(01-05-2017 04:32 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(01-05-2017 04:05 PM)XLance Wrote:  I think that you will see SEC divisions broken down like this:

West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
South Carolina

Texas
Texas A&M
Arkansas
LSU
Ole Miss

Florida
Georgia
Auburn
Alabama
Mississippi State

I don't know if it will turn out that way, but the divisions make sense.

Let's say nobody leaves an existing P conference for another. If we added just Texas (using your premise as the starting point) it still works out fine:

Arkansas
Louisiana State
Missouri
Texas
Texas A&M

Alabama
Auburn
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Vanderbilt

Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee

Or you could sub Oklahoma for Texas and it still works fine.

There are several reasons to place Missouri into the B1G.
1) geography.....contiguous to the B1G footprint.
2) culture...the mentality of the population centers would identify more midwestern rather than southern.
3) eye-test....Missouri is a unique place, right smack dab in the middle of everything and was a perfect Big 8 school, but alas the Big 8 isn't there anymore. But Missouri "looks" more like a B1G school than any other school that is contiguous to the conference. In the SEC the school that might fit in with the B1G (other than Missouri) would be Florida, but we know that isn't happening. In the ACC? The largest school in the ACC ( UG student population) is Florida State, the research giants are Pitt, Dook and Carolina but all three are tiny compared to B1G standards and are not land-grant schools. Anybody else in the Big 12? Texas...Kansas...nah! The PAC's entry would be Colorado...a possibility but Colorado just does not scream midwestern, now does it?
So it's Missouri by default.

(01-05-2017 11:01 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(01-05-2017 10:07 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  There's still the question of what to do with the LHN.

My theory is that ESPN will use it to broadcast additional content of whatever league UT joins which makes me think whatever league that is will go to at least 18.

ESPN has already invested a lot in that linear network and they're probably not going to just phase it out.

They can do that with the LHN whether it is just Texas or Texas and 3 more. Let's say that just Texas joined the SEC. We would have a western division channel, a eastern division channel and have the the additional overflow channel for a central division. And we have that now.

I'm just not sure that the network will be a factor in determining how many schools get in.

I have no problem with 18, but 15 works too.

I guess my thought is, from ESPN's perspective, they're probably saying that we've got this extra channel with studios already in Dallas and there's not a lot we can do with it other than show the college sports we own. So from their perspective, might as well make sure you've got plenty of content and markets at your disposal. Assuming there are enough quality schools available, might as well add them so we can gets more subs.

Now, I know the cable model is on its way out, but I think it's going to be a while. Most of the cable cutters aren't sports fans after all.

The value an additional network could bring might make a number beyond 18 possible. Assuming it's the right combo, a 4 division model with semi-finals has a lot of benefits too.

Let's say it's Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, and West Virginia

West: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri
Central: Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss
South: Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia

Play your 4 division games, one permanent rival from each of the other divisions, and one rotating match-up. That's 10 games and a lot of content for 2 networks plus whatever is obligated to CBS and ESPN's main networks.

Conference semi-final based on 4 division winners

Even though I prefer 72 final teams easiest way would be for 2 leagues to divide the Big 12 up.
Like the SEC take OU, KU, ISU & WVU and then the PAC take UT, TT, TCU, Baylor, OSU & KSU.
This would fit well geographically. I know some talk about the PAC 12 and not liking religious schools but if they get the state of Texas they could learn to live with it.

If the ACC would take WVU and then the 4 to the SEC were OU, KU, ISU & Baylor or TCU that might help the situation some, and the PAC 12 only takes 1 religious school and then finds a 6th school to complete things. The sad thing is the school that would be most deserving for the 6th spot would be BYU which they would probably leave out as well.

Its a sad situation in America when the left says we can't control our own borders and tells us we are racist and bigoted when we scrutinize people that are not American citizens and don't have the rights American citizens have. At the same time our leftist universities are able to discriminate on the basis of religion while receiving lots of federal revenues.