The latest from Austin on re-alignment
Jun 14, 2010, 10:07 AM | Updated: Apr 4, 2011, 7:52 pm
by Mike Salk
Just got off the phone with my buddy in Texas (Chad Hastings from ESPN Radio in Austin) and here is the latest on expansion from their point of view:
-Big XII Commissioner Dan Beebe is making his best push to Texas to convince them to stay. He is saying that with only ten mouths to feed instead of twelve, that profits could allow for some $17 million into Texas’s pockets. But do his numbers add up? Hard to see how playing schools like Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State put enough eyeballs onto the TV sets.
-The real thing Beebe is offering Texas is the ability to create its own network. Not a Big XII network, more of a personal “Burnt Orange” network for Texas alone. The Pac 10 has nixed that idea which is appealing to the Longhorns. So, could this all be positioning?
-The real catalyst now might actually be Texas A&M. The Aggies have already declined the Pac 10’s offer and have yet to officially accept the offer on the table from the SEC. But the A&M Board of Regents took an unofficial straw poll vote in which they had enough votes to bolt to the SEC. If they were to bolt, how could the Big XII stay viable? That might be the straw the pushes Texas west…
So…..
What does this all mean? If I had to guess, I still think the four schools (TX, TX Tech, OK, OK ST) will all join the Pac 10 with one other school included (either Kansas or Utah). I think the A&M deal will be the final push everyone needs and I don’t believe a Big XII media deal could challenge what an expanded Pac 10 could offer. But this thing is changing seemingly by the minute as everyone jockeys for leverage and the best deal.
Chad Hastings will join us at 12:30 as our insider from Austin.
