Has anyone actually sat down and done an in-depth analysis of the impact of conference expansion? For example, how cohesive will the leagues be? The SEC and Big 10 are two of the oldest leagues in the country and the schools are fairly tight with each other. The Big 12 is a hodgepodge of old leagues and is looking to get ripped apart. How stable will the super-conferences be with new schools? For example, adding UT, TAMU, OU, and OSU would seem logical, but they would mostly be tied to each other. They would probably end up in their own little quadrant and have less of an interaction with the eastern SEC schools. Some might say that we have the same problem between SECW and SECE right now, but there are not as many teams on the other side so you will play them fairly often in some sports and at most a gap of 3 seasons in football. If the added schools decide to jump to a different conference later, it will be easier, especially if they are all from the same geographic area. And if there is a possiblity of teams leaving, it will be priced in to any TV contract and the contracts will be renegotiated - and not in our favor - if teams do leave.
I'm not saying we should refuse to grow beyond 12 teams. Just trying to ask some questions that seriously should be asked. While adding the Texas and Oklahoma schools would be great, from a stability standpoint it may make sense to add two western teams (say Texas and A&M) and two eastern teams (say UNC and VT). Our previous expansion followed a similar philosophy and it has worked out well. As it stands what we have now in the SEC is a very good thing and any expansion plans should guarantee that the SEC will remain around for a long time. It may be that we stay at 12 teams and the Big 10 and Pac 10 expand and later break up.
I'm not saying we should refuse to grow beyond 12 teams. Just trying to ask some questions that seriously should be asked. While adding the Texas and Oklahoma schools would be great, from a stability standpoint it may make sense to add two western teams (say Texas and A&M) and two eastern teams (say UNC and VT). Our previous expansion followed a similar philosophy and it has worked out well. As it stands what we have now in the SEC is a very good thing and any expansion plans should guarantee that the SEC will remain around for a long time. It may be that we stay at 12 teams and the Big 10 and Pac 10 expand and later break up.