It's been a little slow over here the past few days, so I thought I'd start a little discussion about the Big East.

Since it looks like we are 99% sure at this point, what do you guys think will be the biggest benefit of us moving? There are some obvious answers, money being the biggest, but I think there may be a few other great things about this move:

Perception - Even though the BE isn't what it used to be, it's perception is still better than any other NonAQ conference. It also shows that Tulsa is still moving up in the world.

Recruiting - This is still a little about perception, but from a 17-18 year old kid's standpoint: BE is a step up. There was something an ECU poster put up a few weeks ago about a recruit getting super excited to be playing in the BE over C-USA - I think we'll see that too. We even had a recruit tweet this year that he was told by the Tulsa coaching staff that Tulsa would be playing in the BE and he was really excited about it.

Attendance - I really really really hope this move increases general interest amoung casual area sports fans. There is absolutely no reason why a city with a metro area of nearly 1 million shouldn't be about to fill up a 30k seat stadium 6-7 times each year. I understand that generating fan interest isn't something that happens over night, but it would be nice to see a slow steady increase (avg increase of 1-2k/year over the next few years). Winning will be key, but playing opponents that casual sports fans have heard of will help too.

Facilities - With more money comes nicer things. We already know that an indoor practice facility is in the works. But I have heard rumors of adding suites on the East side of the stadium and we've all heard that when the time comes, the south end zone will be bowled in. I've alse heard at one point (if ever needed) there are plans for an upper deck on the east side (built above the suites).

And a lastly, kind of outside the box, Revenue for the City of Tulsa - Think about it, as TU moves up in the world, more and more fans will come be a part of game day, spending money on all sorts of things (food, drinks, hotels, merchandise etc.) Wouldn't it be great if we had to build a few hotels over by TU to accomodate an influx of fans??? Or if we had to build a nice stone covered parking garage at the back of campus to accomodate all the cars?? It would be very beneficial for the City of Tulsa to be behind TU in all they do not only to keep TU looking good in the public eye, but also because there is a lot of money to be made by the City of Tulsa in tax revenue.


what do you guys think?

Thanks. Those are all very good points and I completely agree with your assessments.

Its like TUFB/sports is a business and we have to make investments and improve the product from time to time in order for the business to stay solvent and prosper in the long term. Each school in each and every league competes with each other for success. And those that can't keep up become a liability to the "stockholders" (the fans/backers) who may want changes or are later forced to give up and move on. Conversely each conference competes with the others for the overall "pie".

TU fb IS important to this region because its "HERE"! Its not down the pike or in the outskirts of some other political "region" out in the panhandle west or down in southern Oklahoma. And every dollar that flows into TU will eventually flow to the businesses that we frequent and improves the areas tax base, standard of living and economic climate.

Thank God we have TU fb because there are a lot of cities/regions that don't have what we have. Wichita, Little Rock, Springfield, Shreveport ;and even OKC (the city that is) don't have major college football and wish they did, But in the end, we have to keep up and not fall back or we become "at risk".

What I might be posting about come this off season is some more of my ideas on facilities, schedules and improving the overall programs at TU, from CFB, MBB to softball and Olympic sports. And of course this conference business IS the main threat to the existence of our sports program as I see it. I hope I don't boar anyone when I do that. Its sort of become a hobby to me.

It looks like if we every do get into the Big East.....it might not be the Big East. The C-7 apparently want the name and the negotiations are on. I actually believe the name is more important to the football schools than the basketball schools but evidently the C-7 want it. The basketball schools are pretty well known, especially to East coast TV viewers, so they could pick about any name and be OK.....the TV viewers would know all about them and who they were. Notre Dame is apparently going to be around for another year, moving to the ACC in 2014.....if the C-7 do the same thing that might be the price for them to keep the name????

The Big East members are in total meltdown after reading the 23 million TV package from NBC......that would actually put it less than the MWC. They just don't believe it.....that it's all BS......I must admit I thought it would be about 3-5 million.....but that was before the C-7 decided to leave. It doesn't look like if we make a move to the Big East(?) it will be for money. They should at least hope that ESPN matches the NBC bid or the TV exposure will be about nil on a regular basis.

Even if (big if) that is 100% true and it's only $23 million with no way to bring in any more from anywhere - it's still more money than we are getting now AND we will be playing better quality competition. ALSO - don't think for a second that C-USA will be making the same amount of TV money when their contract is up... no way no how - if the Big East is really only worth $23 million with most of C-USA now in the Big East, what does that say about C-USA with mostly Sun Belt and FCS move-up garbage??? I would imagine you'd see somewhere around $750-$850k/year for each school in C-USA when the new contract rolls around... I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather take the nearly $2 million/year and play UH, SMU, UCONN, Cinn, USF, UCF and ECU than take $800k/year and play Middle Tennessee St, UTSA, North Texas, F_U, and the other teams no one has ever heard of...


Just a thought.

Noone in their right mind thinks that the Sunbelt-like nCUSA will make what the old CUSA did. Conversely likewise with the nBE. But I think we'll probably see money similar to, but slightly greater than the old CUSA in the nBE. (Isn't this confusing - just to describe this?) Oh well!

(02-11-2013 10:27 AM)rabidTU Wrote:  Noone in their right mind thinks that the Sunbelt-like nCUSA will make what the old CUSA did. Conversely likewise with the nBE. But I think we'll probably see money similar to, but slightly greater than the old CUSA in the nBE. (Isn't this confusing - just to describe this?) Oh well!

Exactly - but that seems to be the common thought process on the C-USA board.

Also - in regards to the Big East NBC TV deal, what network will be picking up 2nd teir rights? If C-USA can get a good 2nd Teir rights package with Fox, there's no reason that the Big East shouldn't be able to work something out with someone.

The Big East commissioner is a TV guy, I believe.......and I can't believe there isn't some secondary rights that he's working on. I could see 2 to 2 1/2 million when it's all said and done and that would be just fine with me. As mentioned, perception means a lot and no matter what it's called, the NBE and the MWC are the step right below the big boys and a far easier stepping stone to a future ACC spot than where we are now. I also agree if it was exactly the same money, I would still move for, the present perception and the future possibilities.

IMO we will still be on track for a BE invite - thats what everyone is saying and I conquer. The way I see it, is that sooner or later the nBE has to have a conference championship game for additional revenue. To get to that, there has to be twelve teams. As long as we are next batter up, we will be fine.

I think this years MBB team and the program DM is building will only help our chances. Any way you look at it, we are on our way east imo. Now whether the nBE will be a stable league or not, noone knows, but whether it is/isn't shouldn't be our immediate concern because noone really knows what the future holds for certain in this crazy world. The only thing I know is that we need to stay with Houston and SMU as a group if possible.

We need to keep eliminating the bad points and accentuating the good ones about our university and city.

We are winning and are a known quantity right now. We have a solid program in all sports. We are an academic heavyweight. We are in a fairly large city (unlike an ECU for instance). We have geographic ties to four programs already in the nBE (Memphis, Houston, SMU, Tulane). We have an excellent, even a dynamic history in both CFB and MBB. Those are our selling points.

Our negatives are generally attendence and somewhat, facilities. I think both of those can be improved if we get the right administration in place in the near future. All those negatives are correctable.

The Big East is still our best option... but I am a tad disappointed... $20 million is lower than most of us thought, but still more than C-USA is worth, but what I'm more concerned about is our exposure - if the Big East is ONLY on NBCSN that limits exposure... We have it pretty good with Fox and CBSSN now. There may be more to the contract that we don't know about yet, but as it stands, it looks like C-USA has better exposure with CBS and Fox than the Big East will have with NBC.

I hope there is something else there that says we will have a weekly game on NBC plus the NBCSN games and that their will be other options for our games to be shown on other outlets. If the deal is a worst case scenario - you're damned if you do and damned if you dont. We may get great TV coverage with Fox and CBS, but will play sh!tty Sun Belt and FCS teams almost every week. With the Big East, we'll get to play in a more recognizable conference against better competition, but with what looks like less exposure.

Who knows... this is all starting to wear me out.

I don't think there is a good option other than the nBE right now. If Houston and SMU had considered the MWC and had an invite on the table, I'd be the first to say we should go west. But they don't and won't. We have to be concerned with the future - beyond just the next game or the next athletic season. For our own survival, we must stay aligned with Houston, SMU and Memphis. There is strength in numbers and the numbers dictate we stay with the four I mentioned.

I look at the nCUSA as really just a warmed over version of the MVC we left many years ago. Leaving the MVC was a gamble, but it paid off. And the MVC, even though a decent MBB conference is nowhere near what we have and enjoy right now. We have to look forward, not backwards in all this IMO.

One other thing about my wanting to be with UH and SMU is that when we become a "package", there is less chance for that package to be raided. For instance, I think there is a chance long term for the MWC to expand and come after some of the teams to their east like SMU, UH and UTEP (three Texas teams) to make a 16 team league. What I would fear in that scenario would be if BYU decided to join into that group as the 16th team and we'd be left behind numbers wise.

Right now I think SMU and Houston consider themselves to be a "loose alliance". We just need to be alligned with them for purposes of protection regardless of the TV contract. TV contracts tend to take care of themselves. IMO

Don't get me wrong - I still feel the Big East is our best option!! I just wish the exposure was better - and maybe it will be once we see all the details of the TV deal.

ESPN still has the option to pick up the TV rights......and I think they will....hopefully it won't be for Wed and Thurs Night!!!

I doubt that, maybe Thursdays, but Tuesdays and Wednesdays are reserved for Sun Belt/MAC.
I think all this will work out the way it's supposed to in the end - We'll be in the Big East, we'll be making more money (total) than what's being thrown around right now and we will have the perception amoung the community and recruits that we have moved up in the world (which is extremely important).

I just read Haisten's TU blog article about the Athletic Director search - looks like TU is out of hot water with the NCAA and no sanctions will be administered. Also at the end of the article Haisten indicates that as soon as the Big East is done with its TV negotiations an invitation will be extended to Tulsa.

Tulsa World

Nice to get a little good news in the midst of all the negativity that seems to be surrounding this whole deal.

Now we need to properly vet the next set of candidates for the AD postition and finally the same for the Presidents spot. It almost cost us dearly. Whoever was in charge of some of this needs to be sent back to their job teaching class.

But IMO at least some of this was Bubba's fault. He hired Parmley I believe, hand picked him to be his replacement. I have posted a lot of criticisms of Bubba and I still think he was overhyped and did a lot of selling TU out so his resume would look good, like the unfair Arkansas, OSU and OU contracts. The final coffins nail was when he wouldn't even give a token interview to Kragthorpe. IMO (as much as I hate to say it) Judy was a much better AD who raised more money and was a more loyal administrator. But in the end, we need to do better than either of those hires.

IMO

We need to take our time hiring an AD and we REALLY need to take our time hiring a new president. You're right - it almost cost us big time. But with the right people in place in these positions, TU could be elevated to new heights in terms of athletics, endowment, academic acheivement, continued campus improvement and so on.

The talk of the ACC taking a big hit is alive and well.......but I think it's only the beginning as I've said for awhile. The Big 12 really needs to get to 12, no matter how innocently they say they'll wait and see. If they wait much longer, the pickings might get a little slim. They weren't going to get N Carolina or Ga Tech any way.....they are more Big 10(academics)material. If Virgina goes any place it's to the Big 10. Initially the Big 12 will probably go after Fla St and Va Tech. While this is going on......while the ACC still has a little power and that's very little, they raid the Big East. I've heard people say the Big East and ACC will merge the leftovers......I don't agree, I think the ACC will move while they still are considered a move up from the Big East. There would be a chance Tulsa could get an invite to the ACC then even if they don't move to the Big East but I think their chances are better in the Big East.....again that perception thing.

(02-22-2013 02:33 PM)jfisher Wrote:  I don't agree, I think the ACC will move while they still are considered a move up from the Big East. There would be a chance Tulsa could get an invite to the ACC then even if they don't move to the Big East but I think their chances are better in the Big East.....again that perception thing.

I think it would be extremely hard to get skip a level in realignment. Look at TCU, even they had to join the Big East before the Big 12, same with nearly everyone else (sans Utah) that has moved up in the world.

I think our best bet to be recognized in the long run is to make this move regardless of the smaller amount of revenue... even though it's still more than we're making now.