So basically no different than 8 days ago…still talking, haven’t come to a financial agreement both parties can agree on.
Frankly, I’d love for the WCC to force GU’s hand, ditch the sweetheart deal from several years ago agreed to solely to appease GU. Maybe they’ll be pissed off enough that they’ll take whatever offer the B12 has given them, however bad it may be. They are likely to leave anyhow so the sooner the better. The WCC can then get on with life whatever that looks like.
I agree. Pull the rug from the Zags and just get it over with.
The comment about NCAA Tournament units is interesting. The only way I can interpret that, if true, is that the Zags are trying to get the Big-12 to agree to some incentive structure for NCAA appearances like what they have in the WCC. They probably realize that their overall media share is going to be a fraction of what the football schools get, and they may even have to start out taking no media revenue a la SMU to the ACC. They want to keep NCAA Tourney units to fund the program. I expect the Big 12 can’t collectively go as far as the Zags might want. Sharing the revenue for any future tournament success from Gonzaga will help off-set the costs of bringing them into a conference based in the Southwest and Midwest.
Sooner or later, the Zags will learn what it’s like to be the fish swimming with the sharks.
This article and Yormark’s quote in it sounds less promising for GU in the near term.
The latest Gonzaga to the Big 12 rumors (msn.com)
And this article suggests the ACC could implode. If that happens I imagine you see Clemson and FSU jump to the SEC. NC and Duke are two valuable of brands not to land somewhere and could be a bidding war if you will between Big10 (stronger in basketball) and SEC (stronger in football). But makes you wonder about Stanford and Cal…will they be back in the same position as WSU and Oregon State in a few years looking for a home.
Notre Dame to Big Ten becomes a real possibility as ACC implosion looks imminent with changing times in the conference realignment arena (sportskeeda.com)
Interesting story about how realignment is impacting geographically diverse conference members:
My favorite soundbites of the year are those from Iowa State’s AD this week. Iowa State AD voices frustration with Big Ten, SEC over roster spending - CBS Sports
“I said it three years ago, let them break away. I would turn it around and say we should break away from them. Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports and see how fun it is to play baseball and softball and track when it’s just the 20 of you. That’s what I think we should do, but I’m one person, and that’s probably a little more draconian. But that’s how I feel about it. Let’s quit talking about it, quit threatening and go do it. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t get to just do it in football and then keep all your other sports with us. No, take them all and see how fun it is.”
Love the kahunas to speak out against the madness.
I also saw an analysis that I can’t find now that if college football goes to a 24 team playoff, a large majority of the playoff teams would, based on historical performance, be the same every year. That Michigan-Ohio State late conference season game would be meaningless.
Add that to the inevitable (and multiple) 17-16 SEC and Big10 teams getting into the NCAA hoops tourney, the future looks so vanilla.
I thought this post from Rothstein was interesting:
The Zags need to be careful. They are a small fish in their new conference. Big dogs in basketball to be sure, but that makes them only like the 5th or 6th most important athletic department among their new dysfunctional family.
UAC (formerly the WAC) not renewing at Orleans: