E-mailed 8/11/11
Alright, here is what happened for those out of the loop:
(1) "When did this all start up again?" you ask. Yesterday Rick Perry, Gov of TX, and as of this coming Saturday, Presidential Candidate, admits to TX newspaper that A&M is "in talks" with representatives from SEC. Perry supports the move as he's an A&M grad and former yell leader. He's slated to be in Birmingham, site of SEC headquarters, on Friday.
(2) "Where did A&M's disgust and wandering eyes come from?" you ask. Well, being the dicks they are, the Longhorns had announced a few weeks ago that they would be showing high school games on the Longhorn Network, a third tier television network that they set up with ESPN to get them more revenue. So now on top of getting more revenue, they're also getting a clear recruiting edge (at least in the state of Texas) as they can feature high schools games of potential Longhorn recruits. The other Big 12 minus 2 schools vocally upset with Texas' decision about HS football games: Missouri and Oklahoma.
(3) "The SEC, seriously? Why is A&M interested in the SEC?" you ask. One of their former coaches, Gene Stallings, his familiar with the SEC from his days roaming the sidelines at bbbbbbbbbbbb-bama. The also hate Arkansas and consider them a rival from their days together in the old Southwest Conference. Ah, the Southwest Conference. Unfamiliar with it? Well, it went bankrupt and was saved by the Big 8. But I digress. But while we are on the topic of Arkansas, who also hates them? Missouri. Short, clear and to the point article here <http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/31254098>.
(4) "I thought all of this was settled this summer when Dan "Mr. Longhorn" Beebe got a big, long contract extension for himself as Big 12 minus 2 commissioner and renegotiated the Big 12 minus 2's TV contracts to get our 10 teams more dollars and more TV exposure?" you say. Well, there are shades of truth in that. First, someone did manage to give him a large contact and big extension to preside over the shell of a league that once was. Talk about rewarding bad behavior. "You almost dissolved the company...you sound like just the man to lead the scraps that were left behind!" Lots of great logic there. In terms of the renegotiated TV deal, yes that happened. Before the negotiations he promised, in writing, around 23 million a year to three teams to keep in the the Big 12 minus 2: Texas, Oklahoma, and A&M. Payouts in old Big 12 were around 14 million per team. The rest of the league got nervous about the great dollars given to the three schools, but after the dust settled the new contracts equated to only around a $5-8 million dollar spread between the average Big 12 minus 2 team and the top Big 12 minus 2 team. Don't give Bebee credit...the networks and NCAA officials came to him in order keep a power conference on the landscape and not to have three 16 team power conferences. For a while, everything was quiet, but that didn't mean everyone was happy. Most unhappy was A&M and the Longhorn network announcement was the last straw.
(5) "Rick Perry is an asshat and doesn't know what he is talking about! No way A&M leaves." you say. Well, yes, he is an asshat and might realistically capture the Republican nomination for President, but he managed to say publicly yesterday what has actually been talked about for weeks. When the A&M President says they are exploring their options, odds are, they are exploring their options. As of right now the TX Gov Office, ESPN, CBS Sportsline, and The Dallas Morning News, and the TX Statesman are all reporting the talks as serious. What is our fearless leader, the man we gave lots of money to because of his great leadership skills saying about all of this? Dan "Mr. Longhorn" Beebe says: "He's taking it very seriously." And adds, "Just another summer in the Big 12 <http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/31608/big-12-legitimacy-reliant-on-aggies-decision>."
(6) "Whoa there, didn't Mr. Longhorn announce upon securing the new TV contracts that there would be huge--HUGE--penalties if teams left?" you say. He did announce that. Unfortunately, like most things he says, its just not true. As it states in the link in #5, the exit fees are the same as they were for Colorado and Nebraska and that didn't stop them from leaving, or their conferences from paying them money to help soften the blow.
(7) "Ok, so this happens...what then? Are we the Big 12 minus 3?" you say. Well...interesting question. CBS Sportsline says Mizzou goes with them <http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/31254098>. The Statesman says that the league will function with 9 teams <http://www.statesman.com/sports/collegefootball/big-12-taking-talk-of-am-move-to-1724657.html>.
(8) "Is is a good move for A&M?" you ask? No, says this guy <http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/31256324>. The telling line: "A&M thinks they've got a trump card for their rival. They better be careful what they're wishing for or the Aggies might be the ones being trumped." In other words, Texas A&M hasn't had the talent to consistently compete in the Big 12, no way it has the talent to compete in the SEC.
(9) "Why is the SEC even interested in A&M you ask?" you ask. Markets and recruiting. TV-wise it opens up the Texas market and allows SEC coaches to tell recruits that they'll get a chance to play a game in their home state. That's why Missouri is even being discussed in the SEC picture--it opens up the St. Louis and KC television markets.
(10) "I really could give two shits about the SEC or Texas A&M, what the hell does this mean for Mizzou?" you say. Well, it means lots. If the Big 12 minus 2 transforms to the Big 12 minus 3, the league loses its position as an automatic BCS Conference (10 team minimum). Even if the rest of the teams in the "conference" (term used loosely) were to get A&M's share of the TV revenue, it means there is one less good team in the conference. At that point it could go either way--the "conference" could stay together or it could dissolve. I don't know what out clauses ESPN has in its Longhorn Network contract, but having Texas in a non-BCS auto qualifier is an issue. So is our obligation to put a good game every week on national television under the new TV contract stipulations. I think the best bet to keep the league would be to add one member to replace A&M. BYU is the obvious choice and we'd clearly let them have their own network. I just don't think they would bite. If Notre Dame won't join the Big 10, they sure won't join a conference named the Big 12 minus 2. That would leave...Louisville...which ain't quite A&M. Yikes.
(11) "So what's the big deal, Mizzou will just join the SEC. Problem solved." you say. Well, besides probably ensuring that the Bigelow's get a divorce, a move like that would put us in a much better football conference, a horribly worse basketball conference, and...it just doesn't quite feel right. In the SEC either you wear dress shirts and ties to games or jorts. While you can certainly find your share of jorts in the stands of Memorial Stadium, I just don't know that we're that southern. It also means our main recruiting pipeline--Dallas and surrounding areas--will most likely dry up even if we get scheduled with A&M each year. It also mans, at least in the short team, we get our asses handed to us most every Saturday we are on the road (as painful as that is for me to admit). Big 10--that was a fit. SEC, I just think it would be a shotgun wedding. Sure, there could be a lot of hope and promise to it, but it just seems to be thrown together awful fast.
In other news...Sheldon Richardson is eligible to join the Tigers <http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/article_0fd6f3b6-03e2-5e0a-880b-0219695b8007.html> ending a multi-year struggle to get him eligible and committed. It means our defense, ranked #10 nationally in most pre-season polls, could have just actually gotten better. Fall camp seems to be going well and fast--and in our players are really fast. The only question seems to be: who will back up Franklin <http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/article_2d04061a-4b99-569d-8673-0d7a69fbb6f9.html>? Well, our biggest recruit at QB (we had several this year--Pinkel likes to keep about 12 of them around at all times it seems like) this past year was Corbin Berkstresser. He was supposed to red-shirt this year and is officially listed as #4 on the depth chart, but all of that seems to be smoke and mirrors. He's rooming with Franklin, Franklin is his officially designated "big brother," and he's been getting nearly all of the reps with the second string offense. Says OC Yost: "I don't know if at this point when Chase (Daniel) was a freshman … if he was actually up that far. … It's been a little bit faster for Corbin that way." Chase Daniel, back-up NFL quarter back and eventual replacement for Drew Brees <http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2011/08/backup_qb_chase_daniel_nips_at.html>. Says Franklin of Berkstresser: "He's more of a true quarterback than I am," Franklin said, adding, "There's things that I'm trying to learn from him and take from him because there are a lot of things that he does that I like." That's either really bad news, or really good news.
More information as it develops, or not. We likely won't hear much of anything until A&M either signs a deal or announces it didn't sign a deal or the SEC announces its not expanding.
For Mizzou,
Doug
No comments:
Post a Comment