re: What do you think about Florida State to the SEC?

The amounts must be off.

2.25B was the reported to be the value of the ESPN contract over 15 years.

That's 12.5M per year for each school if Excel isn't broken.

So aTM is worth an additional 35M/year??? I don't think so.

If the current contract is worth 12.5M per year then how would adding aTM and FSU double that?

It just doesn't make any sense. However, I will deal with Nole drivel for that much cash.

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If the current contract is worth 12.5M per year then how would adding aTM and FSU double that?

It just doesn't make any sense.

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Forget about two new teams for a minute. There is a "look-in" already scheduled for reviewing the contract between the SEC, CBS, and ESPN, according to Slive.

Think the SEC isn't worth more than the Pac 12 or Big 10, based on winning five straight BCS titles?

Now add in two more schools, which makes the SEC the biggest of the big six conferences in football.

Then factor in the addition of the Texas tv market, which adds another 25 million people to the 50 million currently residing in SEC states.

Now add in whatever new footprint the 14th school brings, which is almost guaranteed at this point to be from a state outside the conference.

Yeah, that's worth a lot.

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I find it hard to believe UF/UGA/USC/UK would vote against those new members if it was for the greater good of the SEC.

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I don't. The harmony and cohesive unity among the schools in the SEC has served the league very well. Why mess with that? There are 2 or 3 other ACC programs not quite as great as FSU historically that are still solid and add new TV markets without pissing off certain current SEC schools. Virginia Tech being the most obvious one I'm talking about. NC State is also a reasonable target that fits the bill as well. You don't have to add a mega dominant program. You just need a solid program with a passionate fanbase that hopefully adds new markets.

Don't underestimate the current harmony in the league either. FSU immediately makes life tougher for all the traditional and current SEC powers and would dilute the talent further. As great as FSU is they may actually hurt the league some.

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FSU immediately makes life tougher for all the traditional and current SEC powers and would dilute the talent further.

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They would make it tougher, but it's not like they would come to the SEC and dominate. They would just be another good program. They are already diluting the talent. I think adding a team like Va Tech or NC St that isn't currently getting top 10 recruiting classes would dilute the talent more than Fla St.

I'd be all in for FSU. Brings another quality program in multiple sports into the conference. Yea we already have UF, but if we're gonna add someone is gonna be upset. Florida has one of the best athletic programs in the country, they'll live.
If we're adding just 2, then I'd go A&M and either FSU or VT. If we're adding 4, then I think you have to go with those 3 plus one more from the west not named Mizzou.

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I think Mizzou ultimately ends up in the big 10. Seems like a good fit for them. That is the main reason I don't want them. I think if we let them in now, and the big 10 came calling in a couple years, they would go.

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I have thought this myself. The SEC prides itself on stability (only three schools have left the SEC, and only one of those -- Georgia Tech -- has remained moderately competitive in D-1 athletics, with Sewanee now D-3 and Tulane barely hanging on to D-1). Mizzou has made it clear it wants to be in the Big 10+2; why take a risk on a school that really doesn't want to be here?

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If we're adding just 2, then I'd go A&M and either FSU or VT.

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Of the two I'd take VT since it does add new territory, plus the universities are so similar in their background (land-grant schools plus Senior Military Colleges) that they are perfect rivals.

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If we're adding 4, then I think you have to go with those 3 plus one more from the west not named Mizzou.

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For #15 I'd pick NC State. UNC and Duke will NEVER break up and Wake Forest is Baylor East. With those three schools so heavily invested in basketball, NC State could see a way to secure most of what football talent North Carolina has and differentiate itself from the other schools by offering SEC participation.

For #16 let me throw out this suggestion. How about Oklahoma State? Before everyone starts hear me out.

Okie State has the same problem that A&M has -- the perception of being the second-best program in a state where the best program is a perennial powerhouse. They are actually worse off since 1) the state (like North Carolina) isn't that deep in talent and 2) OU is way more of a powerhouse than Texas (eight national titles).

The Big 12 is the only thing that has allowed Okie State to become a moderately-successful program since it gets to tap into the Texas recruiting fields. If Okie State and OU end up in, say, the PAC-16, it's the Big 8 all over again -- OU gets the cream of the crop from Oklahoma plus what it can poach from Texas courtesy of the Red River Rivalry, while OSU gets stuck with what's left.

But if Okie State were to go to the SEC, then just like A&M it can differentiate itself from its perennial big brother, plus it keeps its Texas pipeline open. It won't get as many top recruits as A&M but it won't end up like Arkansas in the early days of its SEC membership (when it had NO tie-in to Texas recruits, either by conference rivalry or established OOC), as it would be in a Western pod with A&M, Arkansas, and LSU.