I want to say with realignment you can post something every hour from all the calls I get from people in the media or those who work in college sports.
I am not going to post what I hear at all times because I think most of it is inaccurate. And there's no reason to mention that info. I will sift through what I think has any credibility. If I don't hear anything worth mentioning for a few days then I won't. But I want to stay as credible with you as I can and not turn it into a soap opera filled with bad info.
-------
I spoke with someone who is currently employed in a Power Five athletic dept. who told me with absolute certainty if realignment starts up and conferences start expanding Kansas will have its choice where it can go.
Now, he said that somewhat tongue in cheek because there will still be things like geographical fit, overall fit, and other factors. He said firmly, "once you take out Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas is the most attractive school. If realignment becomes something most conferences start up Kansas will have a lot of options."
I talked to two people in the Big 10 and they said they haven't heard anything about expansion since this came up. I spoke with someone who talked directly to the Big 10 commissioner about it. It would be some time down the road if we know the Big 10 will look at doing anything.
Over the last two days I have talked with a lot of people who know the landscape of college athletics and I will admit I was surprised when I got into realignment talk that several people believe two of the most coveted schools would be Kansas and Central Florida.
"Central Florida will be a rock star if realignment comes around," one person said.
From things people said... Although a commuter school UCF has 72,000 students. I was told their incoming class has a very impressive SAT combined score. I was also told Orlando just passed Miami in TV market share. They have very young alumni base. They are an upcoming school to reckon.
"They get calls all the time from Power Five schools," one person said.
I was surprised to hear more than one person say KU and UCF would be two schools that are coveted if it becomes a race to get to 16-team conferences.
-------------------
Staying with a UCF theme I keep still hearing from people in the business if other conferences don't expand the Big 12 would be a viable conference if the right teams were added. The one team mentioned the most valuable is UCF and the next two are Cincinnati and Houston. The fourth is a crap shoot.
I have mentioned BYU to some people and I get cold responses. From what I hear BYU is difficult to work with and doesn't have a great reputation from an administration standpoint.
The thought is they don't know if they would take SMU because TCU already brings the Dallas area.
Most have said the Big 12 would still be recognized as a Power Five conference but not at the same level the others are.
The biggest issue with staying as the Big 12 is going to be the TV money. Opinions have varied when I talk to people about this. Last year the Big 12 gave out $34.5 million and that was down because of Covid. Bowlsby said next year's payout is expected to be around $40 million.
I spoke with someone who has worked TV deals and he didn't know what a revamped Big 12 would bring but he guessed somewhere in the $22-$25 million range.
Once you leave the Power Five TV model, the payouts really drop. The next closest conference is the AAC where they pull in $8 million per team and there is a drop off after that.
I know some KU fans hate this idea. I talked to a few friends last night and they said "no way" to this scenario. But people had better their minds open because nobody knows how this will go.
-------------------
I did speak with a source familiar with KU and this person said everything is still so new that he doesn't believe there is any back-channel talk going on because this all just happened. People are still trying to figure out how this will play out and they will move from there.
I am not going to post what I hear at all times because I think most of it is inaccurate. And there's no reason to mention that info. I will sift through what I think has any credibility. If I don't hear anything worth mentioning for a few days then I won't. But I want to stay as credible with you as I can and not turn it into a soap opera filled with bad info.
-------
I spoke with someone who is currently employed in a Power Five athletic dept. who told me with absolute certainty if realignment starts up and conferences start expanding Kansas will have its choice where it can go.
Now, he said that somewhat tongue in cheek because there will still be things like geographical fit, overall fit, and other factors. He said firmly, "once you take out Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas is the most attractive school. If realignment becomes something most conferences start up Kansas will have a lot of options."
I talked to two people in the Big 10 and they said they haven't heard anything about expansion since this came up. I spoke with someone who talked directly to the Big 10 commissioner about it. It would be some time down the road if we know the Big 10 will look at doing anything.
Over the last two days I have talked with a lot of people who know the landscape of college athletics and I will admit I was surprised when I got into realignment talk that several people believe two of the most coveted schools would be Kansas and Central Florida.
"Central Florida will be a rock star if realignment comes around," one person said.
From things people said... Although a commuter school UCF has 72,000 students. I was told their incoming class has a very impressive SAT combined score. I was also told Orlando just passed Miami in TV market share. They have very young alumni base. They are an upcoming school to reckon.
"They get calls all the time from Power Five schools," one person said.
I was surprised to hear more than one person say KU and UCF would be two schools that are coveted if it becomes a race to get to 16-team conferences.
-------------------
Staying with a UCF theme I keep still hearing from people in the business if other conferences don't expand the Big 12 would be a viable conference if the right teams were added. The one team mentioned the most valuable is UCF and the next two are Cincinnati and Houston. The fourth is a crap shoot.
I have mentioned BYU to some people and I get cold responses. From what I hear BYU is difficult to work with and doesn't have a great reputation from an administration standpoint.
The thought is they don't know if they would take SMU because TCU already brings the Dallas area.
Most have said the Big 12 would still be recognized as a Power Five conference but not at the same level the others are.
The biggest issue with staying as the Big 12 is going to be the TV money. Opinions have varied when I talk to people about this. Last year the Big 12 gave out $34.5 million and that was down because of Covid. Bowlsby said next year's payout is expected to be around $40 million.
I spoke with someone who has worked TV deals and he didn't know what a revamped Big 12 would bring but he guessed somewhere in the $22-$25 million range.
Once you leave the Power Five TV model, the payouts really drop. The next closest conference is the AAC where they pull in $8 million per team and there is a drop off after that.
I know some KU fans hate this idea. I talked to a few friends last night and they said "no way" to this scenario. But people had better their minds open because nobody knows how this will go.
-------------------
I did speak with a source familiar with KU and this person said everything is still so new that he doesn't believe there is any back-channel talk going on because this all just happened. People are still trying to figure out how this will play out and they will move from there.
