(01-03-2019 06:55 PM)OdinFrigg Wrote:  Doubtful Texas really has any interest in moving to the BIG, SEC, or the PAC12.

They may try to resurrect the idea of moving to the ACC with partial football membership. The question will be would the ACC buy into it? Perhaps with enough money is put on the table. However, there are not natural rivals in the ACC and travel distance with costs would be an issue.

Staying in the B12 with partial football could be an option if OU and maybe one or two others leave for elsewhere and a couple of new additions come on board. I regard this as more viable than the ACC route. Basketball and baseball are important, and having a reputable conference as home for both will be a requirement.

Going totally football independent is not realistic, even for Texas. Quality schools will play them, but few will do so in most of October and November when conference schedules kick-in.

If the playoffs become more focused on having conference champions, being technically football independent could become more of a detriment.

The thing about Texas is they are rich enough that they can basically do whatever they want. It's also true that some options are more beneficial than others.

Their preferred plan would probably be a healthy and viable Big 12, but that's not likely anymore. They may very well throw a hail mary and try some crazy plan to save the conference, but I doubt it will work at this stage.

The ACC makes sense to a certain degree, but the SEC is the best overall fit even if some people in blog-land don't want to admit it.

I think the most interesting wrinkle is what exactly does ESPN want in this whole deal. Looks like they're going all in on the ACC Network so they'll probably want to push certain properties there to enhance the profile, but that might be easier said than done.

I can't rule out the idea that ESPN will find a way to acquire the PAC by getting Texas to go in on a new format, but that depends on a lot of things falling the right way. It also makes sense that ESPN would want to acquire more PAC content given that the ACC Network and the SEC Network will have taken some prime games away from their main channels. The other day, a report came out that ESPN2 had fallen behind FS1 and NBCSN in ratings.

I'm sure that's not something Disney will abide. Especially with the advent of ESPN+, I think the corporation will be looking for ways to increase their inventory in the coming years. College properties have been a staple for ESPN for a lot of reasons so it makes sense to me that they would try to recapture more of the Power conferences.

Of course, ESPN could do things to lure the PAC that wouldn't involve Texas as I'm sure some of the leaders in the PAC wouldn't want to compromise their model in exchange for UT or anyone else.