First of all just let me say that if A&M wishes to go to the SEC good for them; however, it reminds me of the old proverb (some folks say Chinese but my Grandfather used to say it and he wasn’t even close to Chinese). “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!” In other words, if history is any clue, look out because the move to the SEC was hardly what Arkansas thought it would be.
But with the departure of A&M, what the Big 12 may need to do is look to go bigger, not smaller, or back to twelve. Let’s be proactive in this mess and create the first BCS super-conference. Of course with the current leadership decisions the Big 12 has made, I am not sure they are well equipped to handle this subject, but I’ll make my proposal anyway.
Here it goes!!
So A&M leaves and the Big 12 goes to nine (9) teams so they’ll need seven (7) more to reach the super-conference level. Of course Television markets are always important so let’s look at where a sample of the Big-12’s current markets sit. With our current members we have the following:
31 – Kansas City
45 – Oklahoma City
49 – Austin
88 – Iowa (I think the list has every major Iowa town on it)
94 – Waco-Temple-Bryan
143 – Lubbock
Not looking all that impressive, but before you say it, yes I know we pull a lot from Dallas and Houston, but that’s not where the home of our schools are. So now let’s take a look at my suggestions, and remember, these are just my suggestions and they’re only offered as a good natured look at the subject; so all you haters out there keep your comments to yourselves.
First off most Big 12 schools not in Texas want to keep the number of Texas schools somewhere less than the Non-Texas Schools so we’ll only include three new Texas additions to keep that point of view in mind. I’ll list the additions in regards to their Television markets (Texas teams first so as not to confuse anyone).
SMU – Sits soundly in the No. 5 TV market in the country and has already been harping about joining.
U of H – The No. 10 Houston TV Market would help solidify the conferences foothold on Houston.
UTSA – Yes I know they’re only in their first season of football but they had 50,000 plus at their first game, they play in the Alamodome, and they are located in the No. 37 TV Market in the Country. Plus they’re the Roadrunners – Awesome Mascot!!
Air Force – Regains a foothold into Colorado, they play in the 91 ranked TV market but are just south of the 18th TV market in Denver. Plus it’s always good to have a service academy in your conference.
Memphis – Great basketball, improving football, and the No. 48 TV Market helps hold the Missouri Valley Region with the Kansas schools and Missouri. And on the up-side, an occasional trip to Beale Street is always a good reason to travel to Memphis.
Tulane – Yes Tulane; I know they’re probably not what most people have in mind but they live in the No. 53 TV market, play their home games in the Superdome, and let’s face it, wouldn’t we all like the occasionally road trip to New Orleans every couple of years – YEAH!!!!
BYU – While the TV markets they are located in are relatively small compared to the rest, they already have their own television network and bring a prestige with them from the west that nicely compliments bringing in the Air Force Academy and is a major improvement to what we had out west before!!
NOTE: For you TCU fans out there, I would love to have TCU in the conference; however, unless TCU’s plans have transformed and they have changed their opinions of the Big 12, they made it clear last year they were not interested in being in the conference and wanted to move to the Big East. But if that has changed, I would highly recommend finding a way to bring them in also.
Well there you have it. These are my recommendations, of course they will probably go no further than this blog, but they’re fun to look at and think about. Who knows, maybe some of these teams will get the chance to play in the Big 12.
Sure would like the trip to New Orleans!!
Bill
