Earlier this week the governor of the great state of Missouri (Jay Nixon) said that the University of Missouri should "consider" joining the Big 10 if the opportunity came available. This came as a response to the Big 10's announcement that they plan to expand to a 12th school within the next 3-5 years. They already have 11 teams (look for the hidden 11 in the above logo), and the addition of a 12th would afford the conference the opportunity to divide into two divisions in football and have a lucrative championship game.
So what are the schools that might be considered? Of course, their first choice would always be Notre Dame. ND has the logistics (they are basically in the center of the big 10, real estate wise), the money and the academics. The problem here is ND has too much TV money from football and they would be silly to share it. So according to reports the top names floating around (football wise) would be Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pitt and Missouri. Among other considerations, Syracuse basically is Big East basketball so this probably won't fly. West Virginia and Louisville have a few too many academic skeletons in the closet for the academia of the Big 10. So this leaves Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Missouri as the possible front runners.
In addition to our governor, Missouri AD Mike Alden sat down with the Columbia Daily Tribune to discuss this issue this week. Academics are about a wash. The Big 10 and Big 12 are in the top tier of big conferences with academics. The Big 10 is probably more known for their academics, but it is actually the Big 12 who has been leading all the BCS conferences with academic records and progress rates for their student athletes.
The Big 12 is slightly better in basketball at current, and without a doubt much better than the Big 10 in football (The Big 10 posted a 1-6 record in bowl games last year). But Football TV revenue is astronomically different among the Big 10 and Big 12. The SEC leads the pack as they should, considering they have the best football teams top to bottom in any conference. But the Big 10 splits TV revenue evenly among all it's schools, and has negotiated a much better TV contract. The Big 12 splits 50% of revenue among all the schools, the other 50% goes to which ever schools get the most national TV coverage. And the Big 12 TV contract is millions less per year than the Big 10.
Here's the the thing though, this deal smells a little for Mizzou. I already wrote a letter to Governor Nixon stating my concern about his promotion of this deal. His early remarks almost make Mizzou look desperate. Which why would we be?, we are in a better conference. The money issue is pretty easy to discern. Look at the concentrated population among the two conferences. The top three football schools in each conference (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas) are all national brands, meaning they have a national fan base. For goodness sake, I have seen "Nebraska" stores in Los Angeles and Estes Park, Colorado. These are basically stores that cater to no one else except Nebraska football fans. This level of program is "national."
Outside of those six teams, the money thing completely makes sense. The rest of the teams have to rely heavily on a statewide and alumni fan base. This is just an example, but Northwestern and the Illini can pull off of the massive Chicago population base. Meanwhile, Stillwater OK (home of OK State) has a population of 47,000 and they even have to compete with the behemoth Oklahoma for statewide fan support. These are the extreme examples, but overall the Big 10 states are more densely populated than the Big 12 states. So, complaining about the TV money is really like crying over spilled milk. More people are going to watch the "tier 2" Big 10 teams than the "tier 2" Big 12 teams, even if the Big 12 is better.
So, in summary. Just say no to Big 10 and Missouri. The Big 10 if "soft" right now. The Big 12 is solid. And who would want to give away the yearly home court basketball fights with Kansas. This border war has been going on in one form or another since the civil war. A move of conferences would not necessarily take the rivalry away, but we would not have two games a year both in each others venues, it would probably be one game in Kansas City, similar to what we do with the Illini now in St. Louis.
Speaking of that, Mizzou vs The Fighting Illini tonight in St. Louis. Go Mizzou!
And Merry Christmas!
