Thoughts on Conference Expansion: The Texas Problem

The e-mail contained a link to a story about how Texas politicians are pushing for Baylor — and not Colorado — to be one of the teams leaving the Big 12 and heading west.

The e-mail came from a Baylor official, who offered an immediate interview with the school’s athletic director.

Also, he provided the A.D.’s cell number.

And there is the problem.

Getting Texas and Texas A&M would be a great move in terms of revenue expansion and increased media visibility. Realistically, though, given the political forces within the state of Texas, there is probably little if any chance that Texas and Texas A&M can be added without bringing in both Baylor and Texas Tech.

Remember, in the mid-1990's then-governor Ann Richards stepped in and refused to allow the state schools to bolt the old Southwest Conference without letting Baylor join the Big XII with them. This time around will probably be no different. In and of themselves Baylor and Texas Tech are likely nothing particularly special, and wouldn't be schools that conferences seeking to expand would fervently pursue. Thus, given that reality, the political machinations of the state of Texas would probably require Texas and Texas A&M to carry Baylor and Texas Tech with them wherever they go so as not to allow those latter two schools to be left out in the cold in the wake of expansion.

And for the Pac-10, that is probably no issue. They could easily add all four Texas schools and still easily integrate them into an expanded conference featuring two seven or eight team divisions, with the four Texas schools forming the backbone of an eastern division. Besides, I don't think the Pac-10 could care less about letting Colorado slip away if it ultimately yielded them both Texas and Texas. Far from it being a problem with the Pac-10, it's a great opportunity.

For the SEC, though, that's probably just not a realistic possibility. Getting Texas and Texas A&M would be marvelous, but realistically there is probably little chance that the SEC could also successfully integrate both Texas Tech and Baylor. Adding those four would make the SEC a sixteen team league -- all the while adding two new members that the SEC would otherwise never even remotely consider -- and would require two current SEC West members to make the jump to the SEC East. To say that such a move would generate significant opposition would probably qualify as understatement of the year.