Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="kyleslamb, post: 13335, member: 895"] Research brings more than athletics, but why does that matter to Pac-12 schools? It only matters to the Big Ten because they've set up a consortium of resources to where highly-concentrated research universities can help one another improve their own research by sharing access to libraries, equipment and collaborate on projects. The Pac-12 does not have such a consortium, so research dollars of other universities don't really help one another much. Again, I agree with you the Pac-12 cares about academic reputation, but at the end of the day, the Big Ten is currently the only conference that has an avenue for academics of other schools to have an influence on each other. Research otherwise wouldn't impact expansion. Let's get down to brass tacks: realignment is being brought about by finances, not academics, geography or athletics. Do you agree with that? So at the end of the day, the Pac-12's decision as to which teams they take will be one of the most financial sense, not academic reputation. The Big Ten does have an academic motivation because of the CIC interactions, and the ability for other institutions to indirectly improve research funding through resource collaboration, but ultimately the Big Ten is expanding because of their desire to grow inventory on their TV network and expand the geography of interested subscribers. The Pac-12 is no different and Larry Scott recently said as much when he admitted they're looking at other combinations of schools (even if Texas isn't included) that will be "most profitable." The final decisions will be made based on money and nothing else. Academics might be a tie-breaker or a consideration between schools with similar credentials, but generally speaking, it's not going to keep a school like Texas Tech out of the running. This is an arms race to some degree. The Pac-12 will want to keep up with their peers, and Texas Tech will give them a better chance to do so than Iowa State, Baylor or even schools like Boise State. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?