(09-13-2017 07:45 AM)XLance Wrote:  The B1G won't make the first move either. I believe that it's all on Texas' shoulders.
There have been several stories that have been recycled about Carolina and Georgia Tech going to the B1G. Maybe nothing to them but it might be enough to slow down Delany, because there is enough validity or possibility of validity to make the B1G pause on Oklahoma. (I will try to put something together soon to explain).
There are a lot of posters/writers on somebody's payroll....the "positioning" is more subtle than in 2010 and 2015, but it has been persistent. I think that is because nobody really expects any movement before 2023 (unless that date has just been thrown out there to misdirect folks away from 2019 and the start of the ACCN).

I can't see Texas sitting around some table in 2024 basically looking around at the other conferences and declaring imperiously 'what am I bid'. This is basically a negotiation between FOX and ESPN. While I have no animus toward the Sooners, they are delusional if they think Delany is going to admit them into the B1G without Texas.

(09-13-2017 10:19 AM)JRsec Wrote:  Now this I agree with totally. There are B1G propagandists posing as Kansas and Oklahoma posters who are carefully crafting a narrative about those two programs, Oklahoma in particular.

But the truth is OU is nowhere near AAU status and would be at the bottom of the Big 10 academically. I think 2019 is the date and have said so. The networks don't want outside streaming services bidding on rights so they will rework existing contracts before 2024-5. 2023 is cutting it too close. 2019-20 is just about right for FOX and ESPN to rework existing contracts with a lengthy extension. So it's also perfect for realignment. From an ESPN perspective there would be nothing better than a feint of GaTech or UNC being available.

I'm sure Kansas and Oklahoma would be targets of the B1G if the ACC was truly, and known to be, off the table.

Also I don't see Texas making that move to the B1G. There simply isn't anyone there that they've had history with. Nebraska they knew for what, about a decade and half? Oklahoma doesn't really have that much in common with them either outside of Nebraska.

So I totally believe something is afoot, and that the details have already been worked out, probably at the time the B12 was interviewing all of those G5 hopefuls. We'll see.

I lurk on the Acre Takers website and I'm amazed at the posters who believe that OU can flip B1G membership into becoming the next UVA. I don't believe they are plants or sock puppets, I just think that they have a complete misunderstanding of the B1G, the AAU and any associated academic pedigree.

I just feel that realignment is going to be a brokering between the distributors and producers on how dividends are redistributed from asset consolidation.