Category: Conference Expansion

Mizzou taking giant leap in moving to SEC

Posted by dcrim – November 7, 2011

It’s official: Missouri is heading to the SEC. And after watching LSU and Alabama slug it out through 60 minutes and overtime Saturday night, it’s difficult to see how Mizzou — which gave up 42 points and lost to Baylor — is going to compete in the country’s toughest football league.

Ivan Maisel ESPN.com puts an exclamation point on that line of thinking.

And now the Tigers, visions of long-term security in their heard, are stepping up their level of competition. The Tigers are like the Midwestern executive who takes a job in New York because it pays more. Only when he gets to Manhattan and discovers the price of rent and groceries does he understand that the rise in pay will include a decline in the standard of living.

Click here for the full story.

ESPN’s Big 12 blogger David Ubben says the Big 12 is to blame for the defections of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and now Mizzou.

One casualty will apparently be the rivalry between Missouri and Kansas. And some people are not happy about it.

Jeff Gordon provides a sampling of what other experts are saying about the move.

On the Cardinals, Mizzou to the SEC and Yankees’ flameout

Posted by dcrim – October 7, 2011

Notes and quotes from the sports world heading into the weekend:

• The Phillies and the Cardinals are both throwing their ace in a winner-take-all playoff game. It doesn’t get any better than that. The loser has no complaints. And let’s be honest: Did anyone expect the Cardinals to still be playing?

• It’s nice that Missouri is flexing a little muscle and making the shot-callers in the Big 12 squirm, but the Tigers don’t belong in the SEC.

Mizzou’s rebirth in football has been due, in part, to the two-division setup in the Big 12 and the ability to recruit Texas. The Tigers played Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Nebraska every year, and only had to take on Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State twice every four years. There won’t be any cupcakes on an SEC schedule, and the recruiting advantage vanishes once that move is made.

The Big Ten makes more sense if MU wants a new home, but it doesn’t appear that conference is interested. And the SEC is no slam-dunk, either. Click here for the story.

• It’s always interesting to see how the New York tabloids react when the Yankees flame out in the playoffs, which happened for the fifth time in 10 years Thursday night. The story of a retired NYPD officer’s wife being acquitted of his murder seems to have softened the shots at the Yankees, though

College conference realignment: Show me the money

Posted by dcrim – June 9, 2010

The Big 12 Conference reportedly has given Nebraska and Missouri a Friday deadline to affirm their commitment to the league. The two schools are among the leading candidates should the Big Ten expand. The Associated Press reports Nebraska Athletic director Tom Osborne said in a radio interview Tuesday night that a decision should come soon.

Don’t understand why half of the college conferences appear to be on the verge of collapse, and the Big Ten and Pac-10 are poised to raid the Big 12 and other to create mega-conferences? Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports offers the best insight on what is happening in the world of college athletics and why.

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe all but killed his own conference on April 30, 2008.

That’s when he decided to team up with the Big Ten and Pac-10 to reject a four-team playoff being pushed by the SEC and ACC. If the Big 12 (and/or the Big East) had supported it, the so-called “Plus One” model likely would’ve happened.

Even that modest playoff would have meant hundreds of millions of additional revenue for college athletics. It would have then allowed for easy expansion for an even more lucrative 16-team postseason. That would have solved all the monetary concerns that have left the Big 12 on the verge of collapse at the hands of its one-time allies, the Big Ten and Pac-10.

Moving to Big 10 not without downside for Mizzou

Posted by dcrim – May 13, 2010

The University of Missouri has been rumored to be one of the top choices should the 11-team Big Ten Conference decide to expand sometime this year. As someone who grew up with the old Big Eight, which later morphed into the Big 12 when four Southwest Conference Schools were added in 1996, ending decades-old rivalries is a little difficult to swallow.

Sure, Mizzou could get an equal share of the television revenue from the Big 10, or about $12 million more a year. The Big 12 doesn’t dish out its TV money equally, instead giving the biggest chunk to Texas. And, of course, the Big 12 has done Mizzou no favors in recent years when it comes to football bowl slotting.

The league’s postseason selection process allows bowl game partners to select any eligible team, regardless of win-loss records or head-to-head results. For the past three years, Missouri has been passed over by more prestigious bowl games that selected teams it had either beaten or that ranked below the Tigers in conference standings. Most notably, the Orange Bowl selected Kansas as its BCS at-large choice over Missouri in 2007 even though the Tigers beat the Jayhawks on a neutral field in the final game of the regular season.

Still, it’s hard to get worked up over a Missouri-Minnesota or Missouri-Wisconsin game. Every school needs one of those “hate” games, and Mizzou has that with Kansas. And Nebraska.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com writes that Notre Dame is the best fit for the Big 10, but the Irish will likely decide to remain an independent. With that scenario, Rittenberg writes that Missouri is the next best fit for the following athletic reasons:

• Missouri has elevated its profile in both football and men’s basketball the last few years, competing for the Big 12 title in football two years ago and reaching the Elite Eight in hoops last year. There’s little doubt that Missouri could be a first-division team in both sports in the Big Ten if it joined the league today.

• The school has upgraded its facilities, which are some of the best in the Big 12. It would have little trouble recruiting at the same level as most Big Ten programs. Heck, Missouri already recruits against Illinois and other Big Ten schools.

• Missouri would give the Big Ten a greater presence in the St. Louis market. Sure, it’s not New York, but New York will always be a pro town, while St. Louis could become a true Big Ten city with fans of both Missouri and Illinois, two teams that happen to play there every year in football and basketball.

• Though Missouri was an original Big 8 member with strong ties to the league, it seemingly would have an easier time leaving than, say, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma or Texas.

• As for rivalries, Missouri-Kansas could become what Missouri-Illinois is now, at least in football. The two teams could play every year in football, perhaps at a neutral site like Kansas City. The Mizzou-Illinois rivalry is already strong, and an Iowa-Mizzou rivalry would be very exciting to see. There would be some disappointment about losing the Kansas rivalry in basketball, but there’s no reason why those teams couldn’t still play once a year.

• The Big 12 likely would have an easier time replacing Missouri than the Big East would with Rutgers, Pitt, etc. While Arkansas has always been discussed as an addition to the Big 12, the rise of the Mountain West opens up possibilities for teams like TCU and Utah.