Swoggler,
Again, Iowa and Northwestern bring absolutely nothing to the table. The Big XII television deal is nowhere near the "ankle grabber" that TV signed with the BigTen. Iowa is the second coming of Nebraska without the great fans and/or the following. Like Nebraska, there are more TVs in the Houston SMSA than in the entire state of Iowa. They had a couple of runs in the 50s, then after Hayden started selling bumper stickers that said, "Hook em Hawks - well if it works for Texas", Hayden made them competitive for a while. Plus, it ain't a good road trip.
Northwestern has a great TV audience for the twelve blocks around Evanston, and there is a nice view of the lake during the summer. The South side of Chicago couldn't spell Northwestern much less find it on a map. Rice has the same academics, is easier to get to, and has some history with the schools.
Mizzou has no appeal to anyone. The BigTen wants them because, under the current tv contract, they get credit for KC & St Louis tv markets, much the way Rutgers gets credit for NYC, even though nobody in NYC would watch them play in the street during rush hour.
Be careful about WVU, it is a political bomb. If Luck does indeed take over the NCAA, that is his school. As someone close to me said about Swofford & Luck, "Leave it to Swofford to piss off the only hillbilly in Mensa and who was a Rhodes Scholar".
As for the mention of Arkansas. Coach Broyles moved them primarily for the money. The Hogs were bleeding red in the accounting department. The move helped them financially whether they were successful in the W-L column or not. The mom & pop merchants in Western Arkansas suffered greatly because the Texans supporting their schools were no longer driving to Washington County. I believe that the two largest alumni clubs for Arkansas are still in Dallas and Houston. Now that they have Johnny Tyson, John Hunt, and the Waltonaires, it may make sense to approach them.
My fear is the cretin corp in Las Colinas is going to try to do a land grab using rationalization that won't hold air much less water; thus, we wind up with Memphis, Cincinnati, Tulane, SMU, Tulsa, & Houston. They can then fill in the spots vacated by OU,Texas, & oSu with East Carolina, and two Florida directional schools.
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