I'm starting to like the idea of Tulane as #12 for the conference

[isuno1fan]

Louisville is as good as in....I think we all know that.

At first I too laughed at the idea of Tulane, but then I did some research and I can certainly see the appeal. Tulane used to have the largest stadium in the South. They were a founding member of the SEC. They regularly beat up on LSU and other SEC schools. They are an academic powerhouse. They would expand BXII recruiting into Louisiana and push the BXII into SEC territory. They are ready to invest again in athletics. They are looking at building a new stadium and getting out of the Superdome. They fit geographically and with BXII money could become a legit power sooner instead of later.

Here is a picture of their old 81,000 seat stadium:

The potential is there for Tulane. I'm starting to be a supporter of this idea.

 

[isuno1fan]

New stadium:

With BXII money they would likely expand capacity on this project. Right now only scheduled for 30k capacity, but that is Conf USA money. I could see them pushing that to 50k if an offer from the BXII came.

 

[cyclonedave25]

I don't think so.

 

[EYEoftheSTORM]

Inviting Tulane would definitely be an investment, and surely give LSU a run for their money. We would just have to hope their fans would start popping up if they got a XII conf invite. Id like the XII to knock LSU down a couple notches.

 

[isuno1fan]

I believe there is serious consideration being given to Tulane. I would go so far as to say Tulane has a MUCH better shot than a Cincy or S. Florida right now.

Never say never.

 

[CyBroncos]

No frickin way. They are terrible and would bring NOTHING to the table. New Orleans is a Saints town all the way and the rest of the state religiously follows LSU.

 

[cy1010]

No frickin way. They are terrible and would bring NOTHING to the table. New Orleans is a Saints town all the way and the rest of the state religiously follows LSU.

What exactly does a school have to "bring to the table"? And whatever it is, why do they have to bring that?

It's not like the Big 12 is going to lose AQ status (and AQ status may no longer exist in a few years). Do you think the TV contracts will be appreciably affected by having Tulane as opposed to S. Florida or Cincy? I don't think so.

 

[isuno1fan]

Inviting Tulane would definitely be an investment, and surely give LSU a run for their money. We would just have to hope their fans would start popping up if they got a XII conf invite. Id like the XII to knock LSU down a couple notches.

Plus that would completely pinch A&M. They would be surrounded by BXII.

I'm really starting to be ok with this idea. The potential is there and I think the BXII wants to find another school with a good academic profile. The only other candidates with that are Notre Dame (extreme long shot) and Rutgers. Rutgers is really far away though and I'm not sure Rutgers wants the BXII. They want ACC or B10. BYU is likely out as well.

On the surface, Tulane seems like a silly choice, but dig deeper and it starts to make some sense.

 

[Tre4ISU]

No frickin way. They are terrible and would bring NOTHING to the table. New Orleans is a Saints town all the way and the rest of the state religiously follows LSU.

Who do you have in mind that brings a large amount to the table?

 

[NATEizKING]

Maybe last resort but there are better options.

 

[HFCS]

I've been warming to it as well. It's a nice little FU to the SEC trying to invade our turf. Louisiana is a very populous state to only have one BCS AQ football conference team.

Big East coming into Texas is no different than the CUSA and MWC already being there, but A&M to the SEC is the opening shot in a war imho.

I wonder if they could get this new stadium up to at least around 40k, then try to schedule their top home games that could be bigger draws at the Super Dome?

TCU, WVU, Louisville and Tulane are great to decent geographic fits to replace the defectors. The population footprint would actually increase over the original I believe. It would be two top 25 football teams, a team just outside the top 25, and a project. We need another team or two outside of KU to not be great. In hoops we're adding two top 10-20 programs and two projects. Tulane is a great school and TCU has its positives as a school, I really know little about WVU and Louisville academically.

I'm actually heading to New Orleans for Christmas this year, would be easy to talk family into football vacations there.

 

[isuno1fan]

There was a time when Tulane was on par with LSU. With the proper resources (BXII) that COULD happen again over time.

I was with an LSU fan and graduate last night and we were talking about this and he HATED the idea of Tulane getting BXII resources. It would really PO LSU off and make a statement to the SEC IMO.

 

[ManofCyience]

I believe there is serious consideration being given to Tulane. I would go so far as to say Tulane has a MUCH better shot than a Cincy or S. Florida right now.

Never say never.

Are they seriously in the running? They had about 1,000 fans at their last home game against Louisville.

 

[JP4CY]

No frickin way. They are terrible and would bring NOTHING to the table. New Orleans is a Saints town all the way and the rest of the state religiously follows LSU.

I can somewhat see that but Dallas/FW area is tremendously a Cowboys town, and hello TCU. Atleast Tulane would add probably more TV sets than TCU.
I'm sure Oklahoma and Texas would love to crack more into that Louisiana/Mississippi corridor.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

What happened to their old stadium?

 

[isuno1fan]

Maybe last resort but there are better options.

Notre Dame is not likely to come. BYU ship has sailed. Rutgers wants ACC or B10. Cincy and S. Florida are not appealing overall as institutions.

Tulane makes sense. You have to open your mind a little bit.

 

[isuno1fan]

What happened to their old stadium?

Here is the history:

Tulane Football Stadium

 

[isuno1fan]

Here is the history:

Tulane Football Stadium

Link didn't go there...go to bottom of linked page and click "old tulane stadium".

In short, they demolished it in the mid 70s in favor of the Superdome.

 

[HFCS]

Who do you have in mind that brings a large amount to the table?

BYU is a money maker in unique ways. Every other realistic team has positives and negatives but the big positive is 12 teams and a title game when all other conferences are moving to 12, 14 or 16.

I agree with others that outside of BYU and Louisville, Tulane could bring more in some ways in terms of potential than schools like S. Florida or Cincy. BYU obviously has weirdness in some ways.

My realistic choices (read no ND or SEC/B1G/ACC defections) would be:
1. Louisville (by far)
2. tie: BYU/Tulane they're both gambles in different ways that could be big payoffs
4. South Florida
5. Cincy, we have enough winning basketball programs, their negatives may not be worth another good hoops team
6. SMU or Houston (kind of a last chance for 12)
7. Boise State, only if for some very strange reason Louisville is out and BYU is in

 

[isuno1fan]

BYU puts the conference into 3 time zones. That is not appealing for scheduling. Not to mention BYU comes with alot of baggage (special requests/demands) that does not allow for conference unity. I think the BYU ship has sailed.