Nuggets: Realignment swinging in favor of Kansas State and Big 12
What are the latest rumblings on the current round of conference realignment with Colorado re-entering the Big 12 and how does it affect Kansas State and the rest of the league?
Why now for Colorado
Simply put, Colorado was tired of waiting on Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to carry through on his edict to net a media rights deal. Others are remaining patient, but confidence in that particular league’s boss is dwindling by the minute.
To be this close without any certainty is a feeling of discomfort, and they wanted to budge and land a spot before it was too late. They were jumping off the Titanic before it sank, so to speak. Will others do the same and join the likes of Kansas State? We’ll have more on that in just a second.
However, why did the Big 12 chase the Buffaloes? It is not as if they are a giant when it comes to appealing schools and don’t offer anything so mighty that the league can dunk the basketball and claim to land a prestigious pull.
There are a few ways to look at it, and an accurate one is that it further destabilizes the Pac-12 and sows even more dissent within the conference that the Big 12 wants to purge. It is a way of sending a message to the other potential partners.
They now know Colorado is going to be making $31.7 million per year beginning in 2024 on a heavy linear package, and that is not something that the Pac-12 is going to be able to pull off by all accounts. Landing a media rights deal with 10 teams was hard. Securing one with nine is extremely difficult.
That is why it is really confusing why Kliavkoff continues to insist on negotiating a television contract and signing one without showcasing expansion.
Kansas State scheduling
Know something that K-State athletics director Gene Taylor hasn’t had to do in Manhattan? Schedule non-conference power five football opponents. That is because so many of them were planned well in advance by previous titleholder John Currie.
The kicker is that Colorado was the Power Five opponent in both 2027 and 2028. And if one wanted to take it a step further, Arizona is the foe in 2024 and 2025. The Kansas State athletic department will have to be busy working the phones for the next handful of months to perhaps replace those games.
That will likely fall on deputy athletics director Jill Shields, but Taylor did undertake that responsibility while at Iowa.
Who is next?
13 won’t be the final number for the Big 12. They won’t hold at an odd number. Colorado makes 13 members, but it will be at least 14 by the Big 12 season and as many as 16 as others have pointed out in the industry.
What is the chatter on who will be the next to join the conference and sit alongside K-State? We stated on KSO a few days ago, and it has been confirmed, but there has been some smoke about Washington. With that being said, they aren’t so deep into conversations that they are now in the lead-off spot.
Though there continues to be rumors and discussions about UConn, I’m not buying it. Even if that is an angle supported by commissioner Brett Yormark, I think he would struggle to gain enough consensus on them as an alternative.
The only way I would see it is if it is to maintain an even number and Gonzaga was an agreed-upon basketball-only member.
Fortunately, I’m not sure Kansas State and the rest of the members will have to concern themselves with that route. I’d be shocked if there’s not more of an exodus from the Pac-12. As to how many, I’m not sure, but we have been told several times in the last 48 hours that Arizona is on the clock and the one to watch.
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