This may be the most crazy, insane post I will have ever written. I do not and have not ever claimed myself to be an expert on the subject matter of expansion. I do not have sources and I am not a reporter. I am just blogger that reads the news and makes judgments on the situation to the best of my ability. A recent article raised some eyebrows from me. Two days ago, Joe Alleva, athletic director for LSU, states that the scheduling in the SEC is “completely biased” and “out of self-interest.” This is because since the inception of the twelve team conference, LSU’s permanent cross-division rival has been Florida. Since the beginning of the BCS or the modern conception of the national title game starting in 1998, the two schools share four national titles between each other. The road to glory for both schools is through each other in a mandatory game. Some seasons, LSU has to play Georgia and Florida in the same season; certainly an unenviable task.
Conversely, schools like Alabama play against Tennessee in their permanent cross-division rivalry. Tennessee has not been relevant since 2001, when ironically, LSU defeated them in the SEC Championship Game, playing spoiler to the Volunteer’s national title hopes. LSU is angry at the SEC and maybe rightfully so. LSU has to play an even tougher opponent as a cross-division rival.. It would give a coach many sleepless nights playing in a division that includes Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn, and Arkansas. This is tough schedule by any stretch of the imagination but compound it, LSU is required to play against Florida and sometimes even Georgia or maybe in the years to come, a more potent Missouri squad or consistently tough South Carolina. It may not be fair that LSU plays a harder cross-division schedule.
Purposefully, this may be the seeds that sow malcontent in LSU; maybe, the same seeds that germinated with Texas A&M and Missouri making their departures to the SEC. Anything is possible in this era of college football. Who would have thought we would never see the Border War again or the Lone Star Showdown? Both of those rivalries were tradition-rich games that went back over one hundred years but because of the changing dynamic of college football, both schools bolted into uncharted waters. LSU is feeling less powerful in the SEC and their eyes might wondering at other possibilities.
If you look at the SEC, they may be seen as the strongest conference in college football. Each member will collect $28 million apiece from the SEC Network that will premier in August of this year, whether it is Alabama or Mississippi State. It will be broadcasted on ESPN and ESPN is willing to broadcast the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tier programming for all of the schools, which absolves the schools of the burden of having to find providers for games to be broadcasted. The SEC is so strong that they do not have a grant-of-rights or even require their members to pay an exit fee. The attitude is: “if you want to leave, do not let the doorknob hit you where your parents split you.”
Nonetheless, LSU feels as if it might be neglected. Only a fool would think that LSU could possibly leave but just look at Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Missouri. If LSU would even consider a move, which I am not advocating whatsoever, the Big 12 may be a possibility. Being that LSU is not tied to a grant of rights or even an exit fee, LSU could leave anytime that they want. Even as myopic as the Big 12 leadership possibly is, even they would have to be absolutely bonkers to turn down a phone call from AD Joe Alleva. Here is how this might go:
Joe Alleva: Is this Steve Patterson, commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. This is Joe Alleva, AD for LSU. Do you have a few minutes
Steve Patterson: Sure Mr. Alleva. What can I do for you?
Joe Alleva: We are fed up with the way the SEC is stacking the deck against us with our football schedule and we also want more autonomy. We feel as if we are being ignored. We might be interested in joining your conference.
Steve Patterson: Well, Mr. Alleva, let me tell this to the presidents in our league and we will get back to you.
Joe Alleva: Thank you, Mr. Patterson.
Steve Patterson: You are welcome, Mr. Alleva.
If after this, the Big 12 would stay pat at ten, then they deserve anything bad that comes their way for being so stupid. This is a huge hypothetical, but this could happen. LSU will be taking a payout decrease but certainly, they would be able to make up for it because the Big 12 is the only conference that offers its schools to shop their Tier 3 rights to other networks, thus generating their own revenue steams. The only question would be after twelve, then who else? Could BYU join as 12? UConn? Cincy? It would be huge coup if the Big 12 was to pull a Don Corleone and make LSU an offer they could not refuse. If they were smart, they could outflank the SEC and grab Tulane also. It would be redundant and would saturate the state of Louisiana, but it would cut the SEC off from establishing a foothold in that state for a longtime. Nonetheless, this will not happen and I may be out of my mind for even writing this. Nonetheless, expansion has given many batshit outcomes and this might be one of them.
Filed under: Potential Expansion Posts
