So What Happens to Colorado?
Per the Dallas Morning News, "In a Twitter post, Pete Thamel of the New York Times reported that Baylor 'appears to have bumped' Colorado in the expansion sweepstakes."
Full story:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/060710dnspoexpa…
Could the Buffaloes find themselves homeless along with Kansas? Would B10 want them to get the Denver market?
CU is a member of the AAU, as are several other B12 institutions. Since it's probably the college president and the upper administration at CU that would make decisions about conference affiliation, it would be a hugely bitter and humiliating pill for the academics to swallow if they joined a conference with no other AAU members in it. There's no way it could be painted as anything other than a big step down for the institution. I would bet they're going to try to maintain membership in some BCS conference with other AAU members at all costs.
I agree it's unlikely CU would turn down the Pac-10 for the MWC. But what do they do if they don't get an invite to the Pac-10 and the Big 12 falls apart? At that point, the MWC may be their best bet. Maybe they could bring Kansas and/or Iowa State (both AAU members) along with them. The MWC has only nine members and has been rumored to want to expand to 12.
Whether Nebraska--CU's biggest rival and an AAU member--joins the Big Ten is another key factor here.
to join the Mountain West either. But if they do get snubbed by both the Pac-10 and Big Ten, there aren't too many other options for them. At least they would have one natural rival in Colorado St. there. They certainly don't have the money to remain independent for very long.
I live in Colorado now. It would be great to see games in person again.