Super Sized Big Ten

[Boilerduff]

I'm not sure what to think about the possible expansion to 16 teams...

 

Pitt

Uconn

Missouri

Nebraska

Texas

Notre dame (blech)

Syracuse

 

just some of the names thrown around..

 

Thoughts? Is the Big Ten crazy or will this lead to a playoff of maybe 4 major superconferences.....

[Kid Cid]

This is the first I've heard of this rumor, where did you get this from? Based on what I've heard in the past, this doesn't make a lot of sense for the Big Ten financially...

[BigMikeinNY]

I too am beginning to hear this within the Syracuse circles. if my 'Cuse goes to the Big Ten I will puke.

 

BM

[Square]

This is the first I've heard of this rumor, where did you get this from? Based on what I've heard in the past, this doesn't make a lot of sense for the Big Ten financially...

It's not really a rumor. The big ten officially announced they were going to look at expansion awhile ago. The debate has been on who would go and join them. From the Big 12 North, it looks like Mizzou is the most likely. The biggest rumor was about Texas coming from the Big 12 South (which would be pretty hugh). The big ten network brings a lot of money to the table so if the deal is nothing but dollars and cents, than I could see the big dogs looking at moving. I just don't know if it'll happen like that. The other rumors have been Pitt (obvious regional) or Rutgers to try to get some NY market viewers (but I don't know how popular college football is, or could be up there). Here are some links to recent stories about it.

 

Big 12 coaches keep an eye on Big Ten's expansion plans

 

Rating the big ten expansion options

 

1. Notre Dame:

 

2. Connecticut:

 

3. Missouri:

 

4. Rutgers:

 

5. Syracuse:

 

6. Pittsburgh:

[Kid Cid]

I can see the Big Ten going to 12 teams. In fact, I think they are foolish for not doing so. Moving to 16 teams though doesn't seem to make sense from an economic standpoint. Only if those schools can bring enough TV viewers to the Big Ten Network to not significantly water down the payout to each school. Plus, you're talking about adding some serious basketball power in the form of three upper echelon teams from the Big East. I just don't see the win here for everyone.

[Square]

I can see the Big Ten going to 12 teams.

Sorry, I'm retarded. I've had a headache all day and I completely missed the 16 teams part. I haven't heard that one.

[kpholmes]

Pac 10 has also announced they are looking into expanding - but to 12 teams. Boise State and BYU appear to be the front runners, but Utah and Colorado are also in discussion from what I've been hearing.

[buddahj]

Pretty soon there will be 4-5 "Super Conferences" of 20-30 teams.

[Square]

Pretty soon there will be 4-5 "Super Conferences" of 20-30 teams.

Maybe they can do a playoff system?

[Chief Dick]

Pretty soon there will be 4-5 "Super Conferences" of 20-30 teams.

 

Blair Kerkoff of the KC Star has been talking about this for some time. He recently wrote an article about it.

[gilthorp]

I would prefer to see, in this order:

 

1. Pittsburgh

2. Missouri

3. Notre Dame

[Menudo]

I would prefer to see, in this order:

 

1. Pittsburgh

2. Missouri

3. Notre Dame

 

I'd bump Notre Dame up to #2, but, agreed otherwise. I would absolutely LOVE to see Notre Dame and Pitt join. As a Penn State fan, I miss the only two true rivalries that used to occur every year. The end of the schedule always consisted of Notre Dame and Pitt, and I truly miss those games.

[wildcat2334]

I would prefer to see, in this order:

 

1. Pittsburgh

2. Missouri

3. Notre Dame

 

 

only real viable options IMO - don't see Neb or Texas leaving the B12, that is just crazy talk

 

UCON and Syr? naw

[Square]

only real viable options IMO - don't see Neb or Texas leaving the B12, that is just crazy talk

 

UCON and Syr? naw

I really don't think Nebraska will ever make the jump. I know they have their antennas out and probably won't be left at the starting blocks if things start switching around, but I'd be surprised. For the most part the big 12 is a Texas dominated league (for players, not the team per say). UT, OU, NU all have huge portions of their roster filled with players from the large state of Texas and I just don't think you can recruit there effectively if you do not play the teams there. Anyway, just one of the many nuances to these proposals as there are plenty of peripheral items that make it more than simply $$ (although we all know that is very important).

[gilthorp]

The reason I don't care for ND is that we don't need their hoity toity attitude in this conference. Let them rot in independent status for as long as they want IMO. Pitt and Mizzou make the most sense. Iowa St. makes some sense as well, but if they go West, I say Mizzou would be better, there's already a border war with U of I, and Missouri brings a good football/basketball program just about every year. Pitt would be more of a solid choice as the expansion went East, and it makes perfect sense as well.

[Gopher]

What a lot of people fail to realize (I'm not saying it's the case for anyone here, necessarily) is that whether or not a move makes "geographic sense" is about #3 on the list of priorities, if it's even that high. We all know that money is #1 when it comes to anything in sports, college or pro. The second most important thing, in the case of both the Big Ten and Pac-10, is academic standards (at least that's what they're saying). Schools that don't make the cut academically aren't even in the conversation, while those that do will be (even if they don't make sense geographically), as long as the dollars makes sense as well. Whether or not the school has a border rivalry with one of the existing members means absolutely nothing if said school doesn't bring dollars and academics to the table.

 

I've heard all along that Notre Dame isn't even an option, due to the money they rake in as an independent with their own TV deal.

[Kid Cid]

There was a really good analysis of the money side of things in another thread breaking down why Notre Dame and especially Texas made the most sense as an addition to the Big Ten. The vast majority of it centered around money as generated by the number of new television sets a school could bring into the Big Ten Network.

[muck]

IMO, the Big 12 will exist in some format only as long as UTexas remains a member.

[Pope Flick]

What a lot of people fail to realize (I'm not saying it's the case for anyone here, necessarily) is that whether or not a move makes "geographic sense" is about #3 on the list of priorities, if it's even that high. We all know that money is #1 when it comes to anything in sports, college or pro. The second most important thing, in the case of both the Big Ten and Pac-10, is academic standards (at least that's what they're saying). Schools that don't make the cut academically aren't even in the conversation, while those that do will be (even if they don't make sense geographically), as long as the dollars makes sense as well. Whether or not the school has a border rivalry with one of the existing members means absolutely nothing if said school doesn't bring dollars and academics to the table.

I've heard all along that Notre Dame isn't even an option, due to the money they rake in as an independent with their own TV deal.

 

 

Right now Indiana and Purdue make more money via the Big Ten Network that ND does at NBC, so that's actually become a fallacy.

[Ursa Majoris]

There was a really good analysis of the money side of things in another thread breaking down why Notre Dame and especially Texas made the most sense as an addition to the Big Ten. The vast majority of it centered around money as generated by the number of new television sets a school could bring into the Big Ten Network.

 

Here is that thread. My post #33 has an extremely long and detailed breakdown of the candidates and why the academics and money are the main drivers.

[Muggsy]

As an ND fan, I'd rather see them remain independant. Seeing the post above that teams like Indiana make more from the B10 Network would make it seem like a no brainer for ND to join, they could work something out to make sure they're still on national TV every week. I'm wondering if they choose to remain independant because of their basketball squad. There's no doubt that ND is considered a "football school" but they are in THE power conference in BBall and still make a ton of cash from NBC for football, seems like the best of both worlds even if IND or PUR make more for the one sport. They certainly aren't going to join the Big East in football, but I doubt the Big 10 would let them join for football and remain in the Big East for BBall, so I'm not really sure what the incentive would be to join the B10 in football unless the 3 or 4 "super-conferences" are formed, making the BCS irrelevant, that would leave them out of any theoretical National Championship possibilities. And no, even as a diehard fan, I'm not saying a NC is realistic right now, but they surely won't let themselves be left out of the possibility.

[Fatman]

Here's a great breakdown of possible expansion teams from Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal:

 

http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/...ca6e5a75e8.html

[Square]

There was a radio station in KC that reported yesterday that the Big 10 has given initial invites to ND, Nebraska, Texas, and Rutgers.

 

They had an ESPN Big ten blogger on our local radio station as I was driving home last night (in Nebraska). He basically said, that if they are looking to add only one team, the three that make sense are ND, Texas, and Nebraska. He agreed that Pitt, Rutgers, and Mizzou all fit in location wise but he didn't think that really mattered that much. He said the only real point to expand the Big 10 is to bring in more teams to push up the demand for the Big Ten Network TV station and those three teams are really the only football programs that move the ratings needle. Nebraska probably being 3rd place in that group. We have as much football tradition as anybody, but our state just doesn't have the amount of eyeballs that other two could carry.

 

Personally, the more I think about it, the less I think Texas is likely to do anything. They pretty much run the big 12. Most of the teams are in the Texas area or recruit heavily from it (where they get home field recruitment advantage). The Big 12 championship game is played in Dallas, and they have been able to tweak things for awhile to fit whatever they want. Why would they want to join another place and be second fiddle? IF Texas did leave, the big 12 would survive (IMO) assuming all the other teams stayed. Oklahoma is good enough to anchor the south and Nebraska would continue to anchor the north. TCU would be the most likely team to join up and fill the void (again, I see this as being one of the most unlikely scenarios). At some point, I don't really care what happens... I'd just like something to officially happen. It seems like a couple times a week their is some new rumor or wrinkle that gets everyone talking around here. I have a feeling it'll be a little anti-climatic when all is said and done.

[Chief Dick]

There was a radio station in KC that reported yesterday that the Big 10 has given initial invites to ND, Nebraska, Texas, and Rutgers.

 

They had an ESPN Big ten blogger on our local radio station as I was driving home last night (in Nebraska). He basically said, that if they are looking to add only one team, the three that make sense are ND, Texas, and Nebraska. He agreed that Pitt, Rutgers, and Mizzou all fit in location wise but he didn't think that really mattered that much. He said the only real point to expand the Big 10 is to bring in more teams to push up the demand for the Big Ten Network TV station and those three teams are really the only football programs that move the ratings needle. Nebraska probably being 3rd place in that group. We have as much football tradition as anybody, but our state just doesn't have the amount of eyeballs that other two could carry.

 

Personally, the more I think about it, the less I think Texas is likely to do anything. They pretty much run the big 12. Most of the teams are in the Texas area or recruit heavily from it (where they get home field recruitment advantage). The Big 12 championship game is played in Dallas, and they have been able to tweak things for awhile to fit whatever they want. Why would they want to join another place and be second fiddle? IF Texas did leave, the big 12 would survive (IMO) assuming all the other teams stayed. Oklahoma is good enough to anchor the south and Nebraska would continue to anchor the north. TCU would be the most likely team to join up and fill the void (again, I see this as being one of the most unlikely scenarios). At some point, I don't really care what happens... I'd just like something to officially happen. It seems like a couple times a week their is some new rumor or wrinkle that gets everyone talking around here. I have a feeling it'll be a little anti-climatic when all is said and done.

 

Texas was not in that report. It was Mizzou, Nebraska, Rutgers, and ND.

 

Link.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Chief Dick

[Square]

Texas was not in that report. It was Mizzou, Nebraska, Rutgers, and ND.

 

Link.

Yea, I realized that as I was driving to a jobsite this morning. The rumors seem to be picking up steam as ESPN is reporting the same thing citing that radio station in KC. Not sure how I'll feel if we jump ship on the Big 12. Whatever happens, it'll be interesting.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Square