Smoke your cigars and enjoy the band while you can....

[Panjandrum]

Guys, like it or not, Houston is probably one of three main candidates if we expand.  It's Cincy, Houston, and Memphis, and at the end of the day, Memphis has three big strikes:

1) Academics: If you think Houston is a commuter school, Memphis is way, way, way worse
2) Facilities: Memphis does not own their facilities.  If Memphis wants to make a change to the Liberty Bowl, there are a lot of stakeholders, including the Liberty Bowl, that must approve it.
3) Politics: No one in the Big 12 is going to push hard for Memphis.  WVU is going to push for Cincy, who also have #1 and #2 going for them, and due to state political pressure, Houston may have the backing of Baylor, Tech, etc.  No one is going to go to bat for Memphis.

Case in point on #2; there has been a push to get more chairbacks in the Liberty Bowl, but it would decrease overall capacity to less than 60k.  The actual Liberty Bowl (the group that puts on the bowl game) is opposing this because it has the potential to decrease their revenue.  The Liberty Bowl has a say in the decisions that must be made.

You can say I'm wasting words on Houston, and they aren't Big 12 ready at this moment, but they're close.  And if they get legitimized by the Big 12, and they get access to our resources, and Houston starts playing big games against Big 12 teams in major sports, support is going to grow among their sizable alumni base.  It already has since they moved from C-USA to the AAC. 

Cincy is the only Big 12 ready school that is out there right now.  BYU won't get an invite for a million different reasons.  That ship has sailed.  If Boren really wants to expand, and he pushes really, really hard, then Houston is going to be a part of this deal. 

And, on top of all of this, the Big 12 wants to have a greater presence in Houston.  We've lost that since A&M walked.  We want corporate partners in Houston.  We want championship games in Houston.  We want to be plastered all over Houston because of its sheer size.

If we have a CCG as a result of expansion, I almost guarantee you that it will rotate every other year, or in 2-1 fashion between Dallas and Houston.

[GoodForAnother]

Houston (city and school) are not as bad as a lot in here seem to think they are

[wetwillie]

Houston (city and school) are not as bad as a lot in here seem to think they are

It's even more shitty than Dallas, and that's saying something.

[star seed 7]

Houston (city and school) are not as bad as a lot in here seem to think they are

lol

also, i don't care at all about academics in an athletic conference.

[ksuchris2000]

I dont see how Houston is a bad add. Especially financially. There's 3 million jobs in Houston. +2x more than all of KS Combined.

*edit - 3x was an exaggeration.

[steve dave]

I dont see how Houston is a bad add. Especially financially. There's 3 million jobs in Houston. +2x more than all of KS Combined.

*edit - 3x was an exaggeration.

we're not looking for a job in a shitty humid filthy city, we're considering if we want to add teams to our athletic conference.

[steve dave]

option 1 - stay where we are with legitimate (except for ISU) schools
option 2 - add some super shitty schools to that mix and make the conference worse for some reason

[ksuchris2000]

I dont see how Houston is a bad add. Especially financially. There's 3 million jobs in Houston. +2x more than all of KS Combined.

*edit - 3x was an exaggeration.

we're not looking for a job in a shitty humid filthy city, we're considering if we want to add teams to our athletic conference.

Yes. Agreed. We should get Iowa, Wyoming, Ks, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma all together and see how that crap pot of underpopulated flyover states does as an athletic conference. 

[Katpappy]

I dont see how Houston is a bad add. Especially financially. There's 3 million jobs in Houston. +2x more than all of KS Combined.

*edit - 3x was an exaggeration.

we're not looking for a job in a shitty humid filthy city, we're considering if we want to add teams to our athletic conference.

Yes. Agreed. We should get Iowa, Wyoming, Ks, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma all together and see how that crap pot of underpopulated flyover states does as an athletic conference.

WTF!!!. 

[Panjandrum]

Just found this.  Hadn't checked in for a while.

http://www.cardiaccoogs.com/2015/11/25/uh-regents-approve-renovations-to-hofheinz-pavilion/

Houston approved a $60 million renovation to Hofheinz Pavilion, which is in addition to the $25 million practice facility they just secured funding for.  A lead donation of $20 million for the renovations has been secured as well. 

So, they just built a brand new, $120 million on campus stadium, and they're spending $85 million to upgrade their basketball facilities

Very mid-majorly indeed.

[Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!)]

Houston is about as mid-major-y as TCU and Baylor. Houston also had rough ridin' phi slamma jamma.

Cincinnati is a river trash smaller version of shithole st Louis and is mid-major. Memphis is a hick smaller version of crap hole st Louis and is mid-major. Houston would immediately be the 1st or 2nd best City in the big 12 footprint (Dallas).  Plus it reopens a major recruiting area. It's a near 8 million person metro.

WTF is wrong with you idiots???

[catastrophe]

So far, the formula for Big 12 expansion has been very simple: if a candidate can add enough value to improve each school's cut, they're in (I guess unless they are super weird like BYU). So far no available schools have fit that description.

Why do people act like the Big 12 needs UH to get "the Houston" tv market or recruits? How many people would care to watch UH on tv that don't already follow UT or TTU?

Personally, I don't disagree Houston could be similar value wise to Baylor or TCU, but the point is we already have the two, and the third doesn't bring that much new to the table.

[meow meow]

Nothing gets me fired up more than thinking about the mighty Houston Bobcats coming into BSFS once every 4 years!

[TheTruth]

Eff Houston.

[Belvis Noland]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston? 

[420seriouscat69]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

No other P5 is in our situation tho!

[Belvis Noland]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

No other P5 is in our situation tho!

Well that's certainly a ringing endorsement for Houston

[420seriouscat69]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

No other P5 is in our situation tho!

Well that's certainly a ringing endorsement for Houston

It is what it is.

[Belvis Noland]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

No other P5 is in our situation tho!

Well that's certainly a ringing endorsement for Houston

It is what it is the reason we're perceived as lil bro to the other P5 conferences.

[Panjandrum]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

Just because a program is not where we want them to be right now doesn't mean that they can't be what we want if we give them access to tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.

In this environment, if you want/need two, you can only get them from the SEC or the AAC, MWC, etc.  Everyone else has a GOR.

Also, just my opinion, people need to get over what is and isn't a "P5" school.  Louisville wasn't one a few years back, and it was absurd.  Houston is absolutely better than several ACC programs, and to be honest, I think they're better than Washington State, Oregon State, Purdue, etc.  They have a ton of potential just because of the city their school sits in. 

We've seen what happened when TCU, a school that's a fraction as large as Houston, with a fraction of their alumni, has had with access to Big 12 money.  Rebuilt stadium, renovated basketball arena, Peach Bowl win, improving basketball, College World Series, etc.  Hell, last year, they carried the water for this entire conference.

Well, Houston is doing that, right now, without our resources.  Sure, they're putting some of it on the credit card, but they're doing it.  And they're winning.  And they're going to pay their football coach $3 million/yr to stick around and see it through.

I mean, I completely understand certain arguments against Houston.  We already have four teams in Texas is a pretty big negative.  But their football team has had success in recent years.  They are the cradle that brought the world Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin.  The fact that Herman is winning there means that they can either attract talent, or it's an easy place to win.  Either way, this conference needs as many good football teams that it can get its hands on.

[Panjandrum]

Just ask yourself - would any other P5 conference entertain the idea of Houston?

No other P5 is in our situation tho!

Well that's certainly a ringing endorsement for Houston

It is what it is the reason we're perceived as lil bro to the other P5 conferences.

Not true.  We are ahead of the ACC, even in our current configuration.  If you ask the ACC presidents and AD's, they would tell you that.

[Rage Against the McKee]

I still think we should add CSU. There is no other school I've seen mentioned that I really would want the Cats to play every year.

[meow meow]

TCU at least went out and played big name teams, and beat big name teams in big bowls.  I have no idea who Houston has beaten if anyone in the last how many years.  I actually had no idea Art Briles coached there.

[420seriouscat69]

RG3 was committed to Houston, because of Briles.

[meow meow]

so Briles is a good recruiter, thanks, didn't know that