An Open Letter to Notre Dame from the BIG XII and Texas

A message to the Irish: Get in a conference while a conference still wants you.

The Big 12 is looking to add the Irish, and it looks like a plan the Texas Longhorns are on board with. If we know one thing about Big 12 plans for expansion, it is that they go through Austin. Just ask A&M and Nebraska about trying to bully the Horns into sharing their TV revenue—hope you all enjoy the SEC and Big Ten.

The Horns didn’t need those teams or the others that left the Big 12 for it to remain one of the top revenue producing programs in the nation. It doesn’t need the Irish either, but what’s the harm in adding a perennially mediocre team that has one of the largest fanbases in the nation? The Horns should get behind this plan because they have plenty to gain in terms of national exposure and revenue.

But if Notre Dame forgoes a conference, it stands to lose some of its national prestige, particularly if the Irish are not coddled to under the proposed playoff plans the way the BCS did when it made the ND exception.

Let’s not hasten ND’s demise as one of the top drawing teams in the nation. It’s not as though they are suffering from a mass exodus of fans. (See that? Pun on both mass and Exodus.)

ND needs a conference but not necessarily the Big 12. So Notre Dame, here’s a little slide show to demonstrate what makes the Big 12 the conference you should choose.

Kansas Football

You'll get to play Kansas.

Better Scenery Than Big Ten

Wait until you see the rest.

You Won't Have to Play Here

By the time the weather gets really bad in Kansas or Iowa, the season will be over. Happy Valley sucks in November.

Not the SEC

You stand a better chance of winning in the Big 12 than the SEC.

Not the ACC

The Big 12 is more respectable than the ACC.

Fate

You are already scheduled to play Texas in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020, which—if the Mayans are wrong—makes future scheduling much easier. And as good Catholics, shouldn't you take this as a sign?