Blair K was on Petro yesterday and this topic was brought up. The thought process being that schools have milked as much money from TV as they can and are now looking to cut cost. Naturally, the first thing AD's would be look at would be non revenue sports. They are starting to question why should we have huge cost on sports that aren't part of the TV deals anyway?
Imagine getting the old Big 8 back together for everything but football. Maybe try to substitute Arkansas for Colorado. Let them merge in with the MW scools. Accomplishes 3 things. Lower travel cost, regional interest, and it's better for regional sports. Cost is self explanatory, as is regional intetest. You have a better chance of drawing fans for a KU/Mizz volleyball or baseball game than KU/WVIRG. We already see examples of schools trying to find a conference that have sports they have but their existing conference doesn't. Mizz in MAC for wrestling, Colorado for skiing when in old Big 8/12 days, etc.
Obviously, trying to figure out how to divvy up TV contracts and conference network money would be the biggest holdup as well as deciding which side men's basketball would land on. If you could work that out, there is a lot of common sense in making most of the athletic department regional again.
Imagine getting the old Big 8 back together for everything but football. Maybe try to substitute Arkansas for Colorado. Let them merge in with the MW scools. Accomplishes 3 things. Lower travel cost, regional interest, and it's better for regional sports. Cost is self explanatory, as is regional intetest. You have a better chance of drawing fans for a KU/Mizz volleyball or baseball game than KU/WVIRG. We already see examples of schools trying to find a conference that have sports they have but their existing conference doesn't. Mizz in MAC for wrestling, Colorado for skiing when in old Big 8/12 days, etc.
Obviously, trying to figure out how to divvy up TV contracts and conference network money would be the biggest holdup as well as deciding which side men's basketball would land on. If you could work that out, there is a lot of common sense in making most of the athletic department regional again.
