, as I said in my original post 3 hours ago, maybe timing will be more important than logic. Maybe he could get enough votes to dump Texas while he’s at it. SMU is publicly pushing hard to join; so, get an agreement on their vote. Do the same for TCU. Maybe that would work.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:44 pm
Beast from the East
August 31st, 2011
7:15 pm
I agree that Florida State isn’t as much of a great potential fit in the SEC as many seem to think.
I don’t know if FSU really wants any parts of the murderous weekly schedule in football, especially seeing as though the Seminoles are trying to lift themselves up out of extended period of somewhat mediocre play.
I also don’t think that too many other SEC teams would be too happy to see them in the conference, starting with FLORIDA, who would exhaust their last breath in trying to block the Noles’ from joining the SEC.
Not too sure that Alabama, Auburn or Georgia would be too thrilled at the prospect of an FSU invite, either.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
7:45 pm
Boy, I made a do-do of a misspelling on that 7:12 post. I meant to say “hordes” of subway alumni.
westlake
August 31st, 2011
7:53 pm
i hate how people are only looking at the football side of this thing
kaput
August 31st, 2011
7:54 pm
FSU won’t get the invite. What do they bring to the table? They’re not very popular in the state of Florida to begin with and Florida isn’t going to allow them to get a better position athletically by allowing the invite.
I’m thinking WVU might be considered. Perhaps Louisville? I doubt Virginia Tech.
kaput
August 31st, 2011
7:55 pm
The football side of things are the only things that count, westlake.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
7:59 pm
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
7:45 pm
That’s okay, we know what you meant.
This is the college football blog, not the academic blog where some teacher/professor wannabe is going to be taking a fine-toothed comb to every seemingly misspelled word or phrase.
We really only care about football gamedays with tailgating and afterparties with superhot co-eds over here, just as long we can make out what you’re saying, nobody cares.
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
8:04 pm
westlake
August 31st, 2011
7:53 pm
“i hate how people are only looking at the football side of this thing”
I agree that there is more to it than just football, but football is the sport that pays the bills by far.
Though seeing as though these are institutions of higher learning WITH football teams and NOT the other way around, ACADEMICS and the other sports that football pays for should be taken into consideration as well.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
8:05 pm
ACC12-SEC12 Booster – The bad thing is I looked at it and said, “yeah, hoards is right.” I think it’s a sign of my creeping old age than my education.
GREG
August 31st, 2011
8:09 pm
No chance at unc. VT yes. Md no. Nc state. yes take them. I would be pissed if I was a ga fan. If they add more schools like mizzou, then an sec team will have to move to the east and it won’t be a miss school. lol
GREG
August 31st, 2011
8:11 pm
No way unc goes. Md wont either. VT possible. nc state yes. If they add another school like mizzou, i would be pissed if i was ga because it might mean moving bama or aub to their division.
True Tech
August 31st, 2011
8:15 pm
Bobby Dodd afraid of Vince Dooley? Ummm no. Nice try Frances. It’s the other way round.
Beast from the East
August 31st, 2011
8:22 pm
Delbert,
You might be getting up there in age, but you’re still light years ahead of most of us on here. I enjoy what you bring to the table……knowledge, wisdom and a pretty good sense of humor!!
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
8:27 pm
kaput
August 31st, 2011
7:54 pm
“FSU won’t get the invite. What do they bring to the table? They’re not very popular in the state of Florida to begin with and Florida isn’t going to allow them to get a better position athletically by allowing the invite.”
“I’m thinking WVU might be considered. Perhaps Louisville? I doubt Virginia Tech.”
ACTUALLY…West Virginia wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea for an invite if the SEC really wanted to add a 14th team to even out the possible addition of Texas A&M in the Western Division.
Heck, some might even say that West Virginia might even be a really good idea as WVU has a fanatical football-crazed culture (one that is even more crazed, fanatical and ROWDY than quite possibly all of the SEC schools COMBINED).
Many in the SEC may look at West Virginia as being a good fit, but would West Virginia necessarily look at being in the SEC as a good fit as there is a WORLD of difference between football in the Big East and football in the SEC.
WVU competes very well in the Big East, frequently being in the hunt for conference titles late into the season every year as of late and historically, but would they be nearly as competitive in the SEC where the speed and athleticism is on a MUCH higher level than what they currently see every week in the Big East?
Most of these schools frequently targeted by fans for SEC expansion may be extremely hesitant to want to leave an easier conference and join the SEC which is a totally different animal than anything else in college football.
Most of these schools, the Virginia Techs, the FSUs, nearly all of the schools in the ACC, the West Virginias, the Oklahomas, don’t want any parts of the SEC in football.
What’s the point of gaining a greater share of TV revenue if your football team, which was competing for titles every year in the conference it just left, is now getting creamed every week on national TV for all the recruits and alumni to see?
Alot of these teams have ALOT more to lose by joining the SEC and being exposed and beat down every week in a superior football conference than they do by staying put and taking in a slightly reduced amount of TV revenue.
.
kaput
August 31st, 2011
7:55 pm
“The football side of things are the only things that count, westlake.”
I wish that i could argue with that statement, but I can’t as it’s not really too far from the truth in this television money-driven college athletics climate.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
8:28 pm
Beast from the East – I think I can still heave a football 50 yards, but I’m wise enough not to try. No more kicking barefoot, either.
Gary
August 31st, 2011
8:28 pm
For those who think that the SEC won’t be able to take a FSU, GA Tech, or Clemson because of the in state rivals is forgetting that it only requires 9 of the 12 presidents to approve a new member. While UGA, SC, and UF could team up to vote NO to one of the three schools mentioned, the other 9 schools could vote YES. I personally see a push for FSU.
As a GT fan, I would hate to see them go (heck, GT beat them that last two time we played them…i know, they were down), but they would provide the same level of national interest and excitement that most SEC team provide.
Blazerdawg
August 31st, 2011
8:33 pm
Dooley never lost to Dodd while at UGA
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
8:43 pm
Alot of the schools being bandied around as possible targets for further SEC expansion (ACC schools like FSU, GT, VT, Clemson, NC State, etc and other schools like West Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, etc) don’t really want no parts of the SEC.
The football in the SEC is a much different animal than what these schools currently see in their respective conferences week-in and week-out.
What good does it do to gain a few million dollars more each year in TV revenue if your team is getting beaten down every week against bigger, faster, more athletic teams with which you have not as much in common as you had with the schools in the conference you just left.
Not only are you getting beaten down every week, but you’re getting embarrassed on national TV in front of potential recruits and wealthy alumni and may become more hesitant to write big checks to the university with each passing loss.
Alot of the schools mentioned for possible expansion want no parts of the SEC in football and have ALOT more to lose by joining the conference than by staying where they’re at even with the increased TV money.
Beast from the East
August 31st, 2011
8:44 pm
Delbert,
I NEVER could heave a football 50 yards. Not the QB type. Played safety and linebacker in my youth. I have become quite the armchair QB as I’ve gotten older.
joe taxpayer
August 31st, 2011
8:48 pm
Schools have to chase after more and more dollars to pay for Title 9.
bamaguy
August 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Enter your comments here
bamaguy
August 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
OOPS. Does anyone else think the school that is coming with A&M has already been selected and agreed? It doesn’t work without an even number.
Beast from the East
August 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
bamaguy,
I woudln’t be surprised if that were the case. The SEC’s been very calculated in this whole process.
GTfan
August 31st, 2011
9:15 pm
I think conferences should be capped at 12 unless the NCAA is going to add games, and even then, we’ll start playing football in early August, who wants to sit in that. It’ll hurt D2 teams, rivalries, and just cool games that otherwise wouldn’t be played. i.e. UGA vs Boise. 16 teams would mean your 8 division games plus 3 in the other division and maybe a rivalry. Kiss the D2 teams’ budgets goodbye and most rivalries. Just b/c you can make more money doesn’t mean you have to. Long term, it hurts the game.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
9:15 pm
Beast – I played mostly defensive end, but I was hellacious slinger on the sandlot.
Delbert D.
August 31st, 2011
9:21 pm
That requires clarification: we ran the Oklahoma 5-4 defense, and these days, with passing and wideouts and such, it would be the 3-4 OLB. Not very much passing back then (one team we played ran the single wing), so that position was full-time standing up DE.
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:25 pm
I’d like to see the B1G invite the following:
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:27 pm
#13 GT
#14 FSU
GT would take the offer. FSU may balk, but would accept if B1G then went after Miami!
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:29 pm
After the ACC responds by raiding the Big East, the B1G could go after:
#15 Syracuse
#16 Notre Dame
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
9:33 pm
Jeff, Did you just say that you would like to see the Big Ten invite GT, FSU and/or Miami?
GTfan
August 31st, 2011
9:35 pm
Jeff – I thought the Big 10 only want AAU universities of which GT is the only one out of your list. Though Nebraska just lost theirs.
GTfan
August 31st, 2011
9:37 pm
Side note, I wish the ACC would have left out BC, only b/c of location. I like traveling, but it has to be reasonably close to just go watch a game. UVA and VT is already pushing, Miami is usually a cheap flight and who doesn’t like Florida in the Fall? Would suck to travel from Kentucky to A&M for a game.
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:39 pm
I think adding FSU and GT solves the B1G recruiting problems. GT is a great school and can improve athletically, and FSU is a great athletic school and can improve academically.
Do you think GT would be interested?
Also, ND is not an AAU member, and I don’t think that NU is an AAU member anymore either…
ACC12-SEC12 Booster
August 31st, 2011
9:39 pm
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:29 pm
“After the ACC responds by raiding the Big East, the B1G could go after:
#15 Syracuse
#16 Notre Dame”
The Big Ten has been after Notre Dame for years, at least since about the time just after they won their last national title in football and has coveted them for many more before that, it’s just that Notre Dame doesn’t want the Big Ten because Notre Dame considers itself a Northeastern school that just happens to be in the Midwest surrounded by Big Ten Great Lakes schools.
Jeff
August 31st, 2011
9:43 pm
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/26078/nebraska-loses-aau-status
good article regarding NU losing AAU status.