(03-22-2020 11:45 AM)Sactowndog Wrote:  I would think Washington couldn’t be part of any Airport meeting because it would be political suicide to be part of any plan to dump Washington State. Same for Oregon and Oregon State. It’s one thing to say we had 24 hours to decide or we are out. It’s quite another to say we participated in the plan. I think it’s low risk Washington or Oregon don’t join but they can’t be instigators.

Utah is very useful as they could if needed swing East or west. So I think they are critical to your invite and contingency planning so they would be at the meeting as they have no conflict of interest. Kansas is also key despite some conflict of interest as an AAU school and insuring you start with 10.

So let’s talk Oklahoma.... Remember I am proposing a 7 plus 1 crossover schedule or 7 plus 2 max. So primary travel is Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas, Colorado.

So what are the scenarios:
if Missouri and Nebraska say yes, Oklahoma plays annual games with Texas, Nebraska, T Tech, TCU, Colorado, Missouri and Kansas. The conference would have 12 AAU members (Enough for a research consortium) increasing Oklahoma’s chances of getting added. Oklahoma likely makes a conference Championship Game against USC/Washington with a back-up scenario being a Rose Bowl invite.

If only Nebraska says yes, Oklahoma plays annual games with Texas, Nebraska, T Tech, TCU, Colorado, Baylor and Kansas. The conference would have 11 AAU members (still enough for a research consortium) and influence to add Oklahoma. Oklahoma still likely makes a conference championship against USC/Washington with a back up Rose Bowl invite.

If Missouri and Nebraska say no, Oklahoma has a shot at saving Oklahoma State as the discussion will be flip Utah East and stay at 14 or add Baylor and Oklahoma State. Doubtful the SEC takes Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. So say they take OK State: Then you have Texas, T Tech, TCU, Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, OK State.

Best case is SEC: LSU, A&M, Missouri, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Oklahoma State. You fight LSU for the Championship Game bid against Alabama or Georgia. Total AAU schools is 4.

Now that you mentioned it, perhaps not only would Oklahoma gain from a similar research consortium to the Big Ten's but also Nebraska. Nebraska would basically "start all over again" and move on from the embarrassment of losing its AAU status as they were entering the Big Ten.

I agree that it's a bold move that may have a chance of succeeding if done right. It's that, from my perspective, it seems easier for the Big Ten and SEC to get to sixteen than the Airport Conference. However, the Big Ten and SEC would both have opportunities to find quality replacements for both Nebraska and Missouri, respectively. The question is whether they stick to thirteen until opportunities open up in the East or do they go for immediate replacements from the Big 12 remnants to keep the numbers even and then go from there. Maybe they'd get exemptions so that they won't have to get back to fourteen right away but the scheduling would be quite complicated.