re: How long until we go to 16 teams?

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I'm not so sure I see your profit angle. Sure, you're losing a non conference game or two every other year, but if you're taking a shitty division 3 team off the schedule, that's a team you pay to come to place anyway, and you could most likely demand higher prices for a marquee opponent

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Gimme games against bad non conference opponents are extremely profitable (esp for the major teams with big stadiums) because you don't share revenue very equitably and can still fill a stadium.

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Texas just doesn't deliver that much to the conference as a whole now that A&M is in the fold. Especially moving forward. The population of former students is growing exponentially. I think it is both in the interest of A&M/LSU that they keep any other teams out because it really locks down the Houston talent pool, and keeps the focus of the city towards those two programs, and not just for recruits, but donors and potential students.

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I agree. That's why you won't see the SEC expand but to new states with Virginia and North Carolina (the states, not the universities) being the most likely.

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The experts are saying 15-20 years because of the contracts.

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Screw that, we'll renegotiate whenever we feel like it.

I want Florida State

I think it will be more like 10-12 years.

The current TV contract is though the bowl games of 2014. The current talks are negotiating changes for the games after the 2014 regular season so that's January of 2015.

The BCS bosses are wanting to get an eight year TV contract that starts then. That means any change from a four team playoff won't happen until 2023.

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I agree. That's why you won't see the SEC expand but to new states with Virginia and North Carolina (the states, not the universities) being the most likely.

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I am still weary of this. With the Pac 12 and the B1G aligning themselves, I don't know if it is in our best interest to destabilize the ACC. I think the current situation is set up nicely for the SEC. The ACC and the Big 12 are both weaker than the SEC in almost every area, but if they consolidated themselves they could become a major problem. tu, OU, OSU, Texas Tech, FSU, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, WVU, UNC, Duke, and whichever others could make a conference that strikes right across our footprint, and regardless of what anyone wishes, a lot of those programs have value, and if they become overly marginalized by our success, they will get restless. Especially tu. The first time A&M experiences success in the SEC, and they feel the eyes of Texas start to wander, they will do whatever they can to restore themselves to former glory.

Do I think this will happen? Sort of, regionalism is a lot to overcome just for better football games, but the world is changing, so who knows?

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Also, can VT pull out of the ACC without causing problems with UVa (who got them in)? Or does UVa have to leave first (say, UVa/UNC to the B1G) thus giving VT the "political cover" to move to the SEC. Is NCST also in a similar quandary--needing UNC to leave first?

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It could be tricky with VT. The only reason they were brought in was when it looked like BC, Syracuse, and Miami were going to get the bids, the state politicians that went to Tech, basically forced UVA to push for VT and try and block anything expansion that did not include Tech. I still think VT would jump and screw over UVA in a heartbeat, if they can.
With NC st, they are a part of the UNC system. UNC would have a vote in ANY conference move NC st might want to do. Not sure on the specifics of it though

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With the Pac 12 and the B1G aligning themselves, I don't know if it is in our best interest to destabilize the ACC.

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I don't think the SEC will start anything to destabilize the ACC. We could have done that last year when looking for Member #14 but didn't. The SEC and ACC seem to have an alliance which may be stronger than the PAC/B1G has.

But that doesn't mean that the Big 12-2-1+1-1+1 won't try something--it has nothing to lose (having already sold it's soul to the Longhorn Network). If only FSU and Clemson (football schools in a basketball conference) jump, that won't be terribly bad--the ACC can grab UConn and Louisville out of the Big East (with South Florida another possibility).

The problem starts if a Big 12 move involves FSU and Clemson PLUS two more schools (Miami and GT being the most rumored). If the Big 12 goes to 14, will the B1G feel some need to go there too, or go on ahead and make it 16? Not counting GT the ACC has four AAU members (UNC, UVA, MD, and Duke) which is something the B1G prizes and may not get another chance to grab.

Should that happen, will VT and NCST see the writing on the wall of (at that point likely) an ACC implosion, and recognizing that this is probably their ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE to get on the SEC gravy train, petition for membership?

Did we really make any half serious inquiries to VT last year. I heard very little about them. One of the few things I heard was Beamer not wanting to go be in the SEC(he's never been big on playing good teams). But I do know from having lived in VA for 12 years, VT has NO loyalty to UVA, like the loyalty between say OU and OSU. I also don't see UNC ever leaving Duke's side either. I doubt either would ever do anything to risk the bball teams playing twice a year

OU and OSU are a package deal. There is loyalty between the two.