Conference Expansion Part 5: The Pac-16?

We've now had yet another conference claim that they want to expand. The Pac-10 has entered the expansion race, and have done so by taking the largest step yet.

The Pac-10 is trying to become the Pac-16 by saying that they would offer Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado (with the possibility of Colorado being replaced by Baylor) a spot in the Pac-10. Adding 6 teams is the largest rumor to date surrounding the conference expansion talks.

And adding 6 teams would be the metaphorical "other shoe dropping" in the race to a super conference.

Going above 16 teams seems to scare everybody involved, but having 16 teams seems to be the foreseeable future for conference expansion. I first mentioned having 16 teams in my first ever post back in April. How close was I to the Pac-10's ideas of expansion? I had 5 of their 6 targeted teams included in the "Super West" conference.

So what happens to the rest of the Big 12? That's a little tricky.

Big 12 officials have reportedly given Missouri and Nebraska until Friday to decide if they want to stay in the Big 12, or move north to join the Big 10. You can bet that every Pac-10 official is waiting for that announcement. If those two schools leave for higher ground, expect a HUGE fallout in Big 12 country. I mean HUGE.

So big, that within hours I'd expect to see the Pac-10 make their offers official. Don't be surprised if the SEC follows suit and makes some offers of their own, probably along the lines of what we reported last month. Although the SEC seems content with their current format, and don't seem to be in much of a rush to expand, you can be that if the Big 12 is going to collapse, the SEC wouldn't mind picking up a couple pieces here and there.

So what about the other Big 12 schools? Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor haven't been mentioned at all in expansion talks except Baylor being a possible replacement for Colorado. I think the Big 10 would step in and work with at least 2 of those teams, probably Kansas and Kansas State because they can reach a new market. Iowa State makes logical sense, but since when did anybody follow logic?

They follow money. Which is where this whole situation arose from.

You can almost blame all this conference expansion talk on the SEC and ESPN for signing the largest television contract for college sports ever. Each SEC school this year received $17.3 million in shared television revenue, which blows any other conference out of the water easily. If the Pac-16 forms, then you can expect numbers to reach the $20 million per school level, causing the SEC to either sit in contempt, or make a move.

As the Orlando Sentinel said, "Worst-case scenario, the Pac-10 pulls this off and the SEC still has the last four national titles and billions to count."

Yeah, I'll take that any day.