Ya, I am now on team "just add FSU" and wait for ND. In a couple years, if ND says no, then we take a Clemson or whatever....use the Big 10 road map.
The problem is I don't think FSU wants to go alone. They want another Southern partner.
What FSU wants is secondary. They have no leverage.
That's why the 'wait it out' strategy is probably the most ideal. Let things play out for the next 3-5 years, and see how the money works out. FSU may not have a choice.
A few things are going to be extremely important in terms of whether or not FSU comes here:
1) An 11-1 Big 12 team gets taken over a 12-1 ACC team (should that happen)
2) What the bowl tie-ins look like for the Big 12 as opposed to the SEC after the BCS stuff shakes itself out...and how that impacts the conference payout
3) The combined average pull of revenue (excluding Texas, of course) for Big 12 teams is significantly higher after you factor in bowl revenues, playoff revenues, TV revenues, etc. that what everyone in the ACC received. The TV stuff is just a component. The ACC handed over everything and got 17 million. We handed over 2/3 and got three million more.
4) If the Big 12 wants to form a true network to bundle with the LHN where content is shared and swapped between members.
I think if you put all of those things together in 3-5 years, you'd have a compelling reason to get FSU to join, regardless of having a geographical partner and a lack of a CCG. And even if we needed #12, and it looks like ND will never join, we just add BYU for football and call it good.
There are a lot of really easy solutions to what seems like a complex problem. The travel thing in regards to FSU is a joke. They'll have to send non-revenue sports to Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Ft. Worth, Austin, and Waco are all closer than that. I'd have to check Google, but I think the Oklahoma schools are closer than that as well. Maybe even Lubbock.
