To counter Fodor's argument, there are tons of reasons Texas would join the Big Ten.
First and foremost, They already tried to get in once! From the Big Ten Wikipedia Page
UT next approached the Big Ten. Having added Penn State in 1990, the Big Ten was now made of universities that, in the view of UT officials, matched UT's profile — large state schools with strong academic reputations. Berdahl liked the fact that all 11 conference members belonged to the American Association of Universities.
Yet, distance remained a disadvantage. Iowa, the closest Big Ten school to Austin, was 856 miles away.
But after adding Penn State in 1990, Big Ten officials had put a four-year moratorium on expansion. Although admitting interest, Big Ten bosses ultimately rejected UT's overtures.
That basically sums up why Texas would want to join. It's a big state school and wants to be in a league with other big state schools. It wants to increase it's academic standing and it's research ability which is something the Big Ten can provide.
The other reason is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. The Big 12 has an uneven distribution of revenue. Revenue is distributed by appearances on TV. This is good for UT when they are doing well in basketball and football, but what happens when thier sports are down? The dollars go down as well.
Also, with this uneven revenue distribution, every Big Ten school made more money then them last year. Adding Texas, and it's major TV markets, would increase the amount of money for every school including Texas.
So the main question for Texas is, is the increase in revenue worth the increase in travel expenses?
As for me with Big Ten expansion, I have adopted a go big or go home mentality. I don't want to add a school just to add a school. I want a school that will make the confrence great. So here's my list of schools I want to join in order.
1. Texas
2. Nebraska
That's it. I don't want Pitt or West Virginia or Rutgers. I want those two schools. Unless of course we become the Big 14 then I'll take Mizzou too.
Also, apparently there is a lot of turmoil between the Big XII schools. Aparently the Texas' schools don't like the other 8 schools and vice versa. I've read this a few places and SI.com's Stewart Mandel touches on this on his podcast this week about Pac-10 expansion and the possibilty of them gettin Colorado
ReplyDeleteSo, I think Texas as a Big Ten member would be bad ass.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see texas in the big 12 but if we cant get them my second choice out of everybody in the big 12 is Kansas.
ReplyDeleteKansas, Nebraska, and Missouri... let's just destroy the Big 12 North! Hell, we can poach Texas and Iowa State while we're at it.
ReplyDelete