West Virginia To Big 12: Kansas City Should Draw Mountaineer Crowds

Now that West Virginia has taken care of the legal work to make the move to the Big 12 official, the attention turns to just how they will manage in their new conference home. After all, the Mountaineers are easily the Easternmost school by a long shot in the Big 12 and travel should prove difficult to overcome several times a year among all of its sports -- not just football. Yet West Virginia's AD Oliver Luck believes they will be just fine.

In an interview with the Oklahoman's Berry Tramel, Luck answered some questions about the Big 12 and how the Mountaineers will fit in. Specifically he believes that teams will travel just fine, but that the fans might have a more difficult time. Then again, the Kansas City area might hold up well when WVU comes to the region.

"It is a big commitment. Just look at the bowl games," said Luck. "And that’s just one game. That is asking a lot. I don’t think we can expect our full allotment. We’ll find out over the course of the next couple of seasons, what our traveling fan base is like. I know in Houston and Dallas, I think as well as Kansas City, we have fairly substantial alumni groups.

"Had a guy tell me the other day, ‘I’ve got a cousin in Kansas I haven’t seen in years. This gives me a reason to go out there. In the Big East, the allotment is 5,000. Recent history, most of the Big East schools, us included, haven’t sold our allotment. But 99.9 percent of West Virginia fans haven’t watched a game in Austin or Norman or Lubbock or wherever. The interest level is certainly going to be high."

It will be fascinating to watch the changes in the Big 12 next season as familiar faces are gone but new ones provide a difficult challenge.

For more on West Virginia, check out The Smoking Musket. To follow all the realignment madness, stop by SB Nation's college football news hub.

West Virginia And The Big East Reach A Settlement, Officially Able To Join The Big 12

The Big 12 can officially look forward to the West Virginia Mountaineers take their talents from the Big East as the Big East and West Virginia were able to reach a settlement Thursday night. With the departure of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, the additions of TCU and West Virginia will bring the Big "12" back to 10 teams for 2012.

Per Cedric Golden of the Austin American-Statesman, the Big 12 will financially support West Virginia by loaning about $9-$10 million to assist paying the $20 million exit fee that must be paid to the Big East.

The Big 12 will officially be up for grabs when the football season arrives in September, as the defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma State Cowboys will return a talented roster but must replace their All-American quarterback (Brandon Weeden) and wide receiver (Justin Blackmon). Oklahoma and Texas should look to rebound from tough 2012 seasons as well, and with the addition of two strong programs like West Virginia and TCU, the Big 12 could arguably be the best conference in college football next season.

For more on West Virginia, check out The Smoking Musket. To follow all the realignment madness, stop by SB Nation's college football news hub.

West Virginia To Big 12: Buyout Reportedly At $20 Million For Big East

Big East Files Suit Against West Virginia After Mountaineers' Suit Against Conference

Earlier this week, West Virginia sued the Big East to get out of its contract with the conference and pave the way for future residency in the Big 12. Friday, the Big East volleyed back a lawsuit of its own against West Virginia, with the conference suing the Mountaineers for "breach of contract" in an attempt to force them to abide by conference restrictions before bolting.

The Big East is trying to enforce a new requirement that schools departing from the conference remain in it for 27 months after announcing their departure; West Virginia is trying to make a break for the Big 12 as soon as possible to facilitate play starting in 2012. The Mountaineers were part of the Big East effort to craft the 27-month waiting period after the surprising defections of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC earlier this fall.

But the Big East allowed TCU to escape its clutches after reportedly paying a $5 million exit fee. And the league may be able to get more from West Virginia. At this point, it seems likely that West Virginia will still ultimately head to the Big 12 — but only after a fair bit of ugly legal wrangling.

For more on the Mountaineers, visit West Virginia blog The Smoking Musket and Big East Coast Bias. And stay tuned to SB Nation's collection of comprehensive StoryStreams for more conference realignment news.

Big 12 Realignment: Texas Longhorns AD DeLoss Dodds Says 'We Are Not Bullies'

DeLoss Dodds is tired of being accused of bullying the others. Besides having a worse name than a lead character in some young adult detective novel, Dodds also fights another war: negative PR for the Texas Longhorns. As the Longhorns’ athletic director, Dodds says the perception is all wrong about the Longhorns’ role in the midst of the Big 12 upheaval that’s taken place in the last two years.

“We have stuck our neck out to save the Big 12, and we’re not a bully,” Dodds recently told the Missourian. “We didn’t cause it. Our goal has been, and continues to be, to keep something together for the Big 12 and that’s what we’re going to do, good Lord willing.”

Dodds goes on to say that Big 12 fans from Kansas City have written him blaming him for bullying everyone else in the conference. Texas A&M fans have also gotten ahold of him and blamed him for making them leave the conference. It’s a no-win situation for Dodds as he realizes Texas simply makes more money than anyone else due to ESPN’s offer of $15 million per year for the Longhorns network.

Yet despite all of the departures, the addition of TCU and West Virginia means the conference is still standing after all of this time. And even if Texas has been bullying some, it hasn’t scared away the others. Despite the negative PR, Texas still has its conference home intact and others have been happy to join the ride. Once the dust settles on the conference merry-go-round, Dodds will likely stop getting such hate mail.

Big 12 Realignment: West Virginia's 2012 Football Schedule Is Like, Really Screwed

While the SEC tries to make sense of a 13-team, two division schedule for its 2012 football season and Missouri floats aimlessly in conference purgatory between the SEC and Big 12, West Virginia's bum's rush out of the Big East and into the Big 12 is littered with legal snares, making even a single game of the 2012 'Neers football schedule absolutely impossible to forecast.

But the Charleston Daily Mail attempts exactly that, despite having no idea what to make of the Mountaineers' 2012 affiliation. Will they be forced to spend one more year in a wounded Big East? Jump headfirst into the Big 12? And if it's the latter, will Missouri be there? How many home and away games can WVU fans expect? What about WVU's non-conference slate moving forward? If Missouri left, would WVU simply plug into their schedule? Says the Daily Mail, no:

Even that's not easy. WVU would have Oklahoma, Kansas State, TCU and Baylor in Morgantown, and face Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech on the road? But what about the annual (since 2007) Mizzou-Kansas game in Kansas City, at the NFL Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium home.

On the current rotation, it would be Missouri's home date in 2012, so if the deal works that way, WVU would start with a 5-4 schedule plan.

Have YOU recently signed a contract to play football with the West Virginia Mountaineers? We suggest you might consider lawyering up, toot sweet.

West Virginia's four non-league games are home against Marshall and Maryland, at Florida State (the start of a home-and-home and the final games of the ACC-Big East lawsuit settlement from 2005), and a FedEx Field date with FCS member James Madison.

The Mail adds that the buyout for the JMU game in DC is $1 million directly to the Redskins, so that titanic clash is no danger of being cancelled.

West Virginia Will Sue The Big East in Order To Join Big 12 Early, According To A Report

It was all good just three days ago, but now the legal teams will do battle to decide the fate between the Big East and West Virginia University. Back on October 28th, West Virginia had agreed to join the reshaped Big 12 conference, thus leaving the Big East in relative shambles after the announcement of Pittsburgh and Syracuse joining the ACC just a few weeks ago.

However, the Big East doesn't plan on following West Virginia's script, as the conference plans to hold WVU to a newly requirement that departing schools remain in the league for 27 months.

"West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference," said league commissioner John Marinatto.

While the smoke clears, its evident that West Virginia is trying to make a break for the Big 12 and begin play in 2012. The Big East is trying to hold the Mountaineers program to their 27-month exit waiting period protocol, although the conference allowed TCU to walk away from the Big East by only paying a $5 million fee. Word is also out that West Virginia would be willing to pay up to four times as much to escape the conference if necessary.

You've got to love conference realignment, right?

For more on the Mountaineers, visit West Virginia blog The Smoking Musket and Big East Coast Bias. And stay tuned here for more conference realignment news.

Big 12 Realignment: Louisville Cardinals 'Still A Possibility' Along With West Virginia

Chuck Neinas says 10 is enough. An anonymous Big 12 source says otherwise. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel reports that he was told the Big 12’s stance on staying at 10 teams after adding West Virginia and TCU to replace the departing Missouri and Texas A&M might not be the final plan after all. Instead, the Big 12 might be open to adding an 11th team in the University of Louisville to bolster its geographic reach to the (Big) East and gain better scheduling ability for the long-term.

Adding Louisville has always been a back-burner option for the BIg 12 for the last several weeks, as they’ve been bandied about along with Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Southern Methodist and several others. Given the commitment that the Big 12 now has all the way to West Virginia, it’s important that any future addition also lean eastward considering travel costs. It also bolsters your impact in that area.

Tramel also rightly points to the Cardinals’ success across several sports — both men’s and women’s — but it’s football that’s guiding this game. It’s not since Bobby Petrino was calling the shots a few years ago that Louisville mattered much on the national scene, but it at least displayed a sign of life that the team could rise alongside the powers-that-be with the right head coach in place.

If anything, adding another team sends a message about stability in a time when the Big 12 has looked incredibly fragile. It’s not on the verge of falling apart a la the Big East, but is that even the comparative category you want to be in in the first place? The SEC, ACC and others are moving toward 14 or even 16 teams. The Big 12 would do well to not live on the edge of instability again.

Missouri To SEC: Big 12 Throws In The Towel

One of the most notable parts of the Big 12's press release Friday welcoming West Virginia to the conference is what it doesn't say:

Beginning with the 2012-2013 season it is expected that the Big 12 conference will be comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

There's no mention of Missouri, which has yet to officially leave the conference, although it has had its foot out the door for weeks now. 

And while West Virginia, the school that is replacing it in the Big 12, may still be caught in legal entanglements as it fights it way out of the Big East, there appears to be nothing holding Missouri back from joining the SEC now.

The Tigers have been in the same conference with Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State for nearly a century; how their move affects those rivalries remains to be seen.

Big 12 Realignment: Big East Confirms West Virginia's Departure, Per Reports

Associated Press reporter Ralph Russo hasn't confirmed West Virginia's move to the Big 12, but he has confirmed an official break-up with their current conference:

With that, it's all but official that the Mountaineers will be announced (as early as today) as a new member of the Big 12. However, without any clarity on Missouri's official exit strategy from the Big 12 to the SEC, there's no timetable as to when WVU would be able to officially withdraw from the Big East and join the Big 12. Paperwork's a headache like that. 

For more on West Virginia, check out The Smoking Musket. To follow all the realignment madness, stop by SB Nation's college football news hub.

Big 12 Realignment: West Virginia Officially Invited to Big 12, Per Reports

CBSSports.com is reporting that West Virginia University has been officially invited to join the Big 12 Conference, and that officials are expected to officially announce the Mountaineers' acceptance of the offer as early as Friday.

For roughly a week, reports of West Virginia to the Big 12 have surfaced, but those rumors cooled Tuesday when debate among the Big 12's board of directors arose regarding West Virginia or Louisville as the best possible candidate to replace all-but-officially departing Missouri. 

As CBS' Brett McMurphy writes, there are several tangles ahead for an official timetable regarding West Virginia's move:

If Missouri joins the SEC next season, West Virginia may have to wait until 2014 to leave the Big East for the Big 12.

The Big East has a 27-month notice before teams may leave the league. West Virginia is the latest team to announce its leaving the Big East Conference. Pittsburgh and Syracuse are headed to the ACC and TCU will join the Big 12 next season.