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Big 12 Expansion (teams + divisions)

OSU_Sports_Nut

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One of the hot topics regarding expansion is who will the Big 12 select. Many people do not want to see another Texas school added. Count me as one of those people who do not want another SWC. However, I believe Houston is a sleeping giant and will be included in the next round of expansion whether it is the Big 12, ACC, or PAC 12.


University of Houston (UH)
Website: http://www.uhcougars.com/
Location: Houston, TX (10th largest TV market)
Enrollment: 42,738
Stadium Name: TDECU Stadium (newly renovated)
Stadium Size: 40,000

They are a Carnegie school (very good academically), they have been very competitive in football over the years (last 3 coaches, last year, and potentially this year), they have an extremely large TV market, and they are located in one of the most fertile recruiting grounds. Can you imagine how powerful Houston could become if they joined the ACC or PAC 12? I could see the Big 12 adding Houston as a defensive move to keep them from joining the ACC or PAC 12 (to be proactive before one the other conferences starts adding more teams again). Personally, I would love to see Baylor get voted out of the Big 12 and replaced by Houston. That would be a win-win for everyone. Plus, the Big 12 already has 1 private school in TCU, so we don't necessarily need another in the conference for tax purposes.


Brigham Young University (BYU)
Website: http://byucougars.com/home/m-football
Location: Provo, UT (national following)
Enrollment: 29,672 (very large for a private school)
Stadium Name: LaVell Edwards Stadium
Stadium Size: 63,470

BYU has one of the largest undergrad private school enrollments, a fairly large following with good name recognition (the Mormon version of Notre Dame), and been very competitive in the major sports.


San Diego State University (SDSU)
Website: http://www.goaztecs.com/facilities/qualcomm_stadium.html
Location: San Diego, CA (28th largest TV market)
Enrollment: 33,527
Stadium Name: Qualcomm Stadium (NFL stadium 5 miles from campus)
Stadium Size: 70,561

San Diego State University could also be a sleeping giant. They play their football games less than 5 miles from their campus in an NFL stadium in the 28th largest TV market. The state of California is one of the top 3 recruiting areas, it has some of the largest and most densely populated cities in the US (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, etc), and might be a welcomed travel destination for fans attending an away game.


University of Central Florida (UCF)
Website: http://www.ucfathletics.com
Location: Orlando, FL (19th largest TV market)
Enrollment: 63,016 (1st in the country)
Stadium Name: Bright House Networks Stadium
Stadium Size: 45,301

The University of Central Florida is another potential sleeping giant with the size of the school (alumni base), recruiting location (one of the top 3 recruiting regions in the country), and a great TV market being in the state of Florida with cities such as Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando (a top 20 TV market), two years ago they won a BCS game against Baylor, and have a new up-and-coming head football coach in Scott Frost.


University of Connecticut (UCONN)
Website: http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/conn-m-footbl-body.html
Location: East Hartford, CT (near major cities like Boston and New York City)
Enrollment: 31,119
Stadium Name: Pratt & Whitney Stadium
Stadium Size: 40,642

This would put the Big 12 in the NYC and Boston area with great proximity to ESPN headquarters, but let's not fool ourselves. The main thing UCONN brings to the conference is the basketball brand which is much like Kansas. However, they did make a BCS game in 2011.


I also believe the conference needs to move away from the North/South divisions from years past. This will allow the Big 12 to more evenly spread out the divisions. In addition, it will allow the conference to add the best available east and west coast teams (increasing recruiting grounds, TV markets, added exposure). This would allow the conference to have 11:00am CST games every week from one of the east coast teams (West Virginia, UCONN, Central Florida) and evening games at 6:00pm CST with one of the west coast teams (BYU or San Diego State).

West
OU
OSU
ISU
TCU
+ Houston - Baylor
+ BYU
+ San Diego State

East
Texas
TT
KSU
Kansas
West Virginia
+ Central Florida
+ UCONN

Every year teams would have to play everyone in their division (6 games), then have 1 rivalry game against a team from the other division early in the season (at a neutral site), and have 2 rotating games against teams from the other division (much like the SEC for a total of 9 conference games). The rivalry games would be played in major cities (for additional exposure) and be played early in the season (much like the SEC because there are only a few good matchups to watch early in the year).

Rivalry Games (neutral site)
OSU vs West Virginia (week #1 in St. Louis)
Houston vs Central Florida (week #1 in Atlanta)
TCU vs KSU (week #2 in Nashville or Memphis)
San Diego State vs. Kansas (week #2 in Denver)
TT vs BYU (week #3 in Phoenix)
Iowa State vs UCONN (week #3 in Cincinnati)
OU vs. Texas (week #6 in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl)
 
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After the crazy summer of 2021 when the entire college football world was turned upside down after OU and Texas announced they were leaving for the SEC and the Big 12 added 4 new teams.

In the following scenarios, teams will have to play everyone in their division (5 games), then have 1 rivalry game against a team from the other division early in the season (at a neutral site and rotated between the two cities), and have 3 rotating games against teams from the other division (for a total of 9 conference games). This would give each team 4 conference home games, 4 conference away games, and 1 neutral site game every year in addition to their 3 non conference games. The rivalry games would be played in major cities (for additional exposure and be played early in the season much like the SEC because there are only a few good matchups to watch early in the year). Here are two ideas on how to evenly split the conference (for team and recruiting balance).

IDEA #1 - keeps teams closer geographically and keeps the new AAC teams in the same division.

West
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
TCU
Iowa State
Kansas State
+ BYU

East
West Virginia
Kansas
Baylor
+ Houston
+ UCF
+ Cincinnati

Rivalry Games (neutral site)
TT vs West Virginia (week #1 in St. Louis or Memphis)
KSU vs. Kansas (week #1 in Denver or KC)
OSU vs Central Florida (week #2 in Atlanta or New Orleans)
TCU vs Baylor (week #2 in Dallas or Houston)
Houston vs BYU (week #3 in Phoenix or Las Vegas)
ISU vs Cincinnati (week #3 in Indianapolis or Chicago)

IDEA #2 - not exactly split east vs west but helps with more balance of the new teams and gives us better rivalry matchups.

West
Oklahoma State
Iowa State
Kansas State
TCU
+ Houston
+ BYU

East
West Virginia
Kansas
Texas Tech
Baylor
+ UCF
+ Cincinnati

Rivalry Games (neutral site)
Houston vs Central Florida (week #1 in Atlanta or New Orleans)
KSU vs. Kansas (week #1 in Denver or KC)
OSU vs West Virginia (week #2 in St. Louis or Memphis)
TCU vs Baylor (week #2 in Dallas or Houston)
TT vs BYU (week #3 in Phoenix or Las Vegas)
ISU vs Cincinnati (week #3 in Indianapolis or Chicago)
 
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There is also talk of the Big 12 going to 16 teams with 4 pods. If this happens, here are the teams I would like the Big 12 to consider (in red) and here's how I would like to see the conference split (for team and recruiting balance)

Pod #1
OSU
ISU
TCU
Baylor

Pod #2
Texas Tech
+ Houston
KSU
Kansas

Pod #3
West Virginia
+ UCF
+ Cincinnati
+ Memphis or Louisville or USF

Pod #4
+ BYU
+ Boise State
+ San Diego State
+ Fresno State or UNLV or Colorado State

Every year teams would have to play everyone in their pod (3 games), another pod (4 games), then have 2 games against teams from the other pod and the best 1 of these games would be played early in the season at a neutral site (for a total of 9 conference games). This would give each team 4 conference home games, 4 conference away games, and 1 neutral site game every year in addition to each teams 3 non conference games. The neutral site games would be played in major cities (for additional exposure) and be played early in the season (much like the SEC because there are only a few good matchups to watch early in the year).

Neutral Game Sites
week #1 in St. Louis or Memphis
week #1 in Atlanta or New Orleans
week #1 in Washington DC or Pittsburg
week #2 in Dallas or Houston
week #2 in Denver or KC
week #3 in Phoenix or Las Vegas
week #3 in Indianapolis or Nashville
week #3 in Los Angeles or San Francisco
 
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I hope we don't go after two universities in the same state. If the Big 12 is trying to expand our reach, then only one university should be added from each state.

I'd love to see us get a team from California for obvious recruiting reasons and away trips. I'm not a huge fan of adding Colorado because nobody in that state cares about college football. I'm also not a fan of adding another Utah school. I could see the Big 12 adding Washington or Washington State, but I still think the Big 10 is going to add two more from the PAC-12 (probably Oregon and either Washington or Utah).

If the Big 12 going to 16 teams with 4 pods, here are some teams the Big 12 should consider and how I would like to see the conference split (for team and recruiting balance).

IDEA #1

Pod #1 South

TCU
Baylor
Texas Tech
Houston

Pod #2 North
OSU
ISU
KSU
Kansas

Pod #3 East
West Virginia
UCF
Cincinnati
+ Louisville or Memphis

Pod #4 West
BYU
+ Arizona or Arizona State
+ Oregon or Oregon State
+ Sanford, Cal, or San Diego State

IDEA #2

Pod #1 South

OSU
TCU
Baylor
Houston

Pod #2 North
KSU
Kansas
Texas Tech
BYU

Pod #3 East
West Virginia
ISU
Cincinnati
UCF

Pod #4 West
+ Arizona or Arizona State
+ Oregon or Oregon State
+ Washington or Washington State
+ Sanford, Cal, or San Diego State

In the above scenarios, pod #1 (South) would play 1/2 of the teams in pod #2 (North) and all of the teams in pod #3 (East) in years 1-2. In years 3-4, pod #1 (South) would play the remaining two teams in pod #2 (North) and all of the teams in pod #4 (West). This means every team would play everyone (home and away) after 4 years.

It would also mean, those eastern teams would only have to face 2 of those western teams every 2 years (cutting down travel). For example, pod #3 (East) would play 1/2 of the teams in pod #4 (West) and all of the teams in pod #1 (South) in years 1-2. In years 3-4, pod #3 (East) would play the two remaining teams in pod #4 (West) and all of the teams in pod #2 (North). This means would cut down the travel for those eastern and western teams.
 
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Today (July 27th, 2023) we learned the Big 12 is adding the University of Colorado in 2024.




Good read from Sports Illustrated and it gives some great insight about the Big 12 commissioner. I'm glad he's on our side.


If you want to learn more about commissioner Brett Yormark, listen to the interview from the Joel Klatt Show just a few days earlier on July 24th.


 
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As of 08/04/23 all of these moves are confirmed, I hope the Big 12 goes with 4 pods. Below is how the conference would look using Pods (for team and recruiting balance).

OPTION #1
For example, Pod #3 (East) would ONLY have to play 1/2 of the teams in Pod #4 (West) and all of the teams in Pod #1 (South) in year 1. In year 2, Pod #3 (East) would ONLY play the two remaining teams in Pod #4 (West) and all of the teams in Pod #2 (North).

OPTION #2
Everybody plays the teams in their pod and one of those games is at a neutral site (1 home+ 1 away + 1 neutral= 3 games). Then each team plays 2 teams (1 home + 1 away) from all of the other 3 pods. This equals 3 home + 3 away = 6 games total. The following year you still play everybody in your pod, but you play the other 2 teams you didn't play the previous year from the other 3 pods.

Both pod options above would cut down the travel for everyone . Additionally, teams would face their closest rivals from their pod every year and still play every team in the conference within 2 years (for a total 9 conference games each year). This would also guarantee oSu would play a game in the state of Texas every year. Additionally, IF the neutral game site was played in Dallas every year that would give oSu two guaranteed games in Texas every year (same as now).

Pod #1 South
TCU
Baylor
Texas Tech
Houston

Pod #2 North
OSU
Colorado
KSU
Kansas

Pod #3 East
ISU
West Virginia
UCF
Cincinnati

Pod #4 West
BYU
Utah
Arizona
Arizona State

 
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I think it'll be very important for the Big 12 conference to find creative ways to get more eyeballs on the games. Here are 4 ideas:

1) Every team playing 1 early conference game in September just like the SEC. Typically early in the season there's not a lot of great matchups. Just like the SEC does, early season conference games gives teams a chance for added national exposure (less good matchups early in the year means less competition for airtime) and it also allows teams to schedule an easy game later in the year and use it as a way to heal up from injuries against an inferior team from another conference.

2) Every team playing 1 Thursday or Friday evening game every season in October or November (AFTER a bye week). All bye weeks must be played starting in October and finish before the last week in November.

3) Add a conference network app that LIVE streams conference games not purchased by ESPN or Fox and charge $99 a year for full access to your team or $149 for ALL TEAMS (plus additional streaming options like radio & previously played games). For example, the app could have a radio streaming option for those who can't watch the games. Additionally, 12 hours after games are aired on other networks the conference could get the rights to replay those games on the app commercial free (to do this they might have to pay ESPN and Fox each $5-10 for each app subscription per year). To keep broadcast costs down, each school would be responsible for putting together the broadcast team for all home games not aired by the major networks (i.e. for oSu it would be Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb).

4) Every team playing 1 neutral site game against someone in their same pod every year. Here's how those neutral site games within the same pod would work. This would also mean more scheduling balance because every team would play 4 conference home games, 4 conference away games, and 1 game at a neutral site (preferably in a new major TV market). This would allow the Big 12 conference to get added exposure in different regions, which makes the conference more valuable for future media deals and helps with recruiting in those regions.

OPTION #1 = OCTOBER NEUTRAL SITE GAMES
Week 1 = OSU vs KSU (KC or Dallas)
Week 2 = Cincinnati vs ISU (Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis)
Week 3 = KU vs Colorado (KC or Dallas)
Week 4 = UCF vs West Virginia (Atlanta or Charlotte)

OPTION #1 = NOVEMBER NEUTRAL SITE GAMES
Week 1 = Houston vs Baylor (New Orleans, San Antonio, or Dallas)
Week 2 = Arizona vs Utah (Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, or Los Angeles)
Week 3 = Texas Tech vs TCU (San Antonio, Memphis, or Houston)
Week 4 = ASU vs BYU (Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, or Los Angeles)

The games above might be a hard sell to expect teams and fans to travel every year to a neutral site just to play some team in the Big 12. Below are other possible matchups against huge rivalries and these games would ADD to the excitement nationally and potential additional eyeballs watching & attending the games. However, most teams may not want to give up a home game against their biggest rival. If nothing else, I hope the Big 12 spreads out these rivalry games so they are not all played at the end of the year when every other team is playing their rivalry game (too much competition for other college football fans to start caring about our conference games nationally). Additionally, what I like about neutral site "rivalry" games (like OU/Texas) is that MORE FANS can attend these games EVERY YEAR. For example, most OSU fans only get to attend the OSU vs OU games every other year in Stillwater because there are only 3,500 to 5,000 tickets available to OSU fans at OU. However, if this game was played in Dallas, each team would get 35,000 to 40,000. I think this adds to the rivalry and hatred between the teams.

OPTION #2 = OCTOBER NEUTRAL SITE "RIVALRY" GAMES
Week 1 = Texas Tech vs Houston (Dallas or San Antonio)
Week 2 = UCF vs ISU (Atlanta, St. Louis, or Nashville)
Week 3 (TH or FRI) = West Virginia vs Cincinnati (Pittsburg)
Week 4 (TH or FRI) = KU vs KSU (KC)

OPTION #2 = NOVEMBER NEUTRAL SITE "RIVALRY" GAMES
Week 1 = Arizona vs ASU (Los Angeles or Las Vegas)
Week 2 = OSU vs Colorado (Dallas)
Week 3 = Utah vs BYU (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco)
Week 4 (TH or FRI) = Baylor vs TCU (New Orleans or San Antonio)

All of these ideas will add more excitement for the conference and more coverage for each university, which equates to higher payouts for each team (i.e. media rights deal). Additionally, the basketball would be incredible and I could see the Big 12 doing something unheard of and breaking off basketball for its own media rights deal. That is something Brett Yormark has mentioned multiple times.

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Some other ideas for the conference include:
1) create an analytics/metrics app for recruiting that is exclusively used by conference teams. This app would be created by the Big 12 students, faculty, and alumni and the app would be owned by the conference.

2) create an app for fan engagement to guess different scores during the game, answer trivia questions, and some other interactive things throughout the game. Additionally, at the end of each quarter the stadium can show the top 25 fans on the scoreboard and all of those fans win merchandise, but only 1 person wins a trip for 4 people to travel with the team to an away game. This app would be created by the Big 12 students, faculty, and alumni and the app would be owned by the conference.

3) the Big 12 conference could require certain game day atmospheres like carnival type of games for fans to win home team merchandise (to help create a better game day atmosphere and build the brand of the team and conference).
 
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The Big 12’s NEW deal is a $380 million annual package, which translates to just under $31.7 million for each of the 12 schools which will be part of the conference after Texas and Oklahoma leave. Any additional Power 5 teams added will get the same distribution.

There has been some talk about equal vs unequal distributions for conferences and which one works best. Typically, those unequal distributions were tied to a specific team every year no matter their performance. I would propose a modified version of both to incentivize teams to not sit back and be content with a guaranteed paycheck each year. Additionally, the better teams will be compensated for making the conference stronger and better (keeping them happy and not looking for something better). Here is how a setup like this might work. Each team is evenly distributed 88.5% of the earnings. The remaining 11.5% is unequally distributed not by team name, but on wins and losses (using the College Football Playoff poll for the top 25, then for the rest of the teams use the total number of conference wins, then total non-conference wins, then margin of victory, etc). Here is what this model would look like with 16 teams:

$31,700,000 x 16 teams = $507,200,000 total revenue for conference
$507,200,000 x 11.5% = $58,328,000 available for unequal distribution
$31,700,000 x 88.5% = $28,054,500 equally distributed per team

Top CFP Big 12 Teams 1-4
$58,328,000 x 55% (unequal rev share)
= $32,080,400 / 4 teams = $8,020,100
= $28,054,500 + $8,020,100
= $36,074,600

Middle CFP Big 12 Teams 5-8
$58,328,000 x 30% = $17,498,400
$17,498,400 / 4 = $4,374,600
= $28,054,500 + $4,374,600
= $32,429,100

Lower CFP Big 12 Teams 9-12
$58,328,000 x 15% = $8,749,200
= $8,749,200 / 4 = $2,187,300
= $28,054,500 + $2,187,300
= $30,241,800

Bottom CFP Big 12 Teams 13-16
= $28,054,500
+ $0 additional revenue

Eventually, when the basketball revenue is split from the football media rights this model can be applied to the basketball revenue.
 
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Utah fans are VERY arrogant... I guess they are trying to steal the arrogance trophy from OU and Texas.

This is definitely bulletin board material for the rest of the conference. It's hard to believe how arrogant these fans are. Somehow they have forgotten about being in the Mountain West 13 years ago. It's not like they've been in a Power 5 conference dominating competition for the past 50 years (like a REAL blueblood). Instead, the past few years Utah has been taking advantage of playing average teams at USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington.































 
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What if the Big 12 added Stanford and UCONN and formed 3 pods of 6 teams to become the Big 18? In this scenario, each team plays every team in their pod yearly with one of those games being at a neutral site (2 home + 2 away + 1 neutral). Then each team would play 2 teams from the other pods each year (2 home + 2 away). This would be 9 total conference games (4 home + 4 away + 1 neutral games per year).

WEST
Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Utah, Texas Tech, Stanford

CENTRAL
Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Kansas, Colorado, TCU, Baylor

EAST
Iowa State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, UCONN

Here's what the neutral games would look like. This setup would add more excitement for the conference and more coverage for each university (mostly new major TV markets), which equates to higher payouts for each team (i.e. media rights deal).

SEPTEMBER NEUTRAL SITE "RIVALRY" GAME
Week 1 = West Virginia vs UCONN (Philadelphia)

OCTOBER NEUTRAL SITE "RIVALRY" GAMES
Week 1 = Cincinnati vs ISU (Indianapolis, Chicago, or St. Louis)
Week 2 (TH or FRI) = KU vs KSU (KC)
Week 3 = UCF vs Houston (New Orleans)
Week 4 = Stanford vs Texas Tech (Las Vegas or Los Angeles)

NOVEMBER NEUTRAL SITE "RIVALRY" GAMES
Week 1 = Arizona vs ASU (Los Angeles or Las Vegas)
Week 2 = OSU vs Colorado (Dallas)
Week 3 = Utah vs BYU (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco)
Week 4 (TH or FRI) = Baylor vs TCU (New Orleans or San Antonio)

 
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