It’s obvious the Kansas Jayhawks would be a strong addition to any remaining Power-5 conference if the Big 12 were to implode, and it goes beyond the enormous brand that is Kansas basketball.
The University of Kansas currently ranks 124th in academics. While this may not be very impressive, it is ahead of other Big 12 schools such as Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia.
The Jayhawks are also ranked higher than other Power-5 conference schools such as Nebraska, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, Washington State, Oregon State, Louisville, and tied with Missouri.
The University of Kansas also has a medical school, which currently ranks as 75th in Medical Research and 9th in Primary Care.
As far as total athletics revenue, Kansas athletics isn’t far behind that either. In fact, they’re currently ranked 28th in the nation. And that’s with a football program that hasn’t won more than three games in a single season since 2009.
About that football program…
Per a report by Brad Crawford of 247 Sports, Kansas football ranks 56th of all 65 Power 5 schools in football revenue alone. That means they’re ahead of nine other Power 5 programs, even after the last ten years.
Let’s not forget Kansas won the Orange Bowl in 2008 and was at one point ranked 2nd in the nation. This means winning isn’t impossible for the football program.
Also, per a report in 2019 by Daniel Kleinman of Forbes.com, Kansas ranks 4th in the nation when it comes to most valuable apparel deals.
If Kansas can do all of this while possessing one of the worst FBS football programs in the nation, imagine what they can do when it gets going again. And believe me, it will get going again.
Kansas basketball the big selling point
The basketball program, per a report by Christina Settimi with Forbes.com, ranks 5th in the nation in revenue. If you go by average profit per year for the last three years, they would rank 3rd.
The Kansas basketball program has also been to 31 consecutive NCAA tournaments.
The NCAA tournament is the largest source of revenue when it comes to the non-profit that is the NCAA. And every time a team makes the tournament, their conference gets a piece of the pie.
This means, a team in the conference that doesn’t make the tournament will still benefit from a team in the conference making the tournament.
And the more teams in the conference that make the tournament, the more money the conference makes. And the further that team goes in the tournament, the conference makes even more money.
That’s 31 years in a row the Kansas basketball program has generated extra revenue for its conference.
Who wouldn’t want that extra revenue for their conference?
Either way, the naysayers can go on and on about Kansas football and how it’s the worst program in the FBS. While football is running the show when it comes to realignment, it’s not the only factor that matters.
Before a conference will take on an additional school, they look at every single factor to make sure the school will be a good fit.
And on paper, Kansas appears to be a good fit for just about any Power 5 conference out there.