and conference work in good faith to make it happen. Details are all worked out. Negotiation, as usual, it hard, but all parties finally decide they can live with the compromises and move forward. Just as the deal is about to get signed, 1 of the existing B12 members bolts to the B1G, followed closely by 2 to the PAC, another to the B1G, and 1 to the ACC. All of these teams apologize for not letting anyone in the conference know they were in negotiations but each "just had to do what was best for our school." That leaves 3 current B12 members, which is not enough to retain autonomy. The deals all fall apart and chaos reigns for those unlucky enough to not have a chair when the music stops.

I'm sure all of the B12 teams are looking at options. If enough options surface, it's over. I guess I'm a battered fan.

Hopefully, none of the other conferences feel like they want to expand with the 8 B12 left, or if they do can't make the offer enticing enough. Or hopefully the remaining 8 schools decide intelligently to work together and stay strong as a "P5" autonomous conference, add strong schools that will get even better with more funding (like BYU) and in a couple years, the B12 is one of the 4 top conferences again.

<sigh />