In what should be the death of the Mountain West as a relevant player in the BCS, TCU is rumored to have accepted an invitation to join the Big East.
The winners and losers from this are pretty obvious, which means I expect the political hacks to redouble their efforts.
Get The Picture 
If true, this offends my geo-sensitivities.
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La Tech in the WAC didn’t do it for you BD?
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It did and still does. 🙂
A conference game between La Tech and Boise always blew my mind.
That’s just not right.
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Think about when they played at Hawaii . . .
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I don’t blame TCU for doing what they have to do to get in a BCS conference, but I don’t think this is going to work out well for them in the long run. See BC going to the ACC…except worse. The travel aspect alone will impact their results…and it will be miserable for the fans. Who will be their closest conference rival? Louisville? That’s almost 900 miles.
They are probably under the misguided impression that this move will help their hoops program as well. Sorry, but they will get beaten like a rented mule in the Big East on a nightly basis.
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+1
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Seems like a big middle finger to the Big-XII. “We weren’t good enough for you then, right?” Eventually, the thinking man’s money has to be on them going to the XII when they get their collective heads out of Texas’ ass.
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What political hacks are left? Orrin Hatch doesn’t have a dog in the fight any more…Utah is off to the Pac-12 and BYU is headed for independence. Do either of Idaho’s Senate members give a rip about this stuff? I’ve dealt with Mike Crapo in the past and generally feel like he’s above that sort of grandstanding (and he went to BYU anyway). Jim Risch went to Idaho so I doubt he’s gonna go out of his way for Boise.
The rest of the schools left just aren’t important at all. They’ll probably end up merging back with the leftovers of the WAC out of necessity.
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“What political hacks are left?”
Aggie Oilman Joseph Linus Barton (BP-Texas).
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Joe_Barton
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Plenty of hacks left, mostly on the left.
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Wonder why the Big XII didn’t bring them in, didn’t want the revenue sharing?
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Too small for the Big XII. Texas didn’t think it worth their time to play such a small venue.
However…after this season, that might be more appropriate for them.
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It’s just a case of a simple misunderstanding.
TCU thought they were really signing up for “The Big East of the Pecos Conference”
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Part of me can’t help but wonder if this is a stopgap measure by TCU to just try and reap a couple BCS paydays any which way they can while they wait for the Big 12 to eventually go back to 12 teams again.
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I’m baffled the Big 12 (10) didn’t make a move to bring in TCU into the fold (along with Houston or some other “up-and-coming” mid-major to round out the conference to 12 teams). This seems like a horrible move for TCU for all the reasons mentioned above (absurd traveling, lack of natural rivalries, etc.) and poor foresight by the Big 12 (10) to allow a quality program that fits perfectly into their geographical footprint to move on.
@ Hassan
In regards to stadium size, TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium holds approximately 44,008 people and they’re expanding the stadium. While it would be the smallest capacity in the Big 12, it’s about on par with the mid- to lower-level teams in the Big 12., and considering the wind-fall of being apart of the Big 12 (BCS conference, more money, more television exposure, more local interest, playing OU, TTU, A&M, UT, etc. on a regular basis) that number would likely go up.
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TCU averaged 38,187 fans per game last year in an undefeated season. That was on par with teams like Hawaii, UCF, Vanderbilt, Air Force, Navy, Syracuse, and East Carolina.
The only team with a lower attendance in the Big XII last year was Baylor, averaging 36,306. After that it was Iowa State with 46,242, Kansas State with 46,763, Colorado with 50,088, Texas Tech with 50,249, and Kansas with 50,581. All of those schools had far less successful seasons than TCU yet outdrew them. I’m not sure what the point of expanding a stadium is if the school can’t even sell out the games as it is…I guess we would have to ask Georgia Tech that question.
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But still, the Big 12 needs SOMEBODY to fill the 2 empty slots in the conference. TCU made some sense. Doesn’t appear the Big 12 is going to poach any major schools from other conferences. I think the Big 12 doing nothing since Colorado & Nebraska left means we’re getting closer to creation of a mega-conference and the continued dismantling of the Big 12.
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Why do they need somebody? The Pac-10 has played with 10 members for a long time and been totally fine. Add TCU, and you’re splitting the revenue pie another way. It isn’t like the Big XII is going to lose its automatic bid without bringing TCU in.
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Those conference championship games bring in a lot of $$. Not to mention that winning the conference championship game is practically equivalent to a slot in the BCS championship game. The PAC 10+2 and Big 10+1+1 have even wised up to the math after watching the sec take in truckloads of $$ and championships over the past decade.
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There attendance would have been much, much higher than that with nearby rivals to play. I get the rev sharing money issue, but TCU should have been invited the Big 12, probably Houston too. Can’t blame Nebraska for breaking away, Texas is out of control. No conference should put up with their antics aand special demands. Gives us an idea what the Pope’s boys would act like in a conference. They always need the special back rub…..on the house of course.
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I guess I fall on the other side. I don’t see any reason that the Big XII should have invited TCU or Houston other than geography. The Big XII likely gains very little in television revenue with a move to add TCU (or Houston). I’m sure that both teams have a fan base that watches when they are on television, but adding them probably does very little to increase the market share that Big XII football garners in Houston or Dallas-Ft. Worth. The problem that the Big XII has is that it has to become a super conference with two large geographic regions that allow teams to travel a minimal amount but still mean entry into more large television markets (like what the Pac 10 was trying to do when discussing absorbing the best of the Big XII). To do that the Big XII has to break up another AQ conference (most likely). Geographically speaking (in terms of trying to keep travel costs and times down to roughly where they are now for Big XII teams), there are few major markets that the Big XII is going to be able to expand into because it is unlikely they are going to pirate any SEC team, any Pac 10 team (with that new t.v. deal), or any Big Ten team.
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Not only do you not gain much audience, but you may not even get the sum of the parts. There’s an insane amount of Metroplex crossover fans now that there’s no SWC to keep all the Texas teams from playing each other. These days you can comfortably be a Texas fan and a TCU fan or an Aggies fan and an SMU fan. They rarely play each other. Adding TCU to the Big XII pretty much means you can’t cheer for TCU and Texas anymore because they’re legitimate rivals again. I can see why the Big XII isn’t interested in that.
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Something is seriously wrong with the Mountain West. These schools are on a suicide mission. The member schools’ presidents and ADs need to meet and iron out their egos, agendas, and finance. Traveling is a killer for many reasons…cost, TV scheduling, recruits making visits, game preparation, and etc. Well TCU can for sure kiss goodbye any future likelihood of going undefeated and a top 5 ranking.
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Yeah, but they’re traveling to play Big East teams. It’s not like they’re flying all over kingdom come to play heavyweights every week.
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If the SEC were going to expand into the Texas market TCU would be the first place to look. Dallas Metro area, great football tradition and good academics.
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But don’t the Dallasites http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2010/07/the_asian_playboy_advises_dallasites_how_to_be-skeevy.php
look down on the Fort Worthians?
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/funkytown_or_funky_town_fort_worth_nickname/
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There’s not a whole lot of Dallas/Ft. Worth animosity. It’s all Metroplex. If there’s any general animosity, it’s towards south Dallas, which is to be fair a big fat craphole.
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