Tasser: SEC, Big 12 to mix it up

Bye, bye, Big 12. Hello super conferences.

With Texas A&M all but a member of the SEC,… Bye, bye, Big 12. Hello super conferences.

With Texas A&M all but a member of the SEC, let’s sit back and watch the dominoes fall.

Super conferences were all the rage about a year ago, when it appeared the Big Ten would raid several different conferences the way the ACC raided the Big East back in 2004. After the Big Ten only added one school — the Big 12’s University of Nebraska — instead of the previously rumored several, the talk died down. The Pac-10 also stole a Big 12 school, the University of Colorado, (along with the Mountain West’s Utah) to become the Pacific 12. Now, the Pac-12 has aspirations to become a 16-team super conference in the future.

Thanks to A&M’s desire to escape the giant shadow cast by big brother Texas in their current conference — which, in conjunction with ESPN, just started the lucrative and dominating Longhorn Network — the school announced that it intended to leave the Big 12 if invited by another conference.

The obvious choice was the SEC, and although they were initially reluctant, on Tuesday the conference presidents officially invited Texas A&M — pending legal action by any Big 12 school — to be their 13th member.

The SEC will obviously look to add another school to reach an even 14, while the Pac-12 will continue looking to make their super conference dream a reality. When that happens, you can bet that the Big Ten will not be far behind, and that the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) will also probably follow suit.

The Big East, like the Big 12, is in a precarious position. They cannot hope to add Division I schools in football without destroying their beloved basketball conference, and their schools will be tempted by lucrative offers from other conferences. After these hypothetical raids, they could realistically merge and become their own super conference (what would they call such a geographically ridiculous conference?) but only time will tell what’s in store for these two.

When  the dust settles, I see Oklahoma and Oklahoma State jumping ship to the Pac-12 and Missouri following A&M to the SEC. That would effectively spell out the end of the Big 12, with the other six teams opting for a way out instead of an expansion. Texas would no doubt be the biggest catch, but remember, kids: It’s all about the Benjamins. If they could make more money on their own as an independent a la Notre Dame rather than revenue share in say, the Big Ten, you better believe that they won’t hasten to join anyone.

So where does that leave the Big East? They could try and make it on their own as a basketball conference, but methinks some very important members may jump ship, no matter what their high-profile basketball coach says. The basketball-only schools could form a basketball-only conference, with the other schools being split between the Big 10 and ACC. The SEC might come calling, but probably only for the likes of Louisville or WVU.

Will any of this happen quickly? Maybe, maybe not. With this much money in play, the conferences will act cautiously until one of them “mans up” and makes the jump to 16 teams (my money is on the ambitious Pac-12). Then, the rest will scramble to do the same. A crazy time in college sports is upon us, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot more fun than last summer’s uninspiring rumor-fest.