Over the weekend, Scott Rabalais of The Baton Rouge Advocate caught up with LSU chancellor Michael Martin to talk about expansion. And unlike most of his fellow presidents, Martin had plenty to say:
“It isn’t all about money. I want to know about travel for all student-athletes and if that school really fits into our mix, whether they share the same values that we do. … I’ve always thought a 12-team league for the SEC is a good one. It’s fairly easy travel and we’ve been successful competitively. Prove to me a new model is better than what we have and we’ll put it to a vote.”
The chancellor also provided yet another clue that the SEC is thinking about adding two teams at the moment, not four. “It doesn’t make sense to add one school, to be a 13-team league,” he said. “If Texas A&M, then who else?”
As we’ve said before, the final call on expansion — who gets in… if anyone gets in — will be made by academicians and many, many factors will influence their final votes.
Look at Martin’s photo at left. Now you tell us if you think that gentleman is going to make such a major decision based solely upon who plays dynamite football.
Guess what BamaDave, Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings were both at A&M before moving to Alabama. In fact, I was a freshman Aggie when Stallings took A&M to the Cotton Bowl and beat Alabama and the Bear who hoisted Gene up in the air when they met at midfield after the game was over. So if A&M was good enough for those great coaches, we are good enough for the SEC.
-Sounds like some 'scaredy cats'. Yes LSU may lead 27-20-3 overall, but A&M leads LSU 7-1-1 in College Station. Adding A&M to the SEC will improve the western division and definitely bring money to the conference with additional big tv markets and a big Aggie fan base. And LSU is concerned about traveling to College Station, give me a break. If you can't travel to play the best teams, something is wrong.
How short-sighted of the Chancellor. I say take Texas A&M (Houston market) and SMU (Dallas market) in the West and add two teams in the east. I know the idea of taking SMU (if they would be interested) sounds crazy, but they are going to recover from the death penalty eventually (and joining the SEC would facilitate that) return to glory. Texas is a huge state--practically a country unto itself--that is culturally a southern state in the eastern half including the Dallas and Houston--College Station areas. The ties are there in both areas of Texas, particularly from the large number of Louisiana immigrants. Travelwise, they are as close or closer to LSU than most of the other SEC teams, including teams in the West such as Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn and all eastern division teams that we play, including Tennessee, Vandy and Florida.
... sounds like LSU just wants to remain the closest SEC school to the fertile recruiting bed of TX
... maybe it IS all about dynamite football
I agree completely. Everyone is talking about the "Texas Market" in tv revenue but for some reason no one has come up with any numbers about how much money this market generates. I find it quite odd that in today's statistic driven blogs that no one has yet to point out exact numbers. Adding to the fact that there are a lot of teams that are gonna have to actually fly to College Station which increases costs exponentially it doesn't seem to make good sense. The payout for each school last year was roughly 20 million from the SEC. Does A&M bring this kind of money to the table? And if so, where is the statistics to prove it?
All of that is just dollars and cents talk, then you get into the fact that they have been a bunch of arrogant asses the past few years with Texas as well as the SEC. They had their opportunity to join the SEC last year and chose the 20 million that ESPN kicked in to stay in the Big12. Now, a year later they are whining again.
Then there is the fact that they are not really that good of a sports team. 6 bowl games in the past 10 years is OK if you are comparing that to Ole Miss or Miss. State but that was with them playing in the Big12. My guess is, if they have to play the SEC schedule all of a sudden their numbers aren't quite as good and they are struggling to make it to a bowl game each year. What does bowl games have to do with it? Well, that is where a big chunk of the money that the SEC pays out to all the schools comes from. So, I am like the fine gentleman from Louisiana, show me how it makes good sense to bring them in and I will quit protesting it. Until then, screw A&M.
And to concerning Bill Rauhuff's statement........the SEC is already a National Conference. Why do you think every media member in the world compares every other conference to us? We are the measuring stick in a nation of mediocre football conferences.
+1
I absolutely hate the idea fo expansion. I kinda think its garbage that all teams dont play each other now. We switch to that format it would be ridiculous. We are southerns not texans. We have a different love for the game than they do, different cultures.
Agree there as well, John. The culture is a completely different mix and arrogance still reigns supreme in the great state of Texas. The Aggies and [short] Horns truly deserve one another.
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