OU and realignment

I don't trust OU at all. Its about growing the market and how much does OU do that? The state doesn't have enough people. SEC will go east first.

Y'all go have some fun and RA nuggets new thread into oblivion

Agreed, but even w/o the GOR this makes no sense for the SEC. Sure OU is a national brand but outside Oklahoma they'd add a pittance to the SECN pot, and the state of Oklahoma just doesn't have the viewers for this to make sense financially for the SEC. Plus we've all heard OU is married to OSU and that makes it even a worse deal for the SEC. With those TWO schools my guess is it would even be a net loss in revenue for SEC teams.

tu: frick 'em. But even if everybody in the SEC got on board (Ha!) I can't see that happening. As everyone here already knows, the LHN is just the tip of the iceberg. Those dummies think they're entitled to run everything, which would never wash in the SEC. And tu would never agree to move over here with us intellectually inferior folks anyway.

Personally I don't see a need to expand, even if the PAC becomes the PAC-16. But if the SEC does then it only makes sense to me to grab a NC and VA school, GOR be damned.

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realignment thread over on Landthieves

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Thread over.

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While they don't bring much value to the SEC Network because there aren't that many TV sets in Oklahoma, they are a NATIONAL brand that a person in Boston, Indianapolis, or Portland, Oregon, who is flipping through the channels on a Saturday will stop and watch if there's nothing better on or their own team isn't playing. If they play another big brand team it automatically becomes one of the big Games of the Week and draws nationwide eyeballs. Thus, while they aren't attractive for SECN, which is typically the reason for expansion, that's overshadowed by the value they would bring to the re-negotiation of the 1st Tier TV contract. OU is an attractive add. They are a value-add.

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How do you prove that to be true? Is Disney just going to take your word for it? However we all know 1 major in school state can demand cable companies to add the SECN for the entire state for the higher rate.

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While they don't bring much value to the SEC Network because there aren't that many TV sets in Oklahoma, they are a NATIONAL brand that a person in Boston, Indianapolis, or Portland, Oregon, who is flipping through the channels on a Saturday will stop and watch if there's nothing better on or their own team isn't playing. If they play another big brand team it automatically becomes one of the big Games of the Week and draws nationwide eyeballs. Thus, while they aren't attractive for SECN, which is typically the reason for expansion, that's overshadowed by the value they would bring to the re-negotiation of the 1st Tier TV contract.

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The problem with that theory is currently the money maker IS the SEC Network. Well you look at relative value, the SEC Tier 1 CBS deal is below market value. For each game on CBS the SEC is being paid less than they could be for those games, and they do it for exposure (because only the SEC is on CBS). On the other hand when you look at Tier 3 football games on the SEC Network no one in the country is getting more value than the SEC (even Texas). The Tier 1 stuff is still worth more apples to apples, but a higher relative Tier 2 and 3 value matters more because that is the bulk of a conference's content. You only have maybe a Tier 1 game or two a week.

What would get OU in the SEC is the same thing that would let in a FSU or a Clemson: the destruction of the cable service model. If by regulation or market forces we see À la carte IP channels as the dominant way to consume tv in 2025 then the SEC Network goes from a "everyone who has cable pays X amount" model to "everyone who wants that pays X amount for the ESPN streaming package with it" model. Then milking single moms who just get cable to watch Food Network is history, and we move a model where every subscription is optional and the cost for each subscriber is higher because there are fewer subscribers. With higher and more direct costs suddenly geographical footprints matter less and pure product quality matters more, so a name like OU or FSU might bring in subscribers you wouldn't otherwise get.

But a LOT has to happen to get there, and I personally believe cable is such a force today it will exist as the major way to distribute TV in ten years. Millennials love to cord cut, but until their parents die in twenty plus years the cable companies (and therefore instate rate conference networks) have a future.

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That said, they are kidding themselves if they think they can get out of the GOR.

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Eventually they will be able to. Unlike an exit fee in the Big 12 the GOR value is set. Take whatever would be made on the TV deal and multiply that by the years left on the GOR. Right now that is like $200 million (aka more than they are putting into their stadium) so they are stuck. But every year that value goes down. Maybe in five years they can make a move, for now Boren is just trying to build in an excuse ("we told you to expand and kill the LHN") for a later possible move somewhere.

What all this realignment talk this offseason in the Big 12 shows me more than ANYTHING is that the results of realignment that were obvious to me and most here back in 2011 are finally being accepted by those who were on the losing side. When you get a raw deal the natural reaction is to spin it. The year we left we heard how we would regret it, how the modern Big 12 made for a perfect launching pad for the playoffs, how a conference of true champions would be respected, etc. After last season every single 2011 talking point they had was proven false, and what we see now is the cognitive dissonance from that.

The Texas fans are internalizing the situation. To them everything would be ok in the Big 12 and in life if Charlie could just make the playoffs. They refuse to admit that maybe they lost when playing the last hand of cards, but most are adamant that any mistake can be undone in time even with the LHN intact. The emperor has no clothes.

The OU fans are a little different. They started off blaming the program and the coach, but I think the Big 12 getting left out of the playoffs was a wakeup call about the national levels of respect the league has. OU fans (who are entitled at Texas levels, maybe with reason) see the writing on the wall that even a great OU team might be held back by the reputation of the Big 12. They don't really fear what I think they should fear- that a bad post-Stoops hire might kill their program given the removal of a natural recruiting advantage over A&M- but they do feel that a program like OU should get whatever the best is which isn't the Big 12.

Boren already tried to improve their lot and failed. Any smoke about him doing it again is obviously false. If he had any real power he wouldn't be pushing for Big 12 expansion in the open, he would do it in Big 12 meetings. That kind of move is what politicians do when they are beat in backroom negotiations- appeal to the public for support. I think we will watch a Big 12 not do anything and an OU not do anything. He has no leverage to make better happen, not without really burning some bridges in the state.

One last thing I want to note: in 2011 when OU fans talked about leaving the Big 12 they REFUSED to accept the fact that OSU had to be taken care of. More than one online told me frankly that they would only help OSU as long as it helped them and they could ditch them at any point. Now it is obvious that they accept OSU's anchor, which probably adds to their dissonance because it limits their options.

Could OU be in the SEC one day? Sure, they are a big program and if ESPN keeps the ACC on lockdown they might be the best expansion option left if the cable industry dies. Could OU leave behind OSU? Sure, the OU program is the pride of that shitty state and Okies won't let OU's program die just to keep OSU relevant. But none of this stuff is small potatoes. A SEC move would possible end a relationship with Texas, which they value. Leaving behind OSU would leave a fracture in the state that will be hard to overcome.

Overall the Okie's realignment IQ is pretty low so I wouldn't actually trust anything on their message boards. But from them we can get a sense of the environment in Norman, which is toxic. Couldn't happen to a better program, I hope we win a title before 2025 so we can bury them forever.

I want the SEC to take OSU just because it would warm my black heart to see the Sooners suddenly flipping the frick out and having an identity crisis

Plus their mascot and coach own

Too bad it won't happen

I didn't mean you specifically.

Anyway lets talk ratings. LINK /

They get on network TV quite often, but pretty much every week they get beat out by the other networks and ESPN's prime time game. Its not a good look.