Just when you think all the talk has quieted about conference realignment in college athletics, another story pops up. Over there, here, everywhere. With mainstream journalism, social media and access to all sorts of sports news 24/7, it is no wonder that the college sports world seems to be in a constant state of flux.
I don’t know about you, but I was settling into the 10-team Big 12 Conference set-up. Every school is dividing up money, lots of it, too. Would adding a couple more schools provide that much more money? I doubt it.
Texas’ annual revenue is estimated at more than $175 million with Kansas trying to reach $100 million and Kansas State is a little less. Texas’ sports take is rated No. 1 among all schools. That’s revenue only, mind you, not endowments.
Missouri fans brag all the time about how much money the school’s athletic department is making with the move to the SEC. Well, Mizzou is taking in about the same as KU.
So, why all this discussion about revamping? Television, of course. More games for viewing. More money off ads. Then there’s the Pillsbury Doughboy, former U.S. Senator David Boren and now Oklahoma University president; no sooner had news of the Big 12’s win on deregulation of conference championship games broken when Boren told the Tulsa World the conference needed to expand by two schools and the Longhorn Network should be folded into a Big 12 Network. With a new president and athletic director at Texas and its football team in the dumps the last few season, a conference observer asked, is Boren trying to grab more power?
Oh the Big 12 should have the woes of the Western Athletic Conference in general and the University of Missouri at Kansas City in particular. The WAC is a joke. The conference lineup: UMKC, Grand Canyon, Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico State, Chicago State and Seattle University.
Some real chances to develop a rivalry, huh. It’s a wonderful conference if you want to go sight-seeing — and Seattle’s city market is worth the trip. But Las Cruces — I spent one night and six days there once.
Sadly, the Roos can’t even win in this conference, posting a 9-15 record in basketball this season. Officials have fixed up the Municipal Auditorium with seat backs and all, but it certainly lacks a college atmosphere and setting. The Roos simply can’t draw downtown. The bad news is, an adequate on-campus fieldhouse appears unworkable. For one thing, there’s no space.
Kareem Richardson was supposed to be some hot-shot coach. So far, not! Only four players from the Kansas City area are listed on the roster and Martez Harrison is the only one to see much action. You gotta recruit local players to have a chance to market this team. And then it is questionable about how much interest can be generated.
Maybe realignment? With mid-major type basketball schools? Now, there you go. Well, maybe you could call it the City League: Kansas City, Chicago State, St. Louis, Denver, Omaha, Little Rock and Oklahoma City. Tulsa and Memphis play football and Wichita is just too well developed as a basketball school for now. Oklahoma City? Yeah, it’s NAIA now, but this used to be a good big school team under the coaching of Abe Lemons. Hey, I’m just trying to come up with something to build interest. ‘Cause it ain’t happin’ now.
Okay, enough, back to the Big 12.
So, you want a football playoff, huh. You lust after additional TV money. How would you set up expansion? Right now, with the 10 teams playing each other in conference action, what’s the draw of a conference championship game! Forgot, more money.
The Big 12, as I have noted often, already missed its chances for a much better expansion plan — instead of adding West Virginia and TCU. (Do you see all those empty seats at the their basketball games?) The conference officials should have gone after Cincinnati and Louisville, adding good media markets and decent athletic programs.
If they truly want to expand to 12 now, why not give these two an offer this time? Yes, contractual matters play a role and they probably would have to pay penalties for leaving their current leagues, Cincy in the American Athletic Conference and Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Memphis would be a possible addition with improved football. BYU and Colorado State have drawn mention but those moves would be silly — BYU won’t play on Sunday and adds a more distant venue and Colorado State isn’t any big deal in prestige or media attention.
While I’m dreaming, go with me into la-la land. A mystic cloud forms and bolts of lightning appear. With Carlos Santana plunking a guitar and Gregg Rolie singing Black Magic Woman. Yeah, that sets the mood as Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas metamorphose into Big 12 teams and West Virginia into a coal mine.
Can Missouri really be all that happy in the SEC, traveling to Athens, Georgia, and Stark, Mississippi? Would Arkansas love a chance to play more natural foes like Oklahoma State and Oklahoma? Is Nebraska still angry with perceived bully tactics by Texas?
Listen to Missouri fans now in Kansas City and they seem disheartened with the SEC tie. They just can’t get all worked up with games against SEC teams. Losing contributes to the malaise but all those empty seats at basketball games point to some other intrinsic problems. They miss the rivalries.
Just think of the sweetness with a Big 12 revamp including Mizzou, Arkansas and Nebraska. Now we’re talkin’.
You’re right. Ain’t gonna happen. But believe me, that would be some league. The conference divisions: East, Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Kansas State; West, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Texas. That would allow the state schools to maintain their long-time rivalries and redevelop the MU-KU border war. The schedule, with 12 teams, would have to cut back on all the schools playing each other in football. In basketball, they could continue the round-robin.
Discussion about reorganization will continue on and on ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
The Power Five conferences, Big 12, Pac 12, Big Ten, ACC and SEC, will keep up the drum beat for more oversight in the NCAA. Big TV will want more chances to make more money. It is what it is.