Tag Archives: Big 12

06.10.16
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Power 5 Health Care

 

nonpower

There are 64 teams in five FBS conferences who pretty much have it made when it comes to their financial health.

There just a little bit more on the outside of the hospital looking in, with their noses pressed against the window of the emergency room. Some people say Temple has no shot, most say Temple has an outside shot, and then there is this website called the Big 12 Fanatics that raves over the Owls.

He gives Temple high marks for financial health and rates Temple ahead of a number of Power 5 schools as an attractive Big 12 candidate. I don’t know about you, but I hope Dr. Pat Kraft finds this guy and has him make the Power Point presentation for Temple to the Big 12.

The factors he looks for is total revenue, the profit of the athletic department and the total fan base. My guess is that he placed a little too much weight on Temple’s football season average attendance (an AAC-best 44K), but the Owls probably should make their case while the iron is hot. One thing they do have is the largest TV market available to a Power 5 school (fourth, all other top 20 markets have a Power 5 team in the metro area). No one knows if Temple is actively lobbying for a P5 spot, but UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis and UCF are. The AAC can probably survive the loss of UCF, but not of the other schools.

There is a significant portion of the Temple fan base that says the school does not belong in the Big 12 and, while that may be the case, the stronger argument in my mind is that the Big 12 is the only Power 5 conference considering expansion for the next few years. Temple has got to get in the Power 5 while it can or risk never getting into the money-making group. While they have tabled the expansion talk for this season, this is the only conference that will probably expand next season or the year after and Temple better be ready. Yes, the ACC makes more sense, but P5 conferences rarely make sense.

Waiting for a call that might never come from the ACC is just too risky.

Monday: Some Intriguing Early Commits

Wednesday: The Temple of the South

02.14.16
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Temple Better Be Paying Attention

Cincinnati Enquirer blows cover off Bearcats' Big 12 bid.

Cincinnati Enquirer blows cover off Bearcats’ Big 12 bid.

Since it was too cold to go outside on Saturday, time is never wasted watching ESPN 30 for 30 episodes of the award-winning series. The Saturday one featuring the Big East particularly pertained to Temple.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino hit the nail on the head when he said: “In all of those Big East meetings, everybody was swearing unity and allegiance to the Big East and the minute they were over, all of the athletic directors were on the phone trying to make deals with another conference.”

It is with that backdrop that Temple should be concerned with the Cincinnati Enquirer’s report today that the President of that university was in active talks with the Big 12 to get his team out of the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

Temple should be paying attention because, if it was not obvious before, it is every man (school) for himself and without Cincy and UConn, Temple could one day wake up and find itself in nothing more prestigious than Conference USA.

The Oklahoma President says that it is all about TV and, if so, Temple—not Cincy—holds the ace in this deck of cards and that’s something Neil D. Theobald and Pat Kraft should be hammering home. Temple should be looking out for Temple, period.

From the Enquirer’s report, it is clear that Cincy is taking that approach.