SMU is a small, church school which is a hard no for the PAC.
What are their options? Planting a flag in the Houston and Dallas markets may be a smart move. They would gain access to #4 and #5 Metropolitan Areas in the United States and their rich Texas recruiting grounds.
Plus they would expand with a somewhat UH-SMU rivalry instead of leaving us on an island.
May also be the reason why SMU is trying so hard to rebrand itself as Dallas University.
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A lot of the focus on markets in this thread, and on the board in general, is sort of chasing after where the puck is, rather than where it’s going. In the last round of expansion, the Big Ten adding Maryland and Rutgers made sense because that got the Big Ten Network added to cable packages in DC, Maryland, and NYC.
Now, though, cable TV subscribership rates are rapidly declining. Conference-specific cable networks aren’t as viable as they were, with BTN getting dropped in most states and P12N seeming moribund. As over-the-top streaming services take hold, it seems increasingly likely that just being in a big market isn’t going to be enough – new expansion candidates are going to have to make a convincing argument that they can drive subscription rates on their own accord.
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That’s exactly correct. SMU has a rich history and as a member of a P5 conference, they along with Houston could help bring in a large portion of both the Dallas & Houston television markets as well as both of these outstanding recruiting areas. Personally, I think that is the most likely way that UH gets a PAC invite. And if I’m not mistaken, USC’s founding isn’t all that different that SMU’s founding.
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True, but USC and the Methodist church severed all ties in 1952.
I still think they’re view smu as too religious. We can or they can find another travel partner. Tulane would be good bc if the city they are in with high standards and Tulane was in the Sec at one time.As long as we’re in , I don’t care who goes with us unlike some schools who try and keep people out bc of fear.
2 questions for you:
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Name another "religious " school in the AAC?
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At any time, with SMU as a member, has the AAC felt like a religious school conference or had they pushed their agenda in the conference in anyway?
If we want to wonder how SMU would work in the PAC, look how they fit in within the AAC. A conference made up of a bunch of east coast city schools…not exactly conservative.
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Smu isn’t going to bring subscribers to espn3
Being nieve and all but I have to ask. Why do they not want a religious school? Sunday games?
Because the West Coast PAC conference views religious schools as counter to what they stand for- acceptance of all religions/people, diversity, progressive, science and education over scripture. They essentially take the separation of religion and education (church and state) to heart.
They view religious institutions as archaic.
I wonder if SMU would formally change their name to the University of Dallas if asked to for an invitation.
Texas State changed their name in the 2000s and plenty of schools have changed their name
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It’s my understanding that they don’t want to add BYU specifically, and if they add a different religious school it’ll kick that hornet’s nest.
They’d probably have to get The University of Dallas on board with that one.
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Good point…didn’t think of them. I know there was a UT-D.
How about Dallas University?
This is accurate but I don’t think the puck is even there anymore. Unless there’s some Hail Mary where the Pac-12 can add UT and OU for real this time around, the Pac-12 network is more likely to be dissolved in connection with the next round of tv rights than to have a grand expansion plan with G5 schools to get the Pac-12 network on a better cable tier in “new markets.”
The only hope that seems even remotely reasonable to me for a UH Pac-12 invite outside of something totally off the wall like the Pac-12 losing half their schools to the Big 12 or something would maybe be something like Amazon paying a massive amount for the Pac-12 rights and they want more inventory and to have more time zones. I don’t see it but that seems substantially more likely to me than a scenario where the Pac-12 re-ups with ESPN/Fox and decides to add us, which I really can’t see at all. We’ve already seen what ESPN/Fox think about adding G5 schools and/or BYU when the Big 12 did its dance a few years ago and it wasn’t encouraging.
A lot of it has to do with some of the cultural fit as to kind of research that can be done at certain types of religious-affiliated schools and different aspects of what students can do. My guess is the Pac-12 would accept Notre Dame, though some faculty would likely push back. Baylor and BYU wouldn’t get the nod though.
How about Yuppie U !!
They would have to separate from the Methodist church first then change their name. Non-religious private schools are okay with the PAC-12. I doubt either of those will happen.
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I live in PAC 12 country.
Never see a single TV or Newspaper article about expanding. At all.
My bet is The Conference stays “As Is”.
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Tulsa…
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You realize that Rutgers is 1) a state flagship university that is 2) contiguous with the B10 footprint and 3) is an AAU member, right?