Does Mizzou Have Options in Conference Realignment?

Yes.

Clay Travis over at Outkick The Coverage believes the SEC will woo Missouri to become the 14th team:

Sources say that Missouri is attractive for many reasons. Chief among them: it opens a new market -- a primary goal of the SEC as OKTC has informed you throughout -- provides entree into St. Louis, the nation's 20th largest television market, and Kansas City, the nation's 31st, and it's an AAU school, a point that can't be lost in the conference expansion race. One of the selling points on A&M's addition to SEC presidents was that it would increase the academic prestige of the conference, becoming the SEC's third AAU school after Vanderbilt and Florida. 

There's also the belief that Missouri's addition would allow the SEC to take a step firmly into the Big 10's turf and keep the Big 10 from expanding in this direction at any point in the future.

It may be a long shot, but I wouildn't be surprised to see both KU and MU go to the Big 10.  It would shore up the two big metro areas in Missouri as Big 10 territory and it would block the SEC's movement into St. Louis.  Plus both schools are AAU members which fits in well with the rest of the conference (save for Nebraska which recently lost its AAU membership).  Then there's the still fresh rivalry between MU and KU, especially between MU and KU in basketball and MU and NU in football.  The latter wasn't of OU vs. NU proportions, but was turning into a nice rivalry).

I'm not making this prediction, but am just stating that this move wouldn't surprise me.

Comments

[Mike McCracken]

Nice blog Phil. Took me a little bit to connect the name with the face but I eventually figured it out. Hope all is well.

Anyway... as a KU fan realignment is driving me crazy. I mean what exactly is our market? KC,Topeka,Salida? ooooooooh - big money. Sure, we're the best that exists in college basketball but that's not the issue - it's all about the cash.

[Phil]

Nice to hear from you Mike! I gotta think that KU will land somewhere nice on account of their basketball program. This realignment is all about enhancing the value of media rights, and most of that is being driven by football these days. But having KU's basketball program in a conference is a nice jewel. KU is a national brand in basketball, so while the local market isn't that big, the national market is.