Update from Greg Swaim.
http://www.gregswaim.com/2011/09/con...owed-not-dead/
Last week’s threat of litigation by
Baylor put some sand in the gears of conference realignment, but I’m told by several sources that the actual football season has put the pause button on more than anything else.
According to one terrific source in Los Angeles, “This thing is going to happen, but the timing is the only real issue at this point.”
Just about every media member I spoke to on the west coast is still hearing that
Oklahoma and
Oklahoma State will be going to the
Pac 12, and that the two are negotiating a regional TV deal with
FoxSports before everything goes through.
Many of those same sources feel like there will be two other current
Big 12 teams joining the Bedlam duo, and all of those are certain that there will be at least one team from the state of Texas joining them, but the
Longhorns are not necessarily the ones. Talks between UT and a third-party with the Pac 12 cannot seem to come to any common ground concerning the
Longhorn Network, and one of our
Arizona sources told us Thursday evening that he feels certain that UT “is going to have a very difficult time getting into any conference other than the
ACC, unless they are willing to make some major sacrifices they aren’t currently willing to do.”
Texas Tech is certainly willing to go, but who would be the fourth to create the first so called “Super Conference” with the
Pac 16?
That’s certainly up for debate among the west coast sources we’ve spoken to, but a straw poll seems to favor
Missouri if the Longhorns don’t go west.
Kansas seems to be a distant second, but most agreed that their lack of football presence would hurt the Jayhawks.
There is no doubt that talks are ongoing, and we’re told by three media sources in California to expect some big news no later than September 22nd, so we’ll continue to follow this story…and will bring in guests on this subject on the
Greg Swaim Radio Show.