(06-12-2018 07:46 PM)OdinFrigg Wrote:  It is going to be what the B12 can garner for themselves ('23-'25 period) vs what any of the individual B12 schools may do in negotiating with any of the other 4 Power conferences.
Will not having a conference network still be a big issue then, and having residual resentment of the LHN will be sustained?
If the OU-oSu combo gets another power conference offer,
and current dynamics remain similar, I expect those two go together. Texas leaving is more complex because they will have demands. Some of it could be new and unexpected. The BIG and the SEC are not conferences to bend their norms. The BIG expects newbies to go through several years of reduced disbursements before fully incorporated financially.
WVU will go if they get a power offer closer to home. I am not dismissing WVU as a SEC selection, but believe the ACC would be the better logistical and need fit.
KSU, ISU, TCU, and TTU, would be more circumstantial selections, depending on the power conference making the offer and who are the lead school(s). For example, Texas Tech would generate little to no interest by the BIG, but could be fundamental in a PAC12 package expansion.
I suppose where I divert most from some of you guys is when you start advocating 18, 20, or 22 member conferences. OK, one recognizes forthcoming streaming properties; however, the traditional criteria of fitness and synthesizing doesn't disappear.
My experiences in academia, inclusive of engagements with athletics as it relates to admissions and recruitment, activities, remediation programs, counseling and advising and instruction, on a couple of levels; I want to emphasize travel factors do matter. So does class time for student athletes. I've seen women's field hockey teams, for example, travel 700 miles and back in a few vans in a two day period. Such similar circumstances applies to every Olympic-style sport in most places. Contrary to some beliefs, the BIG, SEC, etc., don't just jet all Olympic-style teams all over the country.

I don't think you are off base with any of that. I do think if we could get the right 2 schools the SEC would stop at 16. We might even do that with the pair of Oklahoma schools.

The Big 10 may wait until 2034 and make a run at two of Boston College, Syracuse an Notre Dame, possibly even another.

But your practical experience and hands on knowledge are why my hunch is that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State get their SEC invitations in hand and then Texas decides to Horn in to be with rivals their fan base cares about and in a division of the SEC where most minor sports are within a reasonable travel distance. It is why I don't see them in the PAC or Big 10, and likely not in the ACC unless they could take a goodly number of buddies with them.

You say that 20 is impractical. It is if you think of it as a conference. But if you think in terms of a division being an old conference and a conference being a league then it is not. Even play among the 20 is relatively easy to handle even within the confines of 4 years to play everyone.

Let's say hypothetically that Texas does want in and with them Texas Tech is the price of the Horn's consent.

Is a three division conference really that bad?

Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech

Alabama, L.S.U., Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt

Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee

You play 5 divisional games and rotate 2 schools from each of the other 2 divisions every year. If your rival isn't in your division you play them as one of your OOC games. If you have no rival in the conference you still have an OOC game with which to schedule them. Considering your home and home basketball series would be confined to your division that would comprise 10 games in a 22 game conference schedule. The conference basketball tournament could simply take the top 12 finishing schools each year. Ditto for the baseball tournament. Olympic sports would play home and home for all meets and events. Conference events (track & field / swimming & diving) would be held in rotating location so that travel wasn't extensive for some schools every year.

At 20 it still works.

While I find 16 to be practical and most likely configuration to maximize revenue.
If a huge prize like Texas wanted in 18 could work. It would work a lot better in 3 divisions of 6 but it could work at 9 schools each in two divisions too.

So, I think you are correct that 16 will be the most comfortable move the conference could make, I'm merely saying that 18 is not unreasonable or beyond doing if the prize is right. Besides if Texas want's to accommodate Tech I can easily see them remaining aloof until Oklahoma gets State in and then they push for the same terms to get Tech in. Then they could always say that only joined the SEC to take care of another state school. I've frequently contended that all Texas would need to join the SEC is a good excuse.