(10-22-2020 12:42 PM)vandiver49 Wrote: (10-22-2020 08:27 AM)Gamecock Wrote: If you put a gun to my head I would say ECU or UCF because at least there is a consistent fanbase at both schools. It's not hard to imagine them getting 60k+ butts in seats for SEC games. UCF is a huge market with huge undergraduate population. ECU is smaller but at least brings in a new state/region and there is a long and proud tradition there.
They'd be very, very far down the list of actual candidates though and I'd prefer to just contract to 12 or 10 schools before adding them.
Agreed.
Yes, if the SEC was landing Texas or Oklahoma I'd be willing to discuss T.C.U. or even Baylor as the oldest and most historic of the Texas schools. If something happened to the ACC and North Carolina wanted a Southern landing space then Duke would be appropriate to the discussion.
But let's get real. The SEC schools will minimally be making 68 million per school in payouts by 2024, if not sooner if ABC buys CBS's remaining rights out. At that kind of payout only Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame add value. Any of them could be added with a school of somewhat lesser value and possibly justify the move. So the ability of a private to get in with one of the Publics would mean that the only private schools that could remotely enter the discussion would be Baylor, T.C.U., Duke, possibly Miami, and Northwestern. And now when you remove those unlikely to move it just leaves Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor and T.C.U.
The SEC would simply remain at 13 if Vanderbilt stepped down unless Texas and Oklahoma joined. Then likely the last spot would simply go to Kansas or Texas Tech. But if a private had to be claimed TCU's advantage is an actually presence in DFW and Baylor's advantage is its position relative to Texas Higher Education. My money would be on Kansas or Texas Tech.
But here's the real issue. If there is a breakaway there will be consolidation, not expansion, and there is a strong possibility that we wind up as one closed league in which our conference titles simply become divisional names for what would be more or less a regional placement of breakaway schools regardless of their old conference affiliations.