That last one is debatable, but Mizzou's move certainly jeopardizes the Big 12 tournament's future in Kansas City. (Luckily for KC, the tourney is contractually set for the Sprint Center through 2014.) The Border War has also gone cold. The University of Kansas' official Twitter account said as much last night with this jab:
"Missouri forfeits a century-old rivalry. We win. #kubball #kufball #mizzou"
KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little was less bombastic but definitely direct:
"We're sorry to see a century-old conference rivalry end. Missouri's decision may have implications for fans and for the Kansas City area, but it won't affect the long-term strength of the Big 12."
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was a little more candid, telling the Lawrence Journal-World:
“Like I said before, we have absolutely no obligation whatsoever to play Missouri in basketball. None,” Self said. “If we do so, it will only be done because it’s best for Kansas, not done because anybody else wants us to. We couldn’t care less what Missouri wants. If in fact they want to play us, it will be strictly determined if we want to. It will not be determined by other people, because I’ll be honest, the majority of Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri.”
So the rivalry ends (for now), and Kansas City loses. No more KU-MU football games at Arrowhead. No more Big 12 tourney collisions between the Jayhawks and the Tigers.
Missouri officials have said they'd like to hold a basketball tournament in KC with local rivals, but it doesn't sound like the Tigers can have SEC membership and hold onto their rivalries.
We're already starting to see stories with local business owners expressing concern that the move will hurt their bank accounts. But look, we knew this was coming. This was the worst-kept secret in college sports (thanks, SEC website!). Missouri sees dollar signs and stability in the SEC. Even if Mizzou created the instability a couple of years ago by lobbying to get into the Big Ten.
MU Chancellor Brady Deaton believes that this is the best move for Mizzou's future. For the university's sake, I hope he's right. But from a fan's perspective, I just don't see it. Yeah, it'll be sweet seeing Florida, Alabama and LSU in Columbia. But traveling to see your team play won't be as easy as going to Lawrence, Manhattan or Ames.
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Personally? The best thing about the MU SEC migration is that immediately after March Madness all this amatuer, pointy-headed "analysis" will be history; we won't ever have to listen to fans from two very average land grant colleges spew idiocy at each other ever again.
Priceless.
Good luck in the SEC MU...Anyone thinking that they'll do better in that conference is completely out of touch with reality...
Blaming MU for losing the Big XII tourney is illusory. The tourney was going to Dallas or OKC in short order any way. Make all the wistful comments you want about KC as a college ball town, but the hotel inventory here is killing our competitiveness. Further, quite the BS over the border-war. We've managed a rivalry(sort of) with IL for year, so if ya'll wanna play play. This is America and as has become custom you take care of #1. Mizzou did it for the first time in a longtime and i applaud them for it.
Go figure the ku walmart t-shirt crowd and the Mizzou meth heads are too busy arguing about their little rivalry (that nobody outside of KC gives a fuck about) to see how bad this is for Kansas City. Both fanbases are full of delusional idiots who think they are more important than they really are. ku fans are JoCo dorks who put a jayhawk sticker on their car, but have to buy a ku shirt at walmart on the way to watch the NCAA tournament at Johnny's because they don't actually own one. Missouri fans are just drunk white trash who think they are good at all sports despite being .500 (or worse) in all sports.
But keep on arguing about which school is better. K-State with it's top 20 football team, very solid basketball team, NBAF and all the government $$$ that comes with it is laughing at you (not that I expect ku or mizzery fans to know what NBAF is).
First of all, KU has NO obligation to play MU anymore. IT is MU's fault it won't happen NOT Ku's. We asked for it thinking we were too good for the Big 12.
Also, as an MU fan I am very sorry that this is happening. It would serve MU NO good at all. As a University that prides itself on academic excellence......we move to the SEC??? SERIOUSLY!!
I ALSO would like to encourage every citizen of Missouri, especially Kansas Citians, to NEVER vote for Jay Nixon ever again for anything, except maybe dog catcher. This is HIS doing and he should be ashamed of throwing Kansas City under the bus and having no regret about that fact. You watch KCK will step up once again, and build an arena over by the legends and take all that money that could have stayed in KC MO.
LOL SEC Gator fan. Apparently you didn't comprehend the statement you say is stupid. Said nothing about the places you will play, just referencing the VERY obvious difference, (more difficult) in GETTING to, and STAYING at those places. Nice deflection. Oh, and enjoy getting your asses handed to you in most those venues, because your program just became irrelevant in college football, joining your basketball program.
" But traveling to see your team play won't be as easy as going to Lawrence, Manhattan or Ames."
ding ding ding, stupidest comment so far. Yes, who wants to miss out on the storied atmosphere of the Manhattan stadium at noon? Are you insane?
Let's see, you dump those 3 venues for:
1)110K in Tuscaloosa, possibly at night at least once;
2)103K at UT/Knoxville, with the UT Navy, and one hopping and fun downtown
3)The Swamp, with 93K full screaming, tanned fans, lots of tailgating, and smoking hot women at every turn, in bikini tops ...
4)USCe, Columbia probably one of the most towns to party in both before and after a game ...
5)LSU, staying in NOLA the night before, with another 94K fans watching a game.
6)Heck, even Athens is a fun town .. and staying in Atlanta one or two nights is a great time.
You're right though. Give me Ames, IOWA
Sour grapes taste good, KU? Hilarious that Self makes it sound like they have the power in this situation. Mizzou clearly doesn't need or care about playing KU that badly -- THEY'RE LEAVING KU BEHIND FOR ANOTHER CONFERENCE, fully knowing this could end MU-ku! Would MU like to play KU? Sure. Do they need to? Nope. Good luck keeping Texas in check, and OU in the conference.
I'm sure the student body is thrilled about traveling 1400 miles for an away game. Greed... pure and simple.
Michael,
KC loses because it will probably never again get the Big 12 tourney as the conference is unlikely to hold it in a mid-sized city that is located in a state with no members.
How exactly does KC lose here? While I don't like the move in terms of geography, I applaud Missouri's move to the SEC, which is - and always has been - a far superior conference to the Overrated 12. KU people need to get over themselves and move on.
Biased article. Probably written by a dead-beat KU journal school hack. KU Chancellor and Coach Self are petty half-wits who instead of taking the high road resorted to taking cheap shots that just reinforce their low character. Good riddings KU and K-State. When the Big XII implodes which it most certainly will both of these schools will be left out in the cold. Perhaps, they can form a super conference with Emporia State, Benedictine, Pittsburgh State and Haskell Indian School.
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