Category: College Baseball

Big 12 presidents and chancellors voted on Friday to accept BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston into the conference. In a statement, the Big 12 said the four schools were “approved unanimously by the eight continuing members.”

The move comes less than two months after Big 12 founding members Oklahoma and Texas announced they would join the SEC by July 1, 2025, putting the rest of the conference in a tough position. League officials moved quickly, picking top American Athletic Conference members Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston as well as independent BYU. The Big 12 was waiting until this week when those schools formally indicated they wanted to join the conference.

BYU will join the conference for the 2023-2024 season and the three AAC schools will join the conference no later than the 2024-2025 academic year according to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

An ESPN article stated that “AAC bylaws require schools to give a 27-month notice before they leave and pay a $10 million buyout fee. In that scenario, joining by the 2023 season would be a long shot, but some sources have said it is realistic. An earlier exit — with a higher buyout — is always a possibility. AAC commissioner Mike Aresco told ESPN on Friday that the conference will be willing to negotiate a higher exit fee to accommodate earlier departures for the three schools.” Assuming everything goes to plan, the AAC will likely be looking for new members soon.

The ACC needs to add Notre Dame as a full member to survive. With the latest moves in conference realignment (Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC), getting a “cash cow” like Notre Dame, who is already an affiliate (part) member of the conference.

Contractually, the Fighting Irish have to join the ACC. The only sports they do not play in the ACC in are football and hockey. Of course, they played in the ACC in football in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic last season. That worked out well, as Notre Dame made the ACC Championship Game en route to a College Football Playoff appearance. Notre Dame made more money playing in the ACC last season than playing as an independent. Anyone who thinks Notre Dame is going to join the Big Ten just because it makes sense regionally. The ACC Grant of Rights deal goes through 2036 and because of the ACC bylaws, leaving the ACC would forfeit any television revenue made for the school.

If Notre Dame agrees to join the conference full time, the reason would be is because the ACC would allow Notre Dame to choose the school joining them, making the conference even again. Baylor, Kansas, Navy, West Virginia, and others come to mind.

The one that comes to most people’s minds is West Virginia. The Mountaineers joining would rekindle their “Backyard Brawl” rivalry as well as it being a perfect regional fit. But, adding West Virginia wouldn’t make sense for the ACC just because the move does not add much to the conference.

It is highly unlikely that Notre Dame would pick any of the old Big 12 schools such as Baylor or Kansas.

But an old rival like Navy makes sense for the conference. While new TV markets don’t matter as much in this round of realignment, returning the Washington DC television market would only be beneficial. It would create a clear rivalry for Notre Dame, someone they can play during Thanksgiving weekend. Plus, adding the Army-Navy game every year will make the ACC even more revenue. Here is what the ACC could look like in football with Navy and Notre Dame:

North
Boston College
Louisville
Navy
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech

South
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Wake Forest

Moving to regional divisions benefits the ACC when it comes to eliminating long travels. The north division, outside of Navy and Virginia is essentially an old Big East. Clemson will likely own the football in the south division but will have to go through Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina.

The boards of regents in Oklahoma and Texas both unanimously voted to formally accept invitations to join the SEC.

The Oklahoma board of regents approved the Sooners’ eventual move to the SEC during a meeting on Friday, shortly after the Texas board did the same for the Longhorns. This weeks’ decisions will ultimately make the SEC the first 16-team superconference.

Texas and Oklahoma will join the SEC as late as July 1, 2025, but likely the two will pay out of their Big 12 media rights deal, that is set to end on June 30, 2025, that is worth $75-$80 million.

The 14 SEC Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously on Thursday to send invitations to Oklahoma and Texas. The sooners and longhorns have to officially accept the offer, which could happen as soon as Friday.

The board of regents for both Oklahoma and Texas have scheduled meetings on Friday morning where conference membership will be discussed. Oklahoma will meet in Oklahoma City and Texas will meet via conference call.

The move will happen no later than July 1, 2025 as the Big 12 media rights expire on June 30, 2025, but is expected to happen much earlier.

It is crazy to think that I could be writing about Texas and Oklahoma accepting invitations into the SEC tomorrow.

Rest In Peace Big 12.

On Monday morning, Oklahoma and Texas officially notified the Big 12 that they will not be renewing their grants of media rights after their expiration in 2025, according to a joint statement released by both schools. The statement said “Providing notice to the Big 12 at this point is important in advance of the expiration of the conference’s current media rights agreement,” the statement said. “The universities intend to honor their existing grant of rights agreements. However, both universities will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape as they consider how best to position their athletics programs for the future” in a report from ESPN.

Big 12 sources gives the two schools some “wiggle room” and doesn’t fully guarantee that the flagship schools would remain in the league through 2025. The possibility remains that they will pay the $75-80 million penalty for leaving early, while also giving the required 18 months’ notice according to Big 12 bylaws. The statement went on to acknowledge the disappointment the fellow eight Big 12 schools should be having but they also acknowledged the ongoing change coming to college athletics.

The next step would be for the two schools to formally let the SEC know they want to join the conference. Then the SEC would need 11 of its 14 presidents and chancellors to agree to extend an invitation to the two schools. Big 12 officials are wondering if and when that might happen.

SEC ADs were scheduled to participate in their weekly call Monday afternoon. The call had been rescheduled because of the league media days. The Big 12 executive committee met with the presidents of Texas and Oklahoma on Sunday. They are still trying to understand exactly what Oklahoma and Texas are looking for. Oklahoma and Texas officials were not immediately available for comment at the meeting. Despite earlier reports that the SEC would move forward with the current east-west division format, an SEC official said that the “pod” format is looking like the way the league could move forward. If the move were to go through, it is unclear how 2020s conference realignment moves would affect non-football sports.

After trying to get Oklahoma and Texas to remain in the Big 12 by offering them a financial structure that would offer more of the conference’s revenue, the Big 12 expects the Sooners and Longhorns to make an exit from the conference by telling them they will not extend their contract on Monday following June 30, 2025. It will be decided by Wednesday if Oklahoma and Texas get the 11 of 14 votes they need to receive an invitation from the SEC to join the conference. After mainly hearing reports after Texas A&M’s hard “no” at the SEC Media Days on Wednesday, it is hard to believe everyone in College Station will say the same thing. It is likely that the worse it can be for Oklahoma and Texas is a 13 to 1 vote when it comes to SEC institutions voting them in and the two powers receiving an invitation. Oklahoma and Texas have both “committed to leaving” the Big 12 but haven’t officially done that yet. It is likely they will each buy out of their 76$ million contract that goes the Big 12 within the next 18 to 24 months which would send them to the SEC as soon as 2022 but by at least 2023. The contract with the Big 12 goes through June 30, 2025. Reports are also saying that the “pod” format will not will work. Likely a division format, looking like this will be used:

East
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

West
Arkansas
LSU
Mississippi (Ole Miss)
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M

Likely the SEC would move to a nine or ten game conference model and eliminate permanent cross-divisional games (Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia, Arkansas-Missouri in what would be the former model). Thanksgiving rivalries for the SEC would be interesting. This is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart as the SEC ripped Arkansas’ game with LSU on Black Friday away from them and put the tigers with Texas A&M. Now that Texas and Texas A&M are in the same conference again it makes things simpler and more difficult. Alabama-Auburn, Mississippi State-Ole Miss, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, and Texas-Texas A&M would likely continue (or restart) their rivalries. It should also be assumed that even if the SEC adds a game or two to the conference schedule that Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Kentucky-Louisville, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State and South Carolina-Clemson should continue as interconfertnce rivalries. Now, dealing with the remaining three teams becomes important. Football wise, Missouri has won the last six against Arkansas, but many have been close games. Arkansas’ last win over Missouri was a 28-3 beatdown in 2015. Most likely, however, the SEC will choose to act first and make sure their “darling” LSU gets a sure-fire game on Black Friday and matches the tigers with the Razorbacks once again. It will be difficult for Missouri to find an opponent on Thanksgiving weekend, so if they’re okay with it, they will just either schedule a “cupcake” game or make it their bye week.

As of this point, it is looking like the Big 12 is dead. Kansas and Iowa State are the two most likely headed to the Big Ten, as both have been on calls with the conference within the last 48 hours. Baylor, TCU, and Texas Tech have been linked (and have reached out to) the Pac-12. West Virginia has done the same with the ACC but it is unclear that the Mountaineers will be able to join due to the conference’s academic standards. Notre Dame is under contract with the ACC, and if they want to be in line with the upcoming 12-team college football playoff, contractually they will have to join the ACC. Of course, similar to Oklahoma and Texas, they can buy out of their contract, join the Big Ten and make more revenue there, but like every other move, that will take time more than anything else. In that effect, Colorado, Oregon, UCLA, and USC have reached out to the Big Ten. To be honest, it is hard to worry about that right now with Texas and Oklahoma likely moving forward in their plans with the SEC. It is hard to imagine division alignments for any of these other conferences. The Name, Image, Likeness laws being passed to eliminate amateurism set this in motion. Less than a decade from now college sports could be split into the Big Ten and the SEC, who make the most and second most revenue of any conference.

When moves associated with the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 become more of a reality I will make more posts about them.

On the Paul Finebaum Show today at SEC Media Days, Houston Chronicle author Brent Zwerneman told viewers that as soon as two weeks from now the SEC could become the first Power 5 conference to reach 16 teams. The most dominant conference since it created the “conference championship” game in football in 1992 has not let up its hold on football dominance but overall sports dominance. Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork pointed out at SEC Media Days today that “We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas” following learning that hated instate rival Texas and Oklahoma were interested in joining the SEC. In a report first confirmed by the aforementioned Chronicle, the news stunned not only Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher and his two players at SEC Media Days but the entire league. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey responded to questions about the report in Hoover by saying “I do not respond to anonymous sources,”. It is clear that Oklahoma and Texas are very interested in the SEC but TV contracts, political pressure, and having to be approved by 11 of the 14 institutions already in the SEC will make it difficult to imagine the two joining without much difficulty. I will post more details in the coming days.