possible superconference in the making?

[Ryan H 3,897]

ESPN: Source: Texas, OU in active Pac-12 talks

ESPN.com news services

The ACC might not be the only big-name conference adding schools in the near future.

Pac-12 officials are engaged in "active discussions" with Texas and Oklahoma about how to make the Big 12 schools' addition to the conference work, a source within the Big 12 confirmed to ESPN.com's Joe Schad.

Another source confirmed to Schad on Sunday night that Texas president Bill Powers met with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott in Los Angeles this weekend.

Texas officials traveled to California to watch the Longhorns game against UCLA.

Earlier, The Austin American-Statesman reported the Pac-12 was working out final details to add Texas and Oklahoma to the conference, along with fellow Big 12 schools Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The Statesman cited a source close to the situation that stressed the deal is not yet complete, but that talks were "heating up."

A source told ESPN.com's Andy Katz the move to add Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State still has a long way to go before the Pac-12 leadership would be comfortable recommending it to the league's presidents, who have made it clear to the league's leadership that they don't want to expand beyond 12 at this point.

The proposed deal would allow Texas to keep ESPN's Longhorn Network, though The Statesman reports the network would have to add other Pac-12 programming to the network.

The new Longhorn Network, a 24-hour showcase for Texas athletics, has caused several Big 12 members to worry it gives the Longhorns too much power and influence, especially in the areas of exposure and recruiting.

"This is not yet a done deal," a source familiar with the discussions told The Statesman, saying nothing had been definitively confirmed. "It appears that Scott is going to be able to work some magic and help Texas keep the Longhorn Network and their revenue stream."

ESPN, which operates the Longhorn Network, had no comment.

The University of Texas regents are set to meet Monday to discuss the future of the Big 12. The meeting set for 4 p.m. ET follows two hours after a University of Oklahoma regents meeting, also on the topic of conference affiliation.

Oklahoma State said Monday its regents have also scheduled a special meeting, for Wednesday, to "consider matters relating to athletic conference membership."

Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis said the Cowboys have "attractive options" and are working closely with Oklahoma to make sure the "best interests of both institutions" are achieved. He said the regents want to resolve the issue as soon as possible. A source close to the Oklahoma athletic department told SoonerNation's Jake Trotter it's expected that the Oklahoma board of regents will vote Monday to authorize president David Boren to take action regarding conference realignment.

The source said Pittsburgh was one of the Big 12's top options as a replacement for Texas A&M, and that when Pitt announced it was going to the ACC, it "clobbered everything" regarding the Big 12's future.

Another source close to the situation told The Statesman it's expected the Texas board, like Oklahoma, will vote Monday to authorize Powers to make a decision regarding realignment.

A source told Katz the Pac-12 wouldn't be surprised if the board of regents suggested an application to the conference from Texas and Oklahoma Monday, but "it ain't getting done anytime soon."

The trend toward 16-team superconferences picked up steam Sunday when the ACC announced it was officially picking off the two longtime Big East schools to continue cannibalizing its northern neighbor. Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College had already left the league for the ACC in recent years, and now the Big East is left trying to hang on to its five football members and find a way to survive in an ever-changing college sports landscape with the pending departure of Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

According to the results of a poll released Monday that was commissioned by Baylor and conducted by KRC Research, college football fans prefer traditional rivalries and regional conferences over super conferences.

According to the poll over the weekend of 1,500 college graduates within Big 12 states, 76 percent of fans said they would be disappointed by the creation of super conferences.

In a statement, Baylor's vice president for marketing and communications John M. Barry said: "We believe strongly that taxpayers, elected officials, university alumni and others ought to have the opportunity to contribute to the on-going dialogue regarding the so-called super conferences."

Texas coach Mack Brown turned impassioned Monday in the Big 12 coaches' conference call -- maybe even a bit sappy or old-fashioned -- with thoughts that perhaps should be, but surely aren't, on the top of the minds of those making the decisions on conference realignment.

Brown reminded everyone to think about players and their parents.

"What I'm concerned about is the players and their parents," Brown said. "As much as we talk about money, as much as we talk about college football, as much as we talk about realignment, as much as we talk about great games, playoffs and all that stuff, we better go back and make sure that we're taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.

"Because if not, we're not going to have a game, and they're the ones that are playing. And, for parents to travel all the way across the country is going to put a bigger burden on them," Brown added. "It's going to be more difficult. And right now with the regional leagues the parents can go see their kids play and that's really important because these kids are working their guts out year-round for us to have a show on Saturday that everyone enjoys.

"College football's as great as it's ever been, but we better keep considering what's in the best interest of the players or at some point they're going to get so frustrated it won't be fun for them."

OU's Boren made it known more than two weeks ago that his school was shopping for a possible new home for the second straight summer after entertaining thoughts of joining what would become the Pac-12 or the SEC.

Instead, the Sooners decided to be content in a downsized, 10-team Big 12 -- until Texas A&M, frustrated by the Longhorn Network, further fractured the conference by seeking out a spot as the SEC's 13th member.

Boren said he expected Oklahoma's decision to come within a three-week span that runs out this week, conveniently after the board of regents is poised to grant him the power to choose a new conference Monday at a meeting in Tulsa. Texas' regents will meet two hours later in Austin with the same move on their agenda.

"This time things seem to be moving more quickly than a year ago," said Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti, refusing to commit to the Big East nor express interest in joining the exodus to the ACC. "If that's a sign of things to come, it is hard to say, but I do think as more pieces continue to be in motion it starts to trickle down to more people in the process.

"I would imagine the next 30 days are going to be a telling period of time for our entire industry."

With two teams already leaving last year -- Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-12 -- the Big 12 is in a precarious position as its two richest, most powerful programs flirt with new partners. Oklahoma State is likely to follow Oklahoma wherever it goes, and Texas Tech would likely do the same with Texas.

If all four go, and A&M heads to the SEC, it would leave just five Big 12 teams in the same quandary as the Big East's orphaned programs.

"Oklahoma plays a leadership role in our conference, like they always have, and we respect our colleagues there and certainly hope they will continue to look at the viability and strengths of our league," Kansas State athletic director John Currie said.

The movement toward megaconferences has centered around leveraging billion-dollar television contracts at the expense of traditional rivalries and simpler logistics. The Big Ten showed everyone the potential with a first-of-its-kind conference network, and the Pac-12 also turned its increased membership into a big-time TV deal.

The ACC is following suit with its move to 14 teams, while the Big 12 is finding out its $1.2 billion deal apparently didn't go far enough because it left a loophole allowing the creation of the Longhorn Network through a 20-year, $300 million agreement between Texas and ESPN.

That played a large role in Texas A&M's decision to leave that does not share revenue equally among its members. It's move to the SEC is on hold because of the threat of lawsuits by Big 12 members including Baylor. Several influential Baylor alumni and University of Texas benefactor B.J. "Red" McCombs took out full-page ads in Texas newspapers Sunday suggesting the Big 12 is "a conference not only worth fighting for, it's worth waging peace for."

"I'd say the Aggies need to sit down and work out their problems," said Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens, emphasizing that he doesn't speak for the school. "I think Texas is the real problem in the conference. They have a different deal than everybody else's. I think it's going to have to be equal.

"So, the problems I see are in the conference, and they need to be resolved or every year you're going to have another brouhaha and have problems. So, get it fixed."

The ACC seemed to cement its future together by not only adding members but increasing the exit penalty to $20 million. The Big East's exit fee is only $5 million, but schools wanting to leave are supposed to provide 27 months' notice.

By then, the shifts in college athletics could touch every school from the BCS level on down. Connecticut and Rutgers are among the schools already being mentioned if the ACC expands again, and commissioner John Swofford said the league is "not philosophically opposed to 16" members.

And the leftover teams in the Big East -- and potentially, the Big 12 -- will need to find new dance partners to keep their status as BCS automatic qualifiers, if that system even survives.

"I can say that in all my years of collegiate athletics administration, I've never seen this level of uncertainty and potential fluidity in schools and conferences," Swofford said. "Schools, they're looking for stability, and when that stability doesn't exist, for whatever reason, as long as that's going on, I think the conferences that appear to be stable moving forward are going to receive inquiries from schools that are desirous of having that kind of stability."

Information from ESPN.com college football reporter Joe Schad, ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz, SoonerNation's Jake Trotter, ESPNDallas.com's Jeff Caplan and The Associated Press was used in this report.

I don't like the idea of a superconference.

[TBoneTX 47,533]

I don't like the idea of a superconference.

Nor do I, no man.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Nor do I, no man.

This is getting silly, Texas should join Harvard and Yale in the Ivy, man!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Die hard Husky fan since they were in the Pac 8...before the Arizona schools joined. I would like to see OU and OSU join...but no UT (Texas). That stupid Longhorn Network gives UT an advantage in recruiting, not to mention it's a Pac 12 requirement that all schools in the conference must share all revenues evenly among all the schools. UT isn't about to do this seeing how they just signed that fat contract with ESPN. The Pac 12 is better off with no UT imo. Bring OU an OSU!

[luckytxn 2,265]

Poor Texas

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Poor Texas

It will be "poor Texas" if they don't have a conference. Nobody wants them so they might as well go independent like Notre Dame. I remember when the Southwest Conference imploded and Arkansas ended up in the SEC.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Understand. Texas would tend to dominate everyone in any conference they go to.

[B_J 2,752]

It will be "poor Texas" if they don't have a conference. Nobody wants them so they might as well go independent like Notre Dame. I remember when the Southwest Conference imploded and Arkansas ended up in the SEC.

It is not true that nobody wants Texas. You could say nobody likes Texas, you could say nobody wants the Longhorn Network, you could say other fans don't want Texas; but every conference would love to have Texas.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Understand. Texas would tend to dominate everyone in any conference they go to.

OU and Nebraska both have more national titles than Texas.

It is not true that nobody wants Texas. You could say nobody likes Texas, you could say nobody wants the Longhorn Network, you could say other fans don't want Texas; but every conference would love to have Texas.

The Pac 12 already laid down the rules for UT officials last week in regards to the "Longhorn Network". Unlike the Big 12, the Pac 12 is a real conference where all the schools share the revenue evenly. The Pac 12 has won more NCAA Championships than any other conference not to mention the graduation rate in the Pac 12 is light years ahead of the Big 12 and SEC.

UT is a cancer.

[The_Dude 1,142]

OU and Nebraska both have more national titles than Texas.

The Pac 12 already laid down the rules for UT officials last week in regards to the "Longhorn Network". Unlike the Big 12, the Pac 12 is a real conference where all the schools share the revenue evenly. The Pac 12 has won more NCAA Championships than any other conference not to mention the graduation rate in the Pac 12 is light years ahead of the Big 12 and SEC.

UT is a cancer.

And who leads the way with most of those championships? LOL. I liked the idea when they were initially talking about OU and UT joining the Pac-12 instead of Utah and Colorado. But I see that the conference has already acquiesced to UT on their network, so i'm not so keen anymore. I don't see UT having their own network as any massive advantage. USC has the biggest advantage of them all, yet I don't hear calls for their downfall.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

And who leads the way with most of those championships? LOL. I liked the idea when they were initially talking about OU and UT joining the Pac-12 instead of Utah and Colorado. But I see that the conference has already acquiesced to UT on their network, so i'm not so keen anymore. I don't see UT having their own network as any massive advantage. USC has the biggest advantage of them all, yet I don't hear calls for their downfall.

I'm not sure how USC counts...their still on probation for NCAA violations. Someone should have told USC that cheaters never prosper. The University of Washington brings in more revenue than USC...but in the Pac 12 one for all, and all for one. Share and share alike. It doesn't matter if USC or UCLA bring in tens of millions of dollars..they share that revenue with all the members of the conference. Southern schools can't grasp that fact and it's what killed the Big 12 along with the Southwest Conference.

As far as Texas is concerned that Longhorn Network violates Pac 12 rules and regs. That network host Texas high school football games and gives Texas an advantage in recruiting. A lot of schools nation wide recruit out of Texas. UT would not only have to stop hosting those games on it's network, it would have to share all that revenue it got from ESPN with all the other conference members. Seeing how they didn't do that in the Big 12, I highly doubt they will do it in the Pac 12...hence the chances of UT joining the Pac 12 are slim.

NP...who the fck wants to see a Huskie game and here that "hook em horns" all day long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longhorn_Network

Longhorn Network

[The_Dude 1,142]

I'm not sure how USC counts...their still on probation for NCAA violations. Someone should have told USC that cheaters never prosper. The University of Washington brings in more revenue than USC...but in the Pac 12 one for all, and all for one. Share and share alike. It doesn't matter if USC or UCLA bring in tens of millions of dollars..they share that revenue with all the members of the conference. Southern schools can't grasp that fact and it's what killed the Big 12 along with the Southwest Conference.

As far as Texas is concerned that Longhorn Network violates Pac 12 rules and regs. That network host Texas high school football games and gives Texas an advantage in recruiting. A lot of schools nation wide recruit out of Texas. UT would not only have to stop hosting those games on it's network, it would have to share all that revenue it got from ESPN with all the other conference members. Seeing how they didn't do that in the Big 12, I highly doubt they will do it in the Pac 12...hence the chances of UT joining the Pac 12 are slim.

NP...who the fck wants to see a Huskie game and here that "hook em horns" all day long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longhorn_Network

Longhorn Network

UW brings more money to the conference? Care to substantiate that? USC didn't cheat, and to be honest, this shows the supreme hipocracy of the NCAA. USC didn't cheat, Reggie Bush too some money. You can strip him, and that USC team of whatever you want, but the video is still out there, and they dominated on the field. If Bush had been found to have taken steroids, like OU has been found to have done widespread in the 70's and 80's, then by all means, take it all away, that is an unfair advantage. The NCAA just got butthurt cause Reggie Bush gave them the finger and didn't cooperate. Ohio State's infractions were worse, yet they get a little slap on the wrist. Oh well, thats how things go in the NCAA.

At the end of the day, the Pac-12 want to be THE conference. What they are willing to concede to UT, OU, OSU, and TT remains to be seen. I hope they won't sell out the rest of the conference to lure them away from the SEC.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

UW brings more money to the conference? Care to substantiate that? USC didn't cheat, and to be honest, this shows the supreme hipocracy of the NCAA. USC didn't cheat, Reggie Bush too some money. You can strip him, and that USC team of whatever you want, but the video is still out there, and they dominated on the field. If Bush had been found to have taken steroids, like OU has been found to have done widespread in the 70's and 80's, then by all means, take it all away, that is an unfair advantage. The NCAA just got butthurt cause Reggie Bush gave them the finger and didn't cooperate. Ohio State's infractions were worse, yet they get a little slap on the wrist. Oh well, thats how things go in the NCAA.

At the end of the day, the Pac-12 want to be THE conference. What they are willing to concede to UT, OU, OSU, and TT remains to be seen. I hope they won't sell out the rest of the conference to lure them away from the SEC.

The UW is the second largest school in the Pac 12 next to UCLA, then UW, then Cal Berkley. UW was #1 in revenue for years from sports memorabilia to ticket sales. That's counting all sports, not just football.

As far as USC goes...yes the got screwed royal. If you look at OSU and Miami...two schools that rewrote the book on how to break NCAA rules yet all they got was a slap on the wrist while USC got the death penalty...it's pure bs and prejudiced against the west coast.

I don't think the Pac 12 will concede anything to UT. That's the beautiful thing about the Pac 12...a rule is a rule and those rules apply for all conference members, not just a chosen few.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Why_Me

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Understand. Texas would tend to dominate everyone in any conference they go to.

The Ivy league seems a natural fit. :rofl:

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-conferencerealignment

Pac-12 says no further expansion