Big 12 losing status

[Aargh]

UH is probably better able to deliver the Houston market than Loyola is able to deliver the Chicago market. I'd give UH the clear edge in ability to deliver the market, but it's close enough that the comparison could be relevant.

UH and BYU would create some great competition for the likes of KU and ISU. Well. maybe not KU. But they certainly don't appear to be challengers for the upper half of the league - in anything. The addition of those two would appear to dilute an already watered-down product.

[rrshock]

UH is probably better able to deliver the Houston market than Loyola is able to deliver the Chicago market. I'd give UH the clearedge in ability to deliver the market, but it's close enough that the comparison could be relevant.

UH and BYU would create some great comp[etition for the likes of KU and ISU. Well. maybe not KU. But they certainly don't appear to be challengers for the upper half of the league - in anything. The addition of those two would appear to dilute an already watered-down product.

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't UH return damn near their whole team this year? They'd be top half Big 12 no problem.

[MoValley John]

The Houston market is already Big 12. Adding Houston does very little, other than slowly ressurect the SWC. Dumb idea. Just as, or worse than the Valley adding Loyola to capture the Chicago market.

In reality, if you want to increase interest in the Big 12, you need to attract people that aren't currently watching the Big 12, ergo, New Mexico State might even be a more prudent move than adding Houston.

Then again, people in Texas are very egocentric and don't often realize that there is a world outside of their borders. The SWC failed because of this myopia, and the Big 12 is swirling the drain for the same reason. If you live in Texas, the obvious solution to the Big 12's slide, is to add more Texas schools.

[MoValley John]

A 40,000 seat stadium. That's what the Big 12 should aim for! Oh wait, it's in Houston, millions of people interested in UH football. Millions!

Oh wait......

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/tom-hermans-not-happy-with-uh-attendance-7871103

But enough of the damn excuses. No power conference is ever going to invite UH to join as long as it can’t sell out a 40,000 season stadium on a weekly basis. And SEC and Pac 12 teams play on Thursday nights all of the time and the start times for just about every football team in every conference are dictated by ESPN or some other television network. That’s the way it goes nowadays in college football.

[MoValley John]

Houston averages ~ 34,000 for football. At that level of support, Boise State is more attractive to me as a football add.

Then again, the Big 12 has been making all the right moves over the last decade, so who am I to judge?

[Dave Stalwart]

To me, BYU and Houston don't sound great at all. I am actually fascinated that they are seriously being discussed when there are others such as UCONN, Memphis & Cincinnati also being talked about. BYU is a MWC type school. Sorry BYU fans... but BYU is just a very good MWC type school. Houston is a school I barely have heard talked about at all in my entire tenure as a college sports fan. I know they have history and all, but so did Loyola and I'm talking about lately for the most part. They've been decent and all, but we are talking about a school getting added to the Big 12. Is decent what they are going for? Hearing that the Big 12 wants Houston really does make me think the Big 12 is going in the wrong direction.

[wu_shizzle]

If UT, Baylor, OU, etc... start showing up in Houston, they're going to fill 50k+ seats.

[Aargh]

If UT, Baylor, OU, etc... start showing up in Houston, they're going to fill 50k+ seats.

WSU could put 50K in the stands for UT and OU. Maybe only 10K for Baylor.

[MoValley John]

WSU could put 50K in the stands for UT and OU. Maybe only 10K for Baylor.

True. 100,000 will show up in Austin to watch Texas play Missiuri State. Saying 50,000 will show up in Houston to watch the Sooners or Longhorns is meaningless, the Big 12 has gained nothing. If week in and week out, 50,000 people showed up to see Houston play, regardless of opponent, then you would have something. 50,000 for a game against the Longhorns just means you made an easy roadtrip, plus, it just shows that Houston is already a Big 12 market, you've gained nothing.

[WuDrWu]

I believe this is how our immediate future will be decided for us. If they BIG12 adds 4, then I think we'll be upgraded by the end of the year.

If they add 2, then it becomes dicey. Still, I like the direction things are going.

[shocka khan]

We've hired a lot of talent? BYU alum?

No. But I think it's a great school :). And a pretty good sized TV market.

[shocka khan]

To me, BYU and Houston don't sound great at all. I am actually fascinated that they are seriously being discussed when there are others such as UCONN, Memphis & Cincinnati also being talked about. BYU is a MWC type school. Sorry BYU fans... but BYU is just a very good MWC type school. Houston is a school I barely have heard talked about at all in my entire tenure as a college sports fan. I know they have history and all, but so did Loyola and I'm talking about lately for the most part. They've been decent and all, but we are talking about a school getting added to the Big 12. Is decent what they are going for? Hearing that the Big 12 wants Houston really does make me think the Big 12 is going in the wrong direction.

The Big 12 and the SEC are in a dogfight for ratings here as noted in this article:

http://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/TV-ratings-show-SEC-Big-12-in-close-race-to-7965814.php

Seven of the games rating over 2.0 in the Nielsen ratings featured U of H. I think this is a great breakdown of those games:By network:
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU 59, CBS 12, Fox/FS1 10, NBC 2.
By conference (home team): SEC 24, Big 12 20, Big Ten 14, ACC 8, American 8, Pac-12 6, Notre Dame 3.
By school (home or away): Alabama 10, Texas 9, LSU 8, Notre Dame 8, Baylor 7, Houston 7 Oklahoma 7, TCU 6, Oklahoma State 5, Ole Miss 5, Auburn 4, Michigan 4, Michigan State 4, Ohio State 4, Texas A&M 4, Texas Tech 4, USC 4.

I could bore you with more details, but if you're still skeptical, read the article. U of H, as part of their sales pitch to the Big12, appears to have overstaed the influence of the SEC inn the Houston market. The numbers and article quoted above was a more in-depth list. But there's no doubt that the ratings are very close and from the numbers above, adding Houston to the Big12 will increase viewership in the Houston area.

By the way, I'm guessing you are in your teens or 20's, since you've 'barely heard of Houston'. They had some great football and basketball teams Guy V. Lewis coached them to (IIRC) three consecutive final fours when Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler played for them.

[MoValley John]

The Big 12 and the SEC are in a dogfight for ratings here as noted in this article:

http://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/TV-ratings-show-SEC-Big-12-in-close-race-to-7965814.php

Seven of the games rating over 2.0 in the Nielsen ratings featured U of H. I think this is a great breakdown of those games:By network:
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU 59, CBS 12, Fox/FS1 10, NBC 2.
By conference (home team): SEC 24, Big 12 20, Big Ten 14, ACC 8, American 8, Pac-12 6, Notre Dame 3.
By school (home or away): Alabama 10, Texas 9, LSU 8, Notre Dame 8, Baylor 7, Houston 7 Oklahoma 7, TCU 6, Oklahoma State 5, Ole Miss 5, Auburn 4, Michigan 4, Michigan State 4, Ohio State 4, Texas A&M 4, Texas Tech 4, USC 4.

I could bore you with more details, but if you're still skeptical, read the article. U of H, as part of their sales pitch to the Big12, appears to have overstaed the influence of the SEC inn the Houston market. The numbers and article quoted above was a more in-depth list. But there's no doubt that the ratings are very close and from the numbers above, adding Houston to the Big12 will increase viewership in the Houston area.

By the way, I'm guessing you are in your teens or 20's, since you've 'barely heard of Houston'. They had some great football and basketball teams Guy V. Lewis coached them to (IIRC) three consecutive final fours when Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler played for them.

I believe Houston probably has a very, veey good shot at getting into the Big 12. That said, the Big 12 hardly needs U of H to capture the Houston market. Houston will always be a Big 12 market regardless if The Universiry of Houston is a member. And if The University of Houston is a member, the city of Houston will still be an SEC town as well. Hell, even Omaha is an SEC city, everybody watches games on CBS!

I really find it humorous that grabbing a school in Texas is the answer the Big 12 is looking for. Isn't four enough? Haven't they saturated Texas? The move doesn't draw in any more fans, it just further shifts decision making more to the Texas schools. Those schools already killed the SWC, and their decisions and actions (mostly Dan Bebee placating the Longhorns in anything) drove away Colorado, Nebraska, A&M and Mizzou. They have replaced those schools with W. Va (okay school, way out of footprint) and TCU (Are you kidding me!).

The pool of quality schools has dried up, but here is a short list of schools that would do the Big 12 more good than Houston ever could:
UConn
Cincinatti
Memphis
BYU
Colorado State
Air Force
Boise
Nevada

That isn't even complete. Once again, I would almost bet that Houston gets in. I also bet everyone in Texas will hail this as a great move, yet the conference really did nothing to increase the beand across the country. All they did was shifted more power to within the state of Texas.

Good thing Khan has me on ignore be ause he would claim I was trolling. All I'm doing is pointing out what is obvious to just avout everyone outside of the Republic of Texas. The Big 12 doesn't need any more Texas, they've already gotten too much. They really need to expand the brand, adding Houston is like adding another Starbucks across the street from an existing Starbucks. Silly.

[Dave Stalwart]

The Big 12 and the SEC are in a dogfight for ratings here as noted in this article:

http://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/TV-ratings-show-SEC-Big-12-in-close-race-to-7965814.php

Seven of the games rating over 2.0 in the Nielsen ratings featured U of H. I think this is a great breakdown of those games:By network:
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU 59, CBS 12, Fox/FS1 10, NBC 2.
By conference (home team): SEC 24, Big 12 20, Big Ten 14, ACC 8, American 8, Pac-12 6, Notre Dame 3.
By school (home or away): Alabama 10, Texas 9, LSU 8, Notre Dame 8, Baylor 7, Houston 7 Oklahoma 7, TCU 6, Oklahoma State 5, Ole Miss 5, Auburn 4, Michigan 4, Michigan State 4, Ohio State 4, Texas A&M 4, Texas Tech 4, USC 4.

I could bore you with more details, but if you're still skeptical, read the article. U of H, as part of their sales pitch to the Big12, appears to have overstaed the influence of the SEC inn the Houston market. The numbers and article quoted above was a more in-depth list. But there's no doubt that the ratings are very close and from the numbers above, adding Houston to the Big12 will increase viewership in the Houston area.

By the way, I'm guessing you are in your teens or 20's, since you've 'barely heard of Houston'. They had some great football and basketball teams Guy V. Lewis coached them to (IIRC) three consecutive final fours when Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler played for them.

Nailed it. I'm 15 years old...

Phi Slama Jama was a LONG time ago. Over 30 years ago. That was my point. Houston may produce good ratings I guess. I don't follow that sort of thing very closely. I suppose I am just reacting to the fact that all of my Big 12 friends are so proud of how elite the conference is and Houston doesn't make me think of elite.

[MoValley John]

Nailed it. I'm 15 years old...

Phi Slama Jama was a LONG time ago. Over 30 years ago. That was my point. Houston may produce good ratings I guess. I don't follow that sort of thing very closely. I suppose I am just reacting to the fact that all of my Big 12 friends are so proud of how elite the conference is and Houston doesn't make me think of elite.

Army used to be a national football power. Houston's relevance in basketball was decades back. Unfortunately, basketball isn't driving realignment, it's football. Other than another easy roadtrip for Longhorn fans, UofH brings nothing to the table in football.

They will get in, most likely because Texas will want them in. It will do nothing to better the Big 12.