B1G to Target Texas, Oklahoma when Big XII GOR Expires

If it goes to 16 teams, it should be a Pod system

  • Four 4-team Pods
  • Play your Pod every year (those three teams home-and-home every two years)
  • Play one other Pod every year (every other team every three years, home-and-home every six years)
  • "Protected" games each year to preserve rivalries while balancing pods
  • The team with the best record within each year's paired Pods goes to the CCG

At first I wanted to play half of a third Pod each year instead of the protected games (so you would play every team at least every-other year) but I think it would be too hard to keep all the rivalries so there would be too much push-back.  I'd have to dig a little deeper to see if you could get that to work within the Pods.

East Pod: Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland

North Pod: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern

West Pod: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois

South Pod: Texas, Oklahoma, Purdue, Indiana

Protected - Scheduled in years where the Pods weren't already playing each other (red=always, black=if possible, trophy game not preserved)

Illinois - Northwestern, Purdue, Ohio State

Indiana - Michigan State, 

Iowa - Minnesota, 

Maryland - 

Michigan - Ohio State, 

Michigan State - Indiana, Penn State, Rutgers

Minnesota - Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, Nebraska

Nebraska -  Oklahoma, Minnesota

Northwestern - Illinois, 

Ohio State - Michigan, Illinois

Oklahoma - Nebraska, 

Penn State - Michigan State, Minnesota

Purdue - Illinois, 

Rutgers - Michigan State

Texas - 

Wisconsin - Minnesota, 

Trophy Games not guaranteed - Illinois/Ohio State, Minnesota/Penn State, Nebraska/Minnesota, Michigan State/Rutgers

 
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 As much as I hate UT, it would be nice to have a game close games again. I made it to a lot more games when we came down to Texas frequently.  The pod would be the best system as Mavric said.  Works well for the NFL scheduling, although they add in 2 matchups a year based on  rank in the pod and dont have to pick just 2 teams at the end. Maybe by the time the conferences get to 16 it might be time to increase the Conference games to 10.

 
I'd be fine with this on the condition that OU be reinstated as our Black Friday Rival game. 

I hate Texas as much as the next Husker but UT was conference cancer in the XII because no one else besides NU would push back on anything Texas wanted -  and only OU really had the necessary strength anyway.  At a minimum, both MI and tOSU would have the clout and ego to force actual negotiation and consensus decisions, and I don't see Wiscy, Penn, or some of the other original B1G schools being pushovers either. 

It'd be nice to have an I-35 corridor, MPLS to Austin thing going if KU were in the mix too.

 
LumberJackSker said:
Can't take OU with out Okie State right? Wasn't that a problem when some other conference tried to pouch OU? To many okie state alums in positions of power for OU to move on with out them.
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No, not that big of an issue. Okie Lite is still in a P5 conference, and with two of the schools preventing the conference from expanding gone, the Big XII will actually be able to get up to 12 schools again (should they want to). 

Texass is a pipe dream, as the B1G's main network is FOX, and ESPN owns the rights to Longwhorn Network. Texass has to keep tethered to that deal or they miss out on guaranteed money going forward from ESPN (as long as Texass isn't the school ending the deal). Texass would rather be a big fish in a little pond (read: a Big XII without Oklahoma, Kansas), than be a big fish in a large see of bigger fish (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska). It's why they won't go to the SEC, and why the Pac-12 appealed to them before--there's a set power structure in the former (that they won't break into), and there's a power vacuum in the latter (which is still there, to be honest).

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Kansas and Oklahoma are more realistic B1G targets, but the fly in the ointment right now is Amazon.com. Yeah, that Amazon--they're in talks to buy up the Fox Sports local channels (e.g. Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma). These channels are residual from the Fox/Disney merger that are being sold off, and Amazon is in talks to buy them up for their Prime service. Oklahoma has their third tier rights tethered to their local Fox Sports channel, and if Amazon buys the channel and cuts Oklahoma a good deal, they may be inclined to sit tight. 

If Amazon falls through or no one else steps up to buy the Fox Sports Channels (which is both possible and plausible at this point), then Oklahoma will be free to partner with anyone they choose for their third tier rights...like the Big Ten Network, which did have a dialog with Oklahoma to put their third tier sports on BTN. Yeah, BTN...not a typo. A move like this would obviously tip Oklahoma's hand toward where they're going when the GOR is up. 

And yes, the GOR is up in 2022/2023, but the groundwork for a smooth transition will happen around 2020/2021, when the B1G media deal is up and negotiations will take place for a new deal. 

 
VectorVictor said:
No, not that big of an issue. Okie Lite is still in a P5 conference, and with two of the schools preventing the conference from expanding gone, the Big XII will actually be able to get up to 12 schools again (should they want to). 

Texass is a pipe dream, as the B1G's main network is FOX, and ESPN owns the rights to Longwhorn Network. Texass has to keep tethered to that deal or they miss out on guaranteed money going forward from ESPN (as long as Texass isn't the school ending the deal). Texass would rather be a big fish in a little pond (read: a Big XII without Oklahoma, Kansas), than be a big fish in a large see of bigger fish (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska). It's why they won't go to the SEC, and why the Pac-12 appealed to them before--there's a set power structure in the former (that they won't break into), and there's a power vacuum in the latter (which is still there, to be honest).

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Kansas and Oklahoma are more realistic B1G targets, but the fly in the ointment right now is Amazon.com. Yeah, that Amazon--they're in talks to buy up the Fox Sports local channels (e.g. Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma). These channels are residual from the Fox/Disney merger that are being sold off, and Amazon is in talks to buy them up for their Prime service. Oklahoma has their third tier rights tethered to their local Fox Sports channel, and if Amazon buys the channel and cuts Oklahoma a good deal, they may be inclined to sit tight. 

If Amazon falls through or no one else steps up to buy the Fox Sports Channels (which is both possible and plausible at this point), then Oklahoma will be free to partner with anyone they choose for their third tier rights...like the Big Ten Network, which did have a dialog with Oklahoma to put their third tier sports on BTN. Yeah, BTN...not a typo. A move like this would obviously tip Oklahoma's hand toward where they're going when the GOR is up. 

And yes, the GOR is up in 2022/2023, but the groundwork for a smooth transition will happen around 2020/2021, when the B1G media deal is up and negotiations will take place for a new deal. 
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If OU and Texas leave the big 12 it wont be a power conference. I think if they could get around okie state OU and KU would be good additions.

 
People forget that the GOR is only binding if there is a conference left standing.  Without those two....there isn't.

 
LumberJackSker said:
If OU and Texas leave the big 12 it wont be a power conference. I think if they could get around okie state OU and KU would be good additions.
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Texass won't leave (for the B1G). And if Oklahoma leaves, Texass is still big fish in a P5 conference, and Okie Lite has a home. 

Redux said:
People forget that the GOR is only binding if there is a conference left standing.  Without those two....there isn't.
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Not true--the remaining eight members can still keep the conference going (thus enforcing the GOR). The conference doesn't just magically disappear when your two best teams leave--you still have a super majority of schools that can vote to expand, run the conference, etc. 

And yes, Texass could throw mounds of legal money at the GOR to break it. But in doing so, they'd be persona non grata, as they would have provided the roadmap for the GORs in the B1G, Pac-12, and ACC to be broken as well. So that's not a smart move for Texass either if they're wanting to endear themselves to the B1G or Pac-12. 

 
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VectorVictor said:
Texass won't leave (for the B1G). And if Oklahoma leaves, Texass is still big fish in a P5 conference, and Okie Lite has a home. 
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Or texas goes independent like notre dame and has a schedule of OU, Texas A&M and all their old swc teams that are now in conference usa. They go 10-2 evert year and are guaranteed a big bowl game every year.

If they stayed in the big 12 and it kept its power five status that would be ridiculous OU is the only team in that conference that's been relevant in football.

 
LumberJackSker said:
Or texas goes independent like notre dame and has a schedule of OU, Texas A&M and all their old swc teams that are now in conference usa. They go 10-2 evert year and are guaranteed a big bowl game every year.

If they stayed in the big 12 and it kept its power five status that would be ridiculous OU is the only team in that conference that's been relevant in football.
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Going independent is something Texass already looked at and backed away from when the last round of realignment happened. I think they looked at BYU and the problems they routinely run into, and it gave them cold feet. 

And yes, Texass is a name in football. But they're nowhere close to being a Notre Dame, and finding schools that want to shuffle their schedule to play you in October and November is going to be somewhat problematic. Plus Bevo TV doesn't have anywhere close to the market penetration that NBC OTA does, nor will it ever. And again, Texass isn't going to leave their sweetheart deal with ESPN.

As for Oklahoma leaving the Big XII...Kansas State, Okie Lite, and Kansas have been to prominent bowls (Kansas more recently than DoNU, don't forget). They're not without relevant, competent teams or devoid of talent.  

 
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VectorVictor said:
Not true--the remaining eight members can still keep the conference going
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VectorVictor said:
Going independent is something Texass already looked at and backed away from when the last round of realignment happened. I think they looked at BYU and the problems they routinely run into, and it gave them cold feet. 

And yes, Texass is a name in football. But they're nowhere close to being a Notre Dame, and finding schools that want to shuffle their schedule to play you in October and November is going to be somewhat problematic. Plus Bevo TV doesn't have anywhere close to the market penetration that NBC OTA does, nor will it ever. And again, Texass isn't going to leave their sweetheart deal with ESPN.

As for Oklahoma leaving the Big XII...Kansas State, Okie Lite, and Kansas have been to prominent bowls (Kansas more recently than DoNU, don't forget). They're not without relevant, competent teams or devoid of talent.  
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I would appreciate it If you would stop using facts to disprove my arguments.

 
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