(07-31-2018 01:58 PM)P5PACSEC Wrote:  

(07-13-2018 12:26 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(07-13-2018 11:07 AM)OdinFrigg Wrote:  My expectation is that Texas and Oklahoma will end up in different conferences, whether just one moves or both. Before the B12 creation, they were in separate conferences and had already played the RRR ongoing for many years.

The SEC has been flexible in accommodating traditional OOCs. Not sure all the P4 with increased in-conference game requirements and related scheduling demands shall choose to be eager to let certain OCCs take some priority.

The problem for Oklahoma is that if they don't move with Texas then they must move with Oklahoma State in order to maintain the RRR. This would tend to put any move by Oklahoma on some restrictive footing. Only the PAC and SEC could accommodate the Pokes and Sooners. Of those only the SEC would be a step up in revenue. So I like our chances. The question then becomes essentially the same for Texas. Outside of the Big 12 where can they go and have at least 2 instate rivals with them, and play old rivals? And as conferences grow those OOC slots are now down to 3.

This is why an offer by the SEC to both Texas and Oklahoma that included OSU and Tech would be overwhelming enticing. Texas would regain Arkansas and A&M and would play OU in division as well as Tech. And then they would still have 3 OOC games they could use to schedule T.C.U., Baylor, Rice, or S.M.U. if that is what they desired.

So as much as they like to play the role of academic snob, and as much as they like to stick it to us with remarks, should they choose to head elsewhere they are literally cutting their noses off to spite their face where their sports are concerned.

This is why Oklahoma and Oklahoma State represent the best possible move by the SEC. It locks us into an economic category that would only have one rival among the P4, and it positions us for acquiring properties and branding that could make us preeminent. Where else in the SEC do we have 5 schools that command 32 million potential viewers? Only in the SEC east. But even there we don't exactly monopolize those markets. Florida is split, South Carolina is split, Tennessee and Georgia are firmly SEC and Kentucky is relatively SEC.

In Texas and Oklahoma having the 5 top state schools is essentially a monopoly.

I think UT, Tech, OU and Oklahoma St could be a financial windfall for those 4 schools. Tech basketball went to the Elite 8 in 2018 and the baseball team made the 2018 College World Series for the 3rd time in 5 years. I could only imagine the excitement with SEC schools coming to Lubbock for top 10 baseball match ups.

I think if Texas and Oklahoma pitched it that the SEC would be hard pressed to turn it down and that ESPN, while reluctant to have that much leverage in the hands of one conference, would go for it to lock down the Horns and Sooners and scoop that ad revenue.

I've always thought that as a business move it would be practical, and that from a scheduling standpoint it made even more sense.

If we did it I think we should push for a 3 division set up. Right now I believe that both the ACC and Big 10 would go along with that kind of latitude for internal structure.

Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech

Alabama, Auburn, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas A&M

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

In that set up Arkansas only enhances the regional value of that division. Nothing else changes much except that there will only be 5 divisional games.