The 2010 expansion race ended not with the cataclysmic change that was expected, but instead with a small whimper.
The expected galvanization of the college athletics landscape never materialized in the manner many thought it would.
Instead of mega conferences, we had:
1) Colorado bolting to the Pac-10, where they seem to be quite happy with each other so far.
2) Nebraska bolting to the Big Ten, torching their peers and feeling like they were forced out. Stay classy, Nebraska administration.
3) Boise State moving up another weight class by joining the Mountain West Conference.
There are still a couple of smaller dominoes that need to fall, as it appears that the Pac-10 might invite Utah to join the conference as a 12th member and, it is assumed, that the Mountain West would then invite someone to replace Utah.
But the Big Ten going to 16 teams, plundering the Big East and the Big 12? Didn't happen.
The mega Pac-10, which would have encompassed three time zones and a large geographic footprint? Didn't happen.
The long desired marriage of the Big Ten and Notre Dame? Yeah, right. That didn't happen either.
Instead what we wound up with was a Big 12 with ten teams, a Big Ten with 12 teams, and a Pac-10 with 11 teams.
Larry Scott, Pac-10 commissioner, tried to hit a home run and instead appears to have hit a ground rule double.
Jim Delany, Big Ten commissioner, tried to swing for the fences as well as and came up short, too.
The Mountain West tried to get on base, but may have just hit a foul ball if they lose Utah.
As far as I can see, only one institution has emerged from this dust up as a winner.
It's Texas.
Texas has played the role of Verbal Kint/Keyser Söze brilliantly in all of this. Texas has controlled the narrative over the last week or so and played the media game with an amazing level of skill.
In fact, Texas has been so good at controlling the spin surrounding this conference expansion game that they have somehow managed to be painted as the savior of the Big 12 — even though they were talking with not one, not two but THREE different conferences. In addition to having the Pac-10 on the hook, Texas was chatty with the Big Ten (and there were emails that said as much) and met with the SEC.
No matter what anyone else says, this came down money. As Randy Moss would say:
Texas wins because:
1) They controlled the narrative from start (on June 9) to finish.
2) They will, if Dan Bebee's deus ex machina is working properly, a significantly larger amount of revenue from the Big 12 minus 2 television deal.
3) They have been given the go-ahead to create their own Longhorn Sports Network, which will reap them additional cash
4) Assuming most things in the conference play out like they have, it will truly come down to Texas and Oklahoma for the Big 12 title most years in the new round-robin format for the league. Considering that poll inertia occurs most years, Texas remains in the BCS hunt without having to play that pesky conference title game.
5) They have asserted their will and flexed their muscles, cementing their hold on a conference they already dominated to some extent. Hell, there is even a chance that the five lost souls (Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State) have decided to vote the income that will be withheld from Colorado and Nebraska to be redirected towards Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
Gangsta.
Nothing about this situation suggests largesse on the part of the Longhorns; they held the power in this situation and used some well timed and placed media leaks to get information out there, and kept feeding that source to serve their own purposes.
Of course, again, I think it's prudent to remind folks that this is all dependent on a new Fox Sports Net television deal that is not exactly, um, real or finalized at this point; this whole thing is hanging by a handshake.
Plus, considering the enmity that this has brought out, I don't buy that this game is over.
So once again, congrats Texas. Check and mate. Job well done.
