The other thing to consider about the Big 12: I think their commissioner (Yormark?) has played his hand masterfully. Whether it’s inviting Arizona or UConn, and potentially adding other ACC brands down the line, it’s clear that his priorities are on basketball, not football. This is evident by the fact that he’s looked at poaching the northeast Big East basketball schools and even splitting up the football/basketball media contracts.
I think this is how he envisions their end game: eventually, the Big Ten and SEC are going to split off and do their own thing. However, what do you do with March Madness in that case? There’s a lot of money to be made from the tournament, and he’s guaranteed that his conference will be involved in the future of collegiate athletics no matter what because you can’t have a basketball tournament without Kansas, Arizona, UConn, etc. If they’re able to eventually get other brands like Louisville if/when the ACC collapses, it has the making of the strongest basketball conference while also being respectable enough at football.
Given what he had to work with, I think it’s a great strategy.
I think this is how he envisions their end game: eventually, the Big Ten and SEC are going to split off and do their own thing. However, what do you do with March Madness in that case? There’s a lot of money to be made from the tournament, and he’s guaranteed that his conference will be involved in the future of collegiate athletics no matter what because you can’t have a basketball tournament without Kansas, Arizona, UConn, etc. If they’re able to eventually get other brands like Louisville if/when the ACC collapses, it has the making of the strongest basketball conference while also being respectable enough at football.
Given what he had to work with, I think it’s a great strategy.