Conference Realignment..?

[columbusdjkc]

Spent a week in Columbus for work. It is a shit city with shit fans.

I couldn’t disagree more. I lived in Grove City just outside of Columbus for two years. I DJ’d on North High street in the gateway project for almost the entire time and I thought the fans were always nice and in my opinion Columbus is nicer then most everywhere in Kansas.

[Deleted User 89]

that’s not really sayin much

lol

[Sparko]

C-Dot making something of a fool of himself today dissing KU. He is a Mizzou guy.

[NewtonHawk11]

He gets the jokes off. He also receives them well. But also mentioned yesterday (and it’s true) KU has a better fan base in KC and has more eyes on them then Mizzou. Mizzou has STL on lock, but KU has KC pretty locked down.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Great article on The Athletic today, Bill Self being the KU interviewee.

Excerpts:

as one industry source, who assumed I’d get these numbers, said: “You’re going to find that Kansas and Kentucky are off the charts in viewers, and then there is everyone else.”

. . .

“I do think this is basically all around football,” Kansas basketball coach Bill Self told The Athletic. “But I do think there’s some things that a school could bring to the table and not necessarily be focused on all football, and that would be, do you have a brand? What is your national brand? And would that be something that could benefit people? I think academic reputation is going to be very, very important that leagues can look at or mergers can look at and say, ‘How do all the schools mix,’ based on similar type of philosophy academically. So I think there’s a lot of things that go into it.
“But I do think having a brand in a sport … is something that could be beneficial.”

. . .

“From a basketball coach’s perspective, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Big 12 and the competitiveness of the league,” Self said. “It’s provided the interest and ability to recruit guys to maybe as competitive a league as there has been in America. I have enjoyed that, but maybe there’s something out there better. Maybe there’s something out there that’ll be more of a challenge. I know that Kansas basketball will be fine over time, but we shouldn’t look at it as just Kansas basketball. We should look at it as the University of Kansas.”

https://theathletic.com/2752799/2021/08 ... t-landing/

[CrimsonNBlue]

Making assumptions based on Self's guarded quotes, he talks about brand and academics. We know what KU's pitch is and it would seem to be directed at B1G.

[Deleted User 89]

cough cough AAU cough cough

[ChalkRocker]

A couple of west-coast takes, fwiw, via the LA Times (pretty cynical):

"Conference realignment roundtable: Will the Pac-12 and Big 12 really merge?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb ... hp&pc=U531

[PhDhawk]

cough cough AAU cough cough

You better get tested for covid

[Sparko]

I see Kansas Jayhawk gear pretty frequently when traveling--clearly one of the best repped universities that way with its own unique logo that people love. Without the NCAA taking its giant share of BB revenue, there is a chance you could see UK and KU becoming pretty SEC-like.

Also: a lot of rivals were taking shots at the Twitter ad, basically saying it was ridiculous. One guy on the 365 Baylor broadcast even claimed that Lawrence wasn't that close to KC. Um, yeah. Sorry MU. It is a short easy drive away. Hell, Quantrill made it on horseback overnight. He also doesn't understand the Missouri ratio potential between KU and its former rival. Anything either school tweets out will get hammered by the other fan base.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Without going into 365 Baylor guy's failure to understand geography, I am going to assume he is just mad that KC embraces KU/Lawrence while DFW would like to be much further than 90 minutes away from Waco.

[NewtonHawk11]

Apparently Vernon is going to drop a hearings at some point today....

[Sparko]

Without going into 365 Baylor guy's failure to understand geography, I am going to assume he is just mad that KC embraces KU/Lawrence while DFW would like to be much further than 90 minutes away from Waco.

Yeah--poor Waco. Really desperate times. They put out hours of realignment content every day. The older guy is pretty level-headed, but they have some screaming homers. KU isn't just a BB power--it basically invented the game and invitational championships. And they have NO clue about how much money or why Kansas sports' brand is so marketable. In the B1G, Kansas would be a top-tier money program already, rather than 28th. Incidentally, OU and UT stopped the 12 from offering other schools so they could max out their bank before they left. Good riddance.

Some of the regional sports folks are pretty good--Nevada Buckeye made some really good points on why KU would be a good fit for the B1G based on inside sources.

[shindig]

[NewtonHawk11]

The other B1G targets he mentioned is a tad unsettling.

KU staying very quiet, but behind the scenes are confident. Good sign. KU will land somewhere bigger. Just depends on where.

[Deleted User 89]

“other targets” could easily just mean a western partner...CU (or isu)

or if i’m being really crazy, usc

[twocoach]

But I was told that we had boosters who would happily pay any fee, no matter how large.... people sure love spending rich people's money for them.

[CrimsonNBlue]

But I was told that we had boosters who would happily pay any fee, no matter how large.... people sure love spending rich people's money for them.

I just don't see KU, even OU or UT, ever having to pay that full exit fee.

[twocoach]

I see Kansas Jayhawk gear pretty frequently when traveling--clearly one of the best repped universities that way with its own unique logo that people love. Without the NCAA taking its giant share of BB revenue, there is a chance you could see UK and KU becoming pretty SEC-like.

Also: a lot of rivals were taking shots at the Twitter ad, basically saying it was ridiculous. One guy on the 365 Baylor broadcast even claimed that Lawrence wasn't that close to KC. Um, yeah. Sorry MU. It is a short easy drive away. Hell, Quantrill made it on horseback overnight. He also doesn't understand the Missouri ratio potential between KU and its former rival. Anything either school tweets out will get hammered by the other fan base.

I wear KU gear on every trip I take and have never once had a trip where I didn't get a "Rock Chalk" in response to my stuff. The Caribbean, East Coast, West Coast, even ran into a fellow Jayhawk fan hiking across the Grand Canyon. Chatted with half a dozen KU fans last week while in Colorado on vacation.

[twocoach]

But I was told that we had boosters who would happily pay any fee, no matter how large.... people sure love spending rich people's money for them.

I just don't see KU, even OU or UT, ever having to pay that full exit fee.

They would be wise to assume that they will have to until they learn otherwise. No reason for the Big 12 to let any of them off the hook. Why would they?