Big Ten Expansion

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Is it just me or did Colorado totally get burned on this?

Colorado is much better off, they're winners in this situation. In fact, if you had to rank them:

Winners
1. Utah
2. Colorado
3. Nebraska

Losers
1. Big 12 North (Mizzou/KU/KSU/ISU)
2. Pit/Syracuse/Maryland (East Coast potential Big 10 schools)

[lukethedrifter]

Is it just me or did Colorado totally get burned on this?

What makes you think that?

[TimeForGuinness]

Is it just me or did Colorado totally get burned on this?

What makes you think that?

My thoughts exactly...they weren't going to get invited to the Big 10, they went to a better conference, and they don't have to pay Texas to keep kicking the [expletive] out of them.

[lukethedrifter]

I think this story belongs here because it seems to shed light on Texas' My Way or The Highway way of operating their athletics.


http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/i ... s-canceled

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi told the Associated Press, "It’s extremely disappointing. The kind of agreement we could not come to is the same agreement every other school on our schedule agreed to. Every other school in the Big 12 agreed to this."

Maturi added: "We have a signed agreement. If we wanted to go to court, we’d win. But that’s not our style."

"I'm extremely disappointed that Texas has chosen not to play us," Brewster, a former Texas assistant who cut his teeth under Longhorns head coach Mack Brown, said in a prepared statement. "This was very unexpected, considering we had an agreement in principal. Our fans and our team were excited to play Texas. Obviously, they weren't as excited about playing us. We plan to fill that slot in our upcoming schedule with a quality BCS opponent."

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I love to hate Texas as much as anyone, but it's hard to blame them for this. Number 1, it's FIVE YEARS from now, so Minnesota will have more than ample time to find someone suitable to play. Number two, all Big 12 schools are going to have to adjust their schedules to account for the fact that they'll have an extra conference game. That's fewer non-con slots, and teams aren't going to want to play good teams, never mind travel to good teams with those 3 games. Sucks for Minnesota, but their AD is going a bit far with the histrionics.

[vinsanity]

I love to hate Texas as much as anyone, but it's hard to blame them for this. Number 1, it's FIVE YEARS from now, so Minnesota will have more than ample time to find someone suitable to play. Number two, all Big 12 schools are going to have to adjust their schedules to account for the fact that they'll have an extra conference game. That's fewer non-con slots, and teams aren't going to want to play good teams, never mind travel to good teams with those 3 games. Sucks for Minnesota, but their AD is going a bit far with the histrionics.

So it's ok to break a contract cause it's something that was agreed to a few years ahead of time and might require travel?

[thrill]

So it's ok to break a contract cause it's something that was agreed to a few years ahead of time and might require travel?

An agreement in principle is not a contract. They didn't do anything wrong here.

[Radbird]

It certainly will be different out here in Boulder to not see the droves of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma fans (and I mean from all 5 schools) pouring into town for either football or basketball games. I doubt we'll see the same influx from the West Coast.

[vinsanity]

So it's ok to break a contract cause it's something that was agreed to a few years ahead of time and might require travel?

An agreement in principle is not a contract. They didn't do anything wrong here.

Admittedly I am not a sharp legal mind...but they had a 'signed agreement', what's the difference between a signed agreement and a contract?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Breaking an agreement for a home and home is not a new thing. It happens dozens of times a year between football and basketball. I'd be more sympathetic to Minnesota's plight if it was in 2011 or something, but it's 5 years from now. They're complaining to make sure Texas is the bad guy since their fan base had to be looking forward to Texas coming to whatever stadium UM plays in in 2015.