TU Tuesday

http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Missouri-curators-vote-to-explore-leaving-Big-12-2202829.php

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.  And, develop FIVE factual, interpretive, and evaluative questions for further exploration of the topic(s).

This article is about the possibility of Missouri leaving the Big 12 conference in college sports. The desicion to explore other possible conferences came after a long meeting between the board members. This could mean big trouble for the Big 12 conference, which contains college sports superpowers Texas and Oklahoma. The colleges of Nebraska and Colorado left the conference last year. A possible cause of Missouri looking for other conferences may be the fact that the Big 12 Conference is requesting that all teams make binding agreements to ensure the stability of the conference for a long time to come. Missouri is not willing to make that kind of commitment to the conference. Missouri leaving would be a big deal, because they have been a part of the Big 12 for fifteen years, since the conference began.

Possible conferences for Missouri to go to are the SEC, which is looking to get another team to make an even 14 teams. Also, the Big East could also be a possibility, because they lost two members, Syracuse and Pittsburg, this year. The Big 12 has many possible teams to join it if Missouri does leave. The article says, "

If the Big 12 wanted to stretch farther east, Louisville, Cincinnati and West Virginia of the Big East could be targets. There has also been speculation that the Big 12 could pursue BYU, TCU, SMU, and Houston. " This could cause many changes in college sports in years to come. After reading this article, I still have some questions on this topic:

1. What about the conference besides the long term commitment made Missouri want to leave?

2. Can the other conferences that Missouri will possibly join offer them as much television rights as the Big 12 did?

3. What is the Big 12 not doing to keep its members happy?

4. Why, after years of stability of conferences, are many teams relocating in the past couple years?

5. Why don't the sport players have any voice in these decisions?