flame
06-10-2010, 03:34 PM
With the Big 12 meltdown currently going on, the question came up repeatedly - why is this happening?
From what I've gathered, and please fill in the blanks, Nebraska is likely to leave because they will get a ton more cash from the Big 10 than the Big 12 (though why they wanted Nebraska is beyond me). Because of this - Big 12 South doesn't want to be associated with the North. With blood in the water - the Pac-10 realized they could dangle a bunch of cash in front their select teams from the Big 12, pick off a few, and overnight essentially vault their conference from "Yeah they're ok" to "This is the most insane conference ever" and I assume they could get a crazy sweet TV deal the next contract renewal. Also - it helps them keep the conference alive and relevant while USC is going through their sanctions (which they had to see coming). I have heard that the realignment won't happen until 2012(?), but having that impending excitement is probably important to them.
It makes sense for the teams to go to the Pac-10 because they're getting more money(is this even true?), its not the meatgrinder of the SEC, and because the major teams all get to keep their healthy rivals around for conference play and $$$$$ rivalry games.
This explains why teams would go to the Pac-10 - but why leave the Big 12? Is the Pac-10 offering substantially more money? Is Big-12 North really that awful? It makes sense for everyone else except for the teams actually leaving.
Also - it seems like the current Pac-10 teams are really getting the short end of the stick. Do they really get anything out of this?
From what I've gathered, and please fill in the blanks, Nebraska is likely to leave because they will get a ton more cash from the Big 10 than the Big 12 (though why they wanted Nebraska is beyond me). Because of this - Big 12 South doesn't want to be associated with the North. With blood in the water - the Pac-10 realized they could dangle a bunch of cash in front their select teams from the Big 12, pick off a few, and overnight essentially vault their conference from "Yeah they're ok" to "This is the most insane conference ever" and I assume they could get a crazy sweet TV deal the next contract renewal. Also - it helps them keep the conference alive and relevant while USC is going through their sanctions (which they had to see coming). I have heard that the realignment won't happen until 2012(?), but having that impending excitement is probably important to them.
It makes sense for the teams to go to the Pac-10 because they're getting more money(is this even true?), its not the meatgrinder of the SEC, and because the major teams all get to keep their healthy rivals around for conference play and $$$$$ rivalry games.
This explains why teams would go to the Pac-10 - but why leave the Big 12? Is the Pac-10 offering substantially more money? Is Big-12 North really that awful? It makes sense for everyone else except for the teams actually leaving.
Also - it seems like the current Pac-10 teams are really getting the short end of the stick. Do they really get anything out of this?