more *rumors* – pac16?

[UtahFootballGM]

stay tuned. 

[UtahFootballGM]

As an addendum to this, BYU might want to dust off their old pitch deck… 

[dystopiamembrane]

Who?

[UtahFootballGM]

TT, KU, Cincinatti, ISU, OSU, Houston

[Central Coast Ute]

Not a bad list although I thought TCU had a better shot than TTU. Probably had to do with academics over market size.

[2008 National Champ]

None of those schools are parochial. That has always been assumed to be the main deterrent for Pac membership.

[Central Coast Ute]

TCU isn’t parochial

[dystopiamembrane]

I believe that @cptmrgn05 means religious institution, @flip2848.

[Central Coast Ute]

I figured. But they’re really not affiliated with the Desiples of Christ church anymore. They just haven’t changed their name.

[dystopiamembrane]

I am sure you are correct. I do find this quote on their Mission & History page, however.

TCU is the largest of 21 institutions associated by an ongoing covenant with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). A protestant denomination with Presbyterian and Baptist roots, the Disciples’ vision statement speaks of “true community, deep Christian spirituality and a passion for justice.”

[krindor]

Honestly, even if that happened, BYU wouldn’t be pitching themselves to anyone.  The Big 12 would still be more likely to backfill than to disband – same story as what the Big East did when they shot out invites to more and more non-AQ teams.

Memphis, Boise, SMU, USF, San Diego St and UNLV (or CSU) would just come in. Honestly, the perception would take a huge hit and Oklahoma St would be a big loss, but I’m not completely convinced the 6 I listed would be much worse long term (if they can survive initially).  SMU, USF, SDSU, UNLV are all huge markets; Memphis, Boise, SMU, SDSU have all been pretty strong on the field.

[Rick]

Some of these schools while in huge media markets do not get hardly any of the eyeballs in the market.  Hardly anyone one in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area gives a crap about SMU.  Vegas is a transplant market that doesn’t give UNLV the time of day.  Same with SDSU.  Not a huge draw.  

[prestitute]

No one in Vegas cares about UNLV because they play at a low level. LV has a HUGE support group and growing local base. That is why the Raiders and Knights will flourish there. The As may be down there next. 

[krindor]

Do people in Houston get really into the University of Houston? No, they’re the 2nd or 3rd most popular team in their city behind UT-Austin and sometimes Texas A&M.

Does Texas Tech extend interest much beyond Lubbock? Not really, I live an hour north and they’re the 2nd or 3rd most popular team there, again behind UT-Austin and sometimes Oklahoma.

Cincinnati is neither a large market, nor the most popular team there. Actually, they don’t even come in top 3 in their own city. It’s Ohio St, then Kentucky and then either Notre Dame or Michigan depending on zip code (source only lists the top 3)

I’m not arguing that SMU, USF etc are grand-slam choices… but that the dropoff (with the exception of Oklahoma St) isn’t that terrible.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Actually, in Houston, Texas A&M is a bigger program than Texas.  Houston has long been an “Aggie” town.  Texas comes in 2nd, and 3rd place goes to LSU and Texas Tech.

You’re right about the University of Houston though.  They don’t get much of the “Houston” DMA.  I went to high school my junior and senior year down there in South Texas, and can tell you that UT and A&M are the big dogs, and Tech is everybody’s “safety school”.  Houston beats out schools like Rice, UTEP, UTSA, Tex St, and N Tex, but I saw more kids interested in going to TCU and SMU than Houston.

You are wrong about Texas Tech though.  They have the 3rd highest fanbase in the state.  They’re not just relegated to West Texas and the Panhandle.  Dallas has an enormous “Tech” following, and San Antonio has a decent sized audience as well.

[krindor]

Yeah, I’m from Amarillo and Tech isn’t really huge there, but I’ve gathered from others that this might be due more to a weird Amarillo/Lubbock rivalry thing and be less reflective of Tech’s status elsewhere in the state

[PhiladelphiaUte]

You can follow this link to AltimoreCollins 32-pg report detailing each school’s estimated fanbase size.  You’ll see that Texas Tech is no slouch down there in the Lone Star state.

Tex:  7.8M

Tx A&M:  3.9M

Tx Tech:  1.7M

TCU:  800K

Bylr:  570K

Hou:  470K

UTSA:  240K

SMU:  190K

UTEP:  170K

N Tex:  140K

Rice:  90K

Tex St:  60K

[Central Coast Ute]

Don’t forget that it’s all about what ESPN is willing to pay. Any invites will already be done by ESPN before its made official. Market size and what we think people are willing to pay to watch don’t really matter. It’s what the networks want and I guarantee they’ve done their homework.

[prestitute]

I would like this, but I think there is another configuration that makes more sense: 
OSU, KU, TT, UH, Baylor, TCU. 
Basically all the Texas schools. KU is a Basketball and Academic fit, OSU and the oil money, relative success and brand make them a no Brainer. 

This gives the 2nd strongest footing in Texas behind the SEC, including smaller growing markets and keeps the west locked down pretty well. If we then go to 20 or 24, we would likely think UNLV, SDSU to steal what we can on the fringe of the LA markets. If to 24, then try to grab UCF, USF, Cincy, WVU, ISU, and maybe CSU.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Cincinnati?  Pass.  Good program, but too far.

Kansas?  Pass.  Bad [football] program.  Their basketball program is top notch, but their fanbase is even smaller than ybU’s.

Houston?  Meh.  Not a bad program, and they meet the Pac-12’s research requirement, but I’d rather have Baylor — another Texas team that meets our Tier-1 Research provision.  Plus Baylor has the larger fanbase, and the better football program.

Texas Tech and Oklahoma St?  Yeah.  I could go along with that.

Iowa St?  Meh.  I like them better than Houston, but I could take it or leave it.

[Waybackutefan]

I hear this guy is your source:

[DrahtUte]

I’m all for calling out trolls but let’s not imply ridiculous things like Bigfoot not being real. 

[Waybackutefan]

I know I know, I’ve already been taken to task by this lady:

[Tony (admin)]

Much love to Nessie. 

[DrahtUte]

Maybe we compromise and say the OP’s source was something we can all agree definitely doesn’t exist?

Such as, maybe it was a BYU grad that can grow a full beard?

Or, maybe it was a someone training for a marathon who doesn’t tell you in the first 30 seconds of meeting them that they’re training for a marathon?

[Ute2]

I dunno Wayback… there’s a lot of smoke today… butterball Jones is back indicating something big and he’s proved, dare I say, credible. And what do you make of Bill Riley’s tweet today about distances between big 12 schools.

[Central Coast Ute]

A BYU fan in Butterball’s tweet thread, said he heard its UO and Utah to the BIG at USC’s request. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Whatever the announcement is, expect it to be delayed due to the UO player passing. It’s not a good time for celebrating.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Correct you are Central Coast Ute.  If USC were really that adamant that UO and UU were to come to the BigTen too, they would have made this known BEFORE they’d signed on to joining them.

The most plausible scenario that I’d heard is that the BigTen is done expanding until Notre Dame decides what they want to do.  And if the Irish want to join, they’d already called out “Stanford” as their preferred Pac-12 team.  The BigTen would invite Eastern Kentucky if that’s what it would take to land the Irish, so if ND says, “Stanford”, then “Stanford” it is.  And that means it’ll be UO and SU; not UO and UU.

I’m not saying that I don’t want to see Utah going to the BigTen, nor am I saying we have no shot.  I’m just saying we’re a bit lower on the pecking order to get there.  If the BigTen wants to add two more teams, we’re out.  If they want to add four more, THEN our chances are good.

Just my opinion.

[Central Coast Ute]

I like hearing any rumors just to see what people are saying or thinking. If you’re not going to tell us where you heard the rumors, tell us the additional 6 teams being added.

The only markets that move the needle that I could see the PAC adding is Houston and Dallas-Ft. Worth. So you’d have to convince UH and TCU/SMU to the BIG 12, which I think is doable. San Diego is also on the board and although they’re in SoCal, it’s only something like the 28th best market. Which isn’t horrible, but it doesn’t increase your payout per school really.

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