Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[BuckTwenty]

I am having a press conference tomorrow to announce I am not interested in having sex with Jessica Alba.

Ever.

Really.

No matter what.

If she wants to contact me and talk about it I will be polite and listen of course but I'm not interested as of now.

I stand with Jax.

 

[Steve19]

I think we all saw what you did there.

 

[cincibuck]

Mr. Ed takes a look at expansion and crunches some numbers for the BTN.

Ozone

BINGO!

My only disagreement lies in the importance of Notre Dame... the footprint my be Indiana, but the pull is national, especially in the old Catholic areas along the East Coast. I watch Notre Dame football for one reason only, to hope to catch them getting beat. I'm part of their national pull; all those folks who watch them for the same reason. I set Tivo to record ND games and if the Irish get beat I save it and savor it. If they win I dump it and set it with high hopes for the next weekend. I have no similar interest in USC or Alabama. In short ND has tremendous pull from fans and non-fans throughout the country, pull that could ultimately mean ad revenue.

Now then-- what concerns me is the length of time this is taking. I have a hard time believing that DeLaney and the twelve presidents of the Big 10 did not do their home work 1) Who do we want to join? 2) Out of that group who has indicated they'd be interested? If that's the case what's taking so damn long? They're pissing off a lot of folks they don't need as enemies.

To say you're going to expand and then still be whispering and meeting in closed rooms nine months later leads to misinformation, allows outside interests to move in, creates resentments and anger and on and on. Think of how pissed this talk has made all Big East and Big 12 schools -- and rightfully so.

If they didn't do their homework, if they announced an intention to expand and then began to talk about who and where and who might and who might not -- then the chances of this leading to a Chinese Fire Drill of Epic Proportions runs high.

And think of how silly the Big 10 will look if Texas or Notre Dame and pick one: Syracuse, Rutgers or U Conn says no. Suddenly all that "My-aren't-they-clever talk will turn into egg-on-the-face talk.

 

[zincfinger]

BINGO!

My only disagreement lies in the importance of Notre Dame...

There's another area where I disagree with him. He, and a lot of others, seem to me to be putting too much stock into the notion that adding BigEast teams "brings the NY market". Especially when someone says, "Rutgers brings the NY market", I'm skeptical. Rutgers brings very little market, and to get any appreciable fraction of the NY metro cable suppliers putting the BTN on their basic cable packages, you'd pretty much have to add all 3 teams. Even then, NYC itself would be a toss-up at best. The fact that NY has very little interest in college football, and that there are no high-profile college football programs in the area, makes it a tough nut to crack. I'm not sure that SU and UConn basketball alone are capable of doing it.

 

[CentFlaBuckeye]

I find it interesting that Missouri is actually lobbying to join.

Missouri willing to listen to Big Ten expansion pitch - ESPN

 

[Buckeye86]

I find it interesting that Missouri is actually lobbying to join.

Missouri willing to listen to Big Ten expansion pitch - ESPN

Missouri is middle of the pack on my list of teams I would like to join, but if we are adding 3 or more, I would definitely prefer them over any east coast team, so lobby away I say

plus anything that gets closer to destroying the Big 12 and makes Texas mobile is okay with me

 

[BB73]

Another article on expansion, with no real new info or analysis. Andy Staples seems to predict that Mizzou, Rutgers and Nebraska are the most likely, and that Pitt is unlikely. He's not sure about Syracuse or UConn. He mentions Maryland but not Kansas.

SI.com

 

[Mrstickball]

BINGO!

My only disagreement lies in the importance of Notre Dame... the footprint my be Indiana, but the pull is national, especially in the old Catholic areas along the East Coast. I watch Notre Dame football for one reason only, to hope to catch them getting beat. I'm part of their national pull; all those folks who watch them for the same reason. I set Tivo to record ND games and if the Irish get beat I save it and savor it. If they win I dump it and set it with high hopes for the next weekend. I have no similar interest in USC or Alabama. In short ND has tremendous pull from fans and non-fans throughout the country, pull that could ultimately mean ad revenue.

Now then-- what concerns me is the length of time this is taking. I have a hard time believing that DeLaney and the twelve presidents of the Big 10 did not do their home work 1) Who do we want to join? 2) Out of that group who has indicated they'd be interested? If that's the case what's taking so damn long? They're [censored]ing off a lot of folks they don't need as enemies.

To say you're going to expand and then still be whispering and meeting in closed rooms nine months later leads to misinformation, allows outside interests to move in, creates resentments and anger and on and on. Think of how [censored]ed this talk has made all Big East and Big 12 schools -- and rightfully so.

If they didn't do their homework, if they announced an intention to expand and then began to talk about who and where and who might and who might not -- then the chances of this leading to a Chinese Fire Drill of Epic Proportions runs high.

And think of how silly the Big 10 will look if Texas or Notre Dame and pick one: Syracuse, Rutgers or U Conn says no. Suddenly all that "My-aren't-they-clever talk will turn into egg-on-the-face talk.

The length of time that this takes isn't really up to the whole 'Who should we get?' committee. I'd imagine that the phase of the expansion is moving along very well, despite the lack of public knowledge. I'd go over the huge list of legal issues surrounding such a switch between multiple conferences, colleges, and sports, but the list may take up a few pages.

Its a long process. However, since the B-10 started it 9 months ago, they have that much of a lead time versus any other conference.

Here is some good info on expansion in the Big 10. Thank God for the New York Times. We can pull up info about Penn St. joining the conference to get a good idea on what all is contained in expansion:

Penn State To Join Big Ten Conference - NYTimes.com
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1990/11/11-08-90tdc/11-08-90dsports-04.asp (fun additional piece about PSU choking in the B10)

They inked the deal within days of their semi-annual conference. The current conference is in early June, so I think that we'll probably see the official announcement after this - that we're in talks with teams X, Y, and Z.

After then, all hell breaks loose, and we see the SEC hire Kevin Trudeau as their expansion consultant ;-)

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Here is some good info on expansion in the Big 10. Thank God for the New York Times. We can pull up info about Penn St. joining the conference to get a good idea on what all is contained in expansion:

Penn State To Join Big Ten Conference - NYTimes.com

The best part of that 1989 article:

There is considerable doubt, however, about whether Paterno will ever coach a full Big Ten schedule. He has said that he plans to retire when he turns 65, after the 1991 season, and Penn State's integration into the conference is expected to take much longer. Although competition in some other sports could begin next season, football schedules have already been completed through the 1992 season and some games have been set for as far ahead as 1996.

 

[sepia5]

The best part of that 1989 article:

To be fair, the article only expressed doubt as to whether JoPa would ever coach a full Big Ten slate, and I doubt he has ever actually done so.

 

[Mrstickball]

Bloggers make suggestion for Georgia Tech to be added to the list of 'teams the B10 should invite':

Big Ten Expansion and Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech: Ramblin' On

On one end, it'd be a decent choice. Georgia Tech is in the AAU, has a decent football program, and was in the top 50 for director's cup finals last year. But the issue of travel makes it a non-starter to me.

 

[LitlBuck]

Some of the reports that schools like Nebraska, Rutgers, Missouri, and even the Big Ten administrators are denying have to be true because there are just too many places reporting these so-called rumors.

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Some of the reports that schools like Nebraska, Rutgers, Missouri, and even the Big Ten administrators are denying have to be true because there are just too many places reporting these so-called rumors.

I disagree - to the extent that in this day and age, one radio station in KC broadcasts unfounded rumors, and 100 bloggers are, well, blogging about it within minutes, then 100 newspapers pick up the story based on all the blogging 'buzz'.

Just because there are 100 'journalists' scouring for a morsel of information on this story doesn't lend any credibility to a rumor run rampant.

 

[buckeyesin07]

Missouri is middle of the pack on my list of teams I would like to join, but if we are adding 3 or more, I would definitely prefer them over any east coast team,

I agree. I'd rather have Missouri than Rutgers, Syracuse, or UConn.

 

[buckeyesin07]

To be fair, the article only expressed doubt as to whether JoPa would ever coach a full Big Ten slate, and I doubt he has ever actually done so.

. Indeed.