(12-07-2015 07:16 PM)75src Wrote:  Tilman Fertitta can not really influence state politics since the Democrat party he gives to currently has no power in the legislature or governor's mansion.
[quote='Owl 69/70/75' pid='12767054' dateline='1449529475']

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/16/a...donations/

Eighteen people gave $100,000 to Abbott over the reporting period, which ran from July 1 to Dec. 31. Among them were Dallas oilman Ray Hunt, Lee Bass of Fort Worth and Landry’s restaurant owner Tilman Fertitta of Houston. (Other Fertitta family member chipped in a combined $100,000.) Nancy Kinder of Houston gave Abbott two separate $100,000 donations.

You are absolutely clueless about Politics if you think Tilman has no pull in this state, with both parties.

So it may have been mentioned in this and the many many other threads, but IHMO, all of this comes down to 1 matter and 1 matter only-money. And sadly, Rice, unlike TCU and now Cougar High, didn't (and doesn't) understand to make money you have to spend it (or like Baylor, have the right political connections so that it falls in your lap despite 15+ yrs of incompetence). Our lack of fan base, driven partially by lack of competitiveness, but also lack of marketing and very much by playing the SSW Wyoming Tech at Lander is making the money situation all that much worse. All the other factors are nice to discuss, but money is the key. If we were percieved to be additive to a conference's money, then we are in. And to solve our situation to the extent all of us would like, I fear will take way more money than the BOT and our supporters are willing to spend and/or have.

(12-07-2015 07:40 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  So it may have been mentioned in this and the many many other threads, but IHMO, all of this comes down to 1 matter and 1 matter only-money. ... All the other factors are nice to discuss, but money is the key. If we were percieved to be additive to a conference's money, then we are in. And to solve our situation to the extent all of us would like, I fear will take way more money than the BOT and our supporters are willing to spend and/or have.

+1

As President Leebron has said many times, "It's not about money. But rather about HOW MUCH money."

With the "how much" being apparently, as you say, "more money than the BOT and our supporters are willing to spend and/or have."

(12-07-2015 07:36 PM)Dirty Sanchez Wrote:  

(12-07-2015 07:16 PM)75src Wrote:  Tilman Fertitta can not really influence state politics since the Democrat party he gives to currently has no power in the legislature or governor's mansion.
[quote='Owl 69/70/75' pid='12767054' dateline='1449529475']

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/16/a...donations/
Eighteen people gave $100,000 to Abbott over the reporting period, which ran from July 1 to Dec. 31. Among them were Dallas oilman Ray Hunt, Lee Bass of Fort Worth and Landry’s restaurant owner Tilman Fertitta of Houston. (Other Fertitta family member chipped in a combined $100,000.) Nancy Kinder of Houston gave Abbott two separate $100,000 donations.

You are absolutely clueless about Politics if you think Tilman has no pull in this state, with both parties.

Tillman has plenty of power, no doubt about it. But I'm not sure even he can pull this one off. You could very easily have a deal where the 4 Texas schools vote yes for UH, giving them cover with Tillman, and the 6 out of states vote no, meaning UH doesn't get in. And votes like that get brokered behind closed doors all the time.

Yes this is all about money. The Jess Neely's of the world aren't making the expansion decisions. TV Execs and School Presidents are. All 3 presidents, Boren (OU), Gordon Gee (WVU), & Starr (Baylor) on the Big12 expansion committee have met with the UH president and toured UofH, and seen the brand new stadium and all the improvements that have been approved by the BOR.

There are also 8000 kids living on campus now, as opposed to 1500 10 years ago.

With Deloss Dodds gone, much of the animosity towards UH went with it. You can read message board posters who will rant and rave, but again they aren't the decision makers in this.

The UH President has a great relationship with the people that matter.

Yes, UH is much different than it used to be but the decision will probably be based upon whether how much it would add to the Big XII television contract.

(12-07-2015 07:48 PM)Dirty Sanchez Wrote:  Yes this is all about money. The Jess Neely's of the world aren't making the expansion decisions. TV Execs and School Presidents are. All 3 presidents, Boren (OU), Gordon Gee (WVU), & Starr (Baylor) on the Big12 expansion committee have met with the UH president and toured UofH, and seen the brand new stadium and all the improvements that have been approved by the BOR.

There are also 8000 kids living on campus now, as opposed to 1500 10 years ago.

(12-07-2015 07:36 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(12-07-2015 07:23 PM)75src Wrote:  ...after the LHN contract is over with.

When is that contract over or up for renegotiation/renewal?

It was a 20 year/$300MM deal when it began in 2011. Not sure if there are options to renegotiate in the middle of it, but I've never heard one mentioned before.

I think no member of the AAC has any chance of joining the Big 12. The Big 12 would probably raid the ACC first.

(12-07-2015 08:08 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  I think no member of the AAC has any chance of joining the Big 12. The Big 12 would probably raid the ACC first.

Then you simply haven't been paying attention to what is going on. Nobody in the ACC is leaving to join the Big12. That is as likely as UTEP getting a SEC bid.

(12-07-2015 07:52 PM)75src Wrote:  Yes, UH is much different than it used to be but the decision will probably be based upon whether how much it would add to the Big XII television contract.

That is correct. TV is the main driver.

I disagree. Money talks and the Big 12 has lot more money then the ACC. The AAC has no chance.

(12-07-2015 08:16 PM)Dirty Sanchez Wrote:  

(12-07-2015 08:08 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  I think no member of the AAC has any chance of joining the Big 12. The Big 12 would probably raid the ACC first.

Then you simply haven't been paying attention to what is going on. Nobody in the ACC is leaving to join the Big12. That is as likely as UTEP getting a SEC bid.

The Big12 makes 2 million more per team. Maryland had to pay 30+ million to leave and join the B1G 10. I think the buyout is even higher now. Nobody in the ACC is paying that, to join a league the least stable conference in the P5. That makes no sense.

The only teams that would add to the Big12, UNC, Duke, FSU, Clemson, VT. Aren't paying 30 Million to play in a conference with 1 team in their time zone.

Duke, UVA, NC sure is hell aint joining a conference with schools like Texas Tech and Iowa State.

IF the Big12 expands, they are gonna have to add G5 or Independents.

Mike Perrin, the UT AD, is an old-school UT guy. Played for the Longhorns in the late 1960s, prior to UH being part of the SWC. I doubt he has any kind of affinity for UH. I may be wrong, obviously.

(12-07-2015 10:03 PM)Dirty Sanchez Wrote:  The Big12 makes 2 million more per team. Maryland had to pay 30+ million to leave and join the B1G 10. I think the buyout is even higher now. Nobody in the ACC is paying that, to join a league the least stable conference in the P5. That makes no sense.

The only teams that would add to the Big12, UNC, Duke, FSU, Clemson, VT. Aren't paying 30 Million to play in a conference with 1 team in their time zone.

Duke, UVA, NC sure is hell aint joining a conference with schools like Texas Tech and Iowa State.

IF the Big12 expands, they are gonna have to add G5 or Independents.

If I recall, a big part of why the XII makes so much is because their media deals haven't been renegotiated since the last realignment, so they're getting the same total sum split between two fewer teams than before. The value add of TCU and WVU won't cover the losses of Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and TAMU in the next contract.

All of this speculation about UH, ACC, AAC is meaningless. What will be, will be.

All we can do is take care of our business and try to get the best deal we can when the time comes. And we aren't exactly doing a bang-up job of taking care of our business.

When I saw the below article, and that Baylor would be fulfilling the new requirement in 2017 by playing Duke, it made me think of another angle Rice could possibly tout to play in a P5: being one of the league school other schools would like to play in order to fulfill their P5 scheduling requirements if Rice was made a member of a P5. Admittedly a weak argument, but one I had not thought of before reading the article:

Big 12 to require teams to play a non-conference Power Five opponent
By Nick Bromberg
2 hours ago Dr. Saturday

The Big 12 will make its teams schedule Power Five non-conference games in the future.

The conference announced Wednesday it is implementing a non-conference scheduling requirement for its teams. Going forward, teams will have to play a team from either the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC for one of its three non-league games. There is no specific timeline for the requirement, however, as the release states that existing game contracts would not be affected by the requirement.

“Schedule strength is a key component in CFP Selection Committee deliberations,” commented Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “This move will strengthen the resumes for all Big 12 teams. Coupled with the nine-game full round robin Conference schedule our teams play, it will not only benefit the teams at the top of our standings each season, but will impact the overall strength of the Conference.”

[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for things you won’t see on the blog]

Notre Dame also counts as a Power Five team. The provision is similar to other requirements other Power Five conferences have made for their teams' schedules.

Since existing contracts won't be affected by the mandate, a team like Baylor wouldn't be forced to schedule a Power Five opponent until 2019. However, Baylor fulfills the mandate starting in 2017 with a home-and-home series with Duke. The Bears play Northwestern State, SMU and Rice in 2016.

Kansas is the only other school who doesn't have a Power Five conference team on its schedule in 2016, though it plays Memphis next season. The Jayhawks next P5 non-conference opponent is Rutgers in 2018.

(12-07-2015 11:21 PM)franklyconfused Wrote:  If I recall, a big part of why the XII makes so much is because their media deals haven't been renegotiated since the last realignment, so they're getting the same total sum split between two fewer teams than before. The value add of TCU and WVU won't cover the losses of Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and TAMU in the next contract.

This is the same situation as CUSA. All the SunBelt adds and LaTech/UTSA are not going to replace UH, Memphis, UCF leaving.

CUSA teams only get $1M per year in TV money and that's about to decrease significantly. I think AAC is at $3-4M per year and they are likely to see an increase if their TV ratings and success in football/bball continues.

Edit: the only positive is that the 5 rejects (Rice, USM, UTEP, UAB, and Marshall) will receive the escrow money left over from UH, SMU, Memphis, etc. to compensate for the decrease in the next CUSA contract.

(12-08-2015 02:52 PM)WIowl Wrote:  

(12-07-2015 11:21 PM)franklyconfused Wrote:  If I recall, a big part of why the XII makes so much is because their media deals haven't been renegotiated since the last realignment, so they're getting the same total sum split between two fewer teams than before. The value add of TCU and WVU won't cover the losses of Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and TAMU in the next contract.

This is the same situation as CUSA. All the SunBelt adds and LaTech/UTSA are not going to replace UH, Memphis, UCF leaving.

CUSA teams only get $1M per year in TV money and that's about to decrease significantly. I think AAC is at $3-4M per year and they are likely to see an increase if their TV ratings and success in football/bball continues.

Recently saw an article discussing how the decline in traditional cable/satellite subscriptions may limit the increase the Big 10 may see as they work through their current round of negotiations.

The article then, however, went on to say that each team's annual TV revenue will likely still increase from $25-30mm to $45mm-$50mm.

And we will likely see $1mm-$2mm.

(12-08-2015 02:33 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  When I saw the below article, and that Baylor would be fulfilling the new requirement in 2017 by playing Duke, it made me think of another angle Rice could possibly tout to play in a P5: being one of the league school other schools would like to play in order to fulfill their P5 scheduling requirements if Rice was made a member of a P5. Admittedly a weak argument, but one I had not thought of before reading the article:

Big 12 to require teams to play a non-conference Power Five opponent
By Nick Bromberg
2 hours ago Dr. Saturday

The Big 12 will make its teams schedule Power Five non-conference games in the future.

The conference announced Wednesday it is implementing a non-conference scheduling requirement for its teams. Going forward, teams will have to play a team from either the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC for one of its three non-league games. There is no specific timeline for the requirement, however, as the release states that existing game contracts would not be affected by the requirement.

“Schedule strength is a key component in CFP Selection Committee deliberations,” commented Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “This move will strengthen the resumes for all Big 12 teams. Coupled with the nine-game full round robin Conference schedule our teams play, it will not only benefit the teams at the top of our standings each season, but will impact the overall strength of the Conference.”

[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for things you won’t see on the blog]

Notre Dame also counts as a Power Five team. The provision is similar to other requirements other Power Five conferences have made for their teams' schedules.

Since existing contracts won't be affected by the mandate, a team like Baylor wouldn't be forced to schedule a Power Five opponent until 2019. However, Baylor fulfills the mandate starting in 2017 with a home-and-home series with Duke. The Bears play Northwestern State, SMU and Rice in 2016.

Kansas is the only other school who doesn't have a Power Five conference team on its schedule in 2016, though it plays Memphis next season. The Jayhawks next P5 non-conference opponent is Rutgers in 2018.

I imagine Baylor was on the phone with Duke, Wake Forest, Purdue all day once the mandate hit.