[HPF Bob]

Rumors are flying fast and furious that the Pac-10 may be prepared to invite six Big XII schools - Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St. and Colorado to join them in a 16-team superconference. At a Big XII meeting last week, nine schools vowed to stay together as the Big XII but three schools - Colorado, Missouri and Nebraska would not commit. Colorado has been listening to overtures from the Pac-10 while Missouri and Nebraska have been preening themselves for possible expansion into the Big 10.

It's all about television revenue, market penetration and the next round of tv contracts. The SEC has a 15-year deal with CBS and ESPN. The Big 10 has its own tv network which is making good money with coaches shows, live games of non-marquee matchups and video replays of famous games of the past (yet they are having trouble with market penetration outside the Midwest).

The Pac-10 has been eyeing Utah and Colorado but would truly love to add Texas. Texas apparently says they aren't interested unless A&M and possibly Tech and Oklahoma join them. The Texas state legislature also has a say, as they did in allowing Texas, A&M, Tech and Baylor to leave the Southwest Conference for the Big XII.

If the change is going to happen, I'd prefer the six new Pac-10 schools to be Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska and Utah. That gives the new conference the greatest tv market penetration and name recognition. Sorry, but Tech, Baylor and Okie St. just don't have the size, prestige or market base to make the cut.

You'd then have a 16-team superconference divided between the old Pac-8 schools and the six new schools with Arizona and Arizona St. That allows the new teams to avoid the Pacific time zone for most of their contests so the time zone/travel problems are less than they might otherwise be.