I’ve refrained from writing about the whole Big 10 expansion / Big 12 dissolution thing until something actually happens. But with all the rumors this week, I figured it was time to tack a crack.
1200 words later, I wasn’t making a logical argument and hadn’t come close to completing my thoughts.
So how about this: it will suck if Missouri and Nebraska go to the Big 10. I have no great love for the Big 12, since it’s always seemed more concerned with keeping Texas happy, but I do have love for all the Big 8 schools. No matter what happens with games at Arrowhead and the Sprint Center, the KU-MU rivalry will never be the same if the schools are playing in different conferences.
That said I don’t blame anyone for running away from a conference that has been dysfunctional and two steps slow for its entire history. While other conferences, most notably the Big 10, came up with innovative ideas for creating and sharing revenue, the Big 12 has continually gotten worked over when it comes to TV contracts for its football games. Rightly or wrongly, I think every school outside of Texas feels as though their interests don’t weigh as heavily in the league offices as those of Texas and Texas A&M.
If this does happen, I expect the remaining Big 12 schools will work some kind of deal with either BYU and Utah, or more likely the Pac-10 to keep everyone else in the fold. But it won’t be the same.
Remember, I did predict awhile back that eventually we’ll have one big conference with regional divisions. So perhaps this is just the first step in the consolidation and, in ten years, the old Big 8 schools will be together in a division again.
Still, I’m hoping Notre Dame decides to join the Big 10 and they stop at 12 schools.
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