MizzouTiger92

You’re in for a treat—I lived in Columbia for years and loved it. Laura Rutledge called it most underrated college town in the US and Kirk Herbstreit said he’d be proud to have his kids go there:

Kirk: “I love going to Columbia, Missouri. That is a really underrated campus. It shocked me when I went there because I really didn't know what to expect. I have four boys, and if they ever ended up saying they wanted to go to Missouri, I'd be very happy for them. It's a clean campus, they love sports, they're diehards when it comes to the Tigers, and I don't think a lot of people realize how good it is. I'd put that on there.“

Laura: “It’s funny because I spend a ton of time in the SEC," she said. "And I think a lot of people, when Missouri joined the conference, people felt it was far away. The reality is, that’s the new college football. People travel across the country to see all of their teams. I think Columbia, Missouri is really underrated. There’s so many great places to eat there and it definitely has more of that old school, Big 12 vibe. But they are passionate about college football there and it’s really great in Columbia."

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A couple questions:

- If this was sexual abuse, why didn’t she approach police and serve as a witness in the criminal case and file civil suit in state court? Why did she use the campus Title IX office?
- Why didn’t she immediately hang up the phone and inform university officials? What did she do and say before, during, and after this call
- why did she have 36 calls afterward? Was she in touch with the university and asked to continue these calls? If so, sounds like entrapment and a conspiracy to get them out of this massive contract.
- I think this thing will be a headache for MSU as he will fight it. It’s obviously immoral behavior and reflects poorly on the university, but when it’s limited to phone (non-physical) interaction and appeared consensual, how far does the definition stretch?
- If you’re a HC at a university, don’t engage in any behavior that can be perceived as immoral. It’s not worth it.

The Big 10 and SEC are proxy battles for the tv networks — Fox and ESPN. Both are working behind the scenes to make sure the other is blocked from relevant deals, schools, and markets. Since ESPN is already with the ACC and SEC, I think they will fight tooth and nail to keep any ACC schools away from the Big 10, either now (in the event a school finds a way to exit the GOR) or when the ACC deal ends in 2036. Remember ESPN has no Big 10 deal (at least until the next round of negotiations) so any expansion of ACC schools to Big 10 cuts ESPN out.

Fox is also a huge winner in the Big 10 expansion with OU and WU. They don’t have to extend their rights deal with the PAC12 and get just two of those schools (rather than rights fees for 12 schools) at a partial share. It’s just good business. The losers: all the athletes who pull out a map and realize they’ll spend most their time in airports and their families will seldom be able to attend their games.

I think these teams would add value to BIG in football, but for all other sports, I feel bad for these players. I realize they’d have some sort of West Coast wing and group the 4 (or even 6) schools together, but after that, the next closest school is Nebraska, which is a BIG school in name only. You’d have to play these other schools for some purpose. Imagine going to a volleyball or track tournament with a 3-4 hour flight.

I love Columbia, MO — lived there for 7 years and my wife and I still look back really fondly at our time there. The downtown has expanded really nicely with restaurants, bars, stores, and real estate for students. The larger city has great trails (MKT), parks, and places to live/eat. Come visit for a game and you won’t be disappointed!

Kind of bummed they nixed the 4 pod system—I love the NFL model and think it would help develop some insane rivalries with a team playing a fixed 3 teams every year, and then have better rotation among the remaining SEC teams on a 9 game conference schedule.

For how well OSU played GA in the playoffs this year, the B10 has not been relevant in postseason at all. For all the B10 TV viewership and massive broadcast deal they just signed, their product just isn’t that interesting and I know they have a ceiling at the end of the year—they are not part of the national championship picture. What they have done well though is create a product with coast-to-coast national appeal in large markets and a perception that their teams are really good (MI, OSU), but at the end of the day, if you’re interested in national championships, you have to be following the SEC.

I still remember when the 3 commissioners got together on their self-righteous soap box to talk about a gentleman’s handshake agreement based on shared values, dignity, respect, friendship, and traditions. Look at those unwashed barbarians of the SEC raiding other conferences. We have no specific contract for anything, but we stand united against this unchecked aggression in our civilized world.

And then the BIG raids the PAC12 and sets it up for collapse. What a joke. Here’s the reality:

- Any conference would’ve taken TX and OU. You’d be fired for not taking the call.
- The BIG is a competitive conference and wants to win and make more money. Stop acting like you are morally superior cultural elites.
- The BIG used this agreement to create a false sense of calm and delay the CFP expansion to help FOX be at the table. It also covered up the BIG’s true intentions — raid the PAC.

What a joke.

For anyone that was really dialed into what was happening and was keeping their ear to the ground, I think they could have seen OU/TX projecting their moves years in advance. If Bowlsby was paying attention, he would have seen the chess moves being made and major problems in advance. A couple articles highlight the exact moves being projected:

- In 2016, the Big 12 conducted a nationwide review of 11 possible additions. Both OU/TX said they would not agree to an extension of their grant of rights (GOR) beyond 2025, regardless of the expansion outcome. At the same time, the ACC had agreed to a GOR through 2036 (a 20 year extension) with the creation of the ACC ESPN Network. Several sources also told CBS Sports that OU/TX wanted the flexibility to explore their options after 2025. The existing Big 12 schools also decided against expansion, even though 4 schools could have added an additional $800m-$1b in revenue under existing rights agreements. Both ESPN and FOX were against expansion. LINK /

- In 2017, Paul Finebaum said he had spoke with multiple sources that said OU wanted out of the Big 12. OU had previously bragged they were invited to the SEC in 2010 and TX was "30 minutes" from leaving for the PAC12 at the same time. He also predicted the Big 12 would cease to exist in 5 years and that expansion always goes "in twos." He said the lack of a sports network was a critical problem. LINK /

- In 2019, a sports columnist at AL.Com pretty much predicted everything that would happen. He said the Big 12 was the key to SEC expansion, expansion would come at the Big 12's expense, said realignment would crank up in 2022 with the expiration of TV deals in the Big 12 and Big 10, and spoke at length about OU/UT as the obvious additions with the growing gap in television revenue. LINK