What should the MWC do now?

[Lawboy]

What about KState and Iowa State? You for dumping them? I still see Missouri getting a Big 10 invite, and I expect them to go to 16 as well--with or without ND.

Kansas isn't going anywhere without K-State, and vice versa. You want Kansas, you take K-State too.

And I'd like to have both anyway.

wrong... Kansas is already talking to the Big East and SEC about getting in based on their hoops chops. Kstate is nowhere in that conversation...

I live 20 minutes from Lawrence... trust me KU is not tied at the hip with Kstate.

From what I have read, the Big East is looking at this as a chance to expand. And the PAC10 is now considering Kansas as well. This is getting crazy. I really do not care what the MWC does so long as BYU is being proactive with what is going on. It is BYU I care about, not the MWC.

[bplewe]

I think it's unlikely Kansas or Missouri will come to the MWC. They'll go to the Big East. I have seen several quotes from the schools and their fans that they would consider the MWC a huge insult. If they're an upgrade for us, then by definition, we're a downgrade for them. We could possibly get KSU, but Baylor and ISU aren't worth the trouble. And we're all still stuck with the Mtn! The best hope for BYU is to push the MWC/B12 merger the other way, as others have posted. We may have to work to retain the Big 12's BCS AQ, but we'd get the TV and bowl contracts. The new Big 12 will join the Big East as the ugly stepsisters of the BCS, but we can change that in time.

[gmj81]

How many more "basketball" schools can the Big East take? They're already at 16... too many more and they won't have a non-conference schedule at all.

Kansas may very well end up jumping to the Big East but why would you want to? They're profile is so high that they could compete in the MWC, Conference USA (a la Memphis) or even the Sunbelt and still get the rankings love and high tourney seeds. Why kill yourself trying to get through the Big East schedule? For the additional dollars that come from being in a BCS conference? The MWC might very well be a BCS conference here soon.

[Lawboy]

The Big East may be done itself. Sounds as if the Big 10 might raid it, and the ACC might raid it. All that will be left are hoops only schools or a few football schools, and not sure any team would want to affiliate with that. The Big East is in limbo just like us.

[scott715]

Here is another scenario. Five Big 12 teams agree to join the Pac-10 and get their invitations. At the conference one of them announce that they just decided to stay with the Big 12. That then leave 6 teams remaing which does not dissolve the conference and keeps their BCS contract and tv. That confernece then expands by adding enough MWC teams to get to 8, 10 or 12 members. Texas is gone so there is a huge power shift in the conference and it survives.

[scott715]

Yes those teams could view a MWC invite a step down, but if we presented this as not them coming to us but a Big12/MWC merger then it is not a step down. I would even be happy to keep their name and contracts.

[Lawboy]

Any changes won't take effect until 2012, and I believe the Big 12 contracts are done by then. I do not see any chance of stepping into a better contract, just the chance to negotiate a new one with new conference members and better terms than what the MWC offers. The MWC TV deal is worth $12M total, while Big 10 and SEC teams each get over $17M-20M per team with their deals. The MWC is backwater for TV deals. This kills BYU. Luckily, we are able to generate the most revenue from our sports and merchandising by far in the MWC, along with donations to the AD. An extra $10M/year would not hurt at all.

[snoscythe]

Any changes won't take effect until 2012, and I believe the Big 12 contracts are done by then. I do not see any chance of stepping into a better contract, just the chance to negotiate a new one with new conference members and better terms than what the MWC offers. The MWC TV deal is worth $12M total, while Big 10 and SEC teams each get over $17M-20M per team with their deals. The MWC is backwater for TV deals. This kills BYU. Luckily, we are able to generate the most revenue from our sports and merchandising by far in the MWC, along with donations to the AD. An extra $10M/year would not hurt at all.

BSU is in the MWC next year, 2011.

The Big XII teams can't leave until 2012...yet. If enough teams bail, the conference will dissolve and they would then be released a year early. Joe Schad was just talking this through on ESPNews.

[Lawboy]

Texas still holds all of the cards. And I am quite certain that they are deciding if it is in their best interests to go to the PAC10 and add that TV deal, or to keep the Big 12 alive and form the Texas Longhorns Sports Network, and rake $$$ that in. If they think they can make more coin with their own network, I think they do it. Obviously, it will have to fit with other network deals with ESPN and CBS, but Texas is a school like no other. If Texas stays, OU stays and A&M stays because it keeps the 4 Texas schools together. Then the Big 12 adds 2, the PAC adds Utah, and we are back to hoping we are one of hte 2 the Big 12 invites in.

[CannonCougar85]

Texas still holds all of the cards. And I am quite certain that they are deciding if it is in their best interests to go to the PAC10 and add that TV deal, or to keep the Big 12 alive and form the Texas Longhorns Sports Network, and rake $$$ that in. If they think they can make more coin with their own network, I think they do it. Obviously, it will have to fit with other network deals with ESPN and CBS, but Texas is a school like no other. If Texas stays, OU stays and A&M stays because it keeps the 4 Texas schools together. Then the Big 12 adds 2, the PAC adds Utah, and we are back to hoping we are one of hte 2 the Big 12 invites in.

Just adding to that Jan Jorgensen on 1280 is reporting that the Texas AD and Coach Mack Brown want to keep the Big 12 very much alive and it is the president of Texas that wants to leave for the PAC.

Oklahoma wants to keep the Big 12 together and A&M's first choice is keeping the Big 12 together for what it's worth.