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Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

Which Teams Should the Big Ten Add? (please limit to four selections)

  • Boston College

    Votes: 32 10.2%
  • Cincinnati

    Votes: 19 6.1%
  • Connecticut

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • Duke

    Votes: 21 6.7%
  • Georgia Tech

    Votes: 55 17.6%
  • Kansas

    Votes: 46 14.7%
  • Maryland

    Votes: 67 21.4%
  • Missouri

    Votes: 90 28.8%
  • North Carolina

    Votes: 39 12.5%
  • Notre Dame

    Votes: 209 66.8%
  • Oklahoma

    Votes: 78 24.9%
  • Pittsburgh

    Votes: 45 14.4%
  • Rutgers

    Votes: 40 12.8%
  • Syracuse

    Votes: 18 5.8%
  • Texas

    Votes: 121 38.7%
  • Vanderbilt

    Votes: 15 4.8%
  • Virginia

    Votes: 47 15.0%
  • Virginia Tech

    Votes: 62 19.8%
  • Stay at 12 teams and don't expand

    Votes: 27 8.6%
  • Add some other school(s) not listed

    Votes: 25 8.0%

  • Total voters
    313
SloopyHangOn;1757226; said:
I don't understand the basis for their move. I felt like the MWC made some major steps toward becoming the 4th AQ conference in the hypothetical 4 "mega-conference" future. Or even so without that, BYU seems to be making a lateral if not backwards move by going independent, at least in football terms.

Yes, but they were upset over television money from what I understand. But I agree, this move has "epic fail" written all over it. The WAC is toast as a viable conference, and the MWC's chances of getting the AQ bid, which otherwise would have been a slam dunk, are suddenly extremely doubtful. Two conferences and a decent program going down the drain for television rights that will be worthless in a few years, unless they are hoping that Utah will somehow get them into the Pac-10 in a few years, I don't see the logic in this at all.
 
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I don't really know what's going on with BYU, but I think the move to the West Coast Conference actually works out better than moving to the WAC, like they originally planned. I don't think that the WAC has a single legitimate basketball school, and the WCC at least has Gonzaga and St. Mary's has been strong of late too.

As far as leaving the MWC. It could have to do with trying to get into a bigger conference without having to pay a fee for leaving the new MWC, or it could be that BYU has decided to focus on something other than the arms race for facilities, and becoming an independent in football allows them to compete on whatever level that they're comfortable. If trying to control the spending that's required to try to become a big time program is the route that BYU has chosen, then good for them...I doubt that's it, but it could be...
 
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SloopyHangOn;1757910; said:
Can't find anything substantial on the site, but I just saw on ESPN that they are partnering with BYU much in the same way NBC has had a partnership with ND.

8-Year (8mil?) deal.

Probably will be based upon a per-game rate - Any games ESPN doesn't pick up can be broadcast on the BYU network.
 
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Woody1968;1758030; said:
Probably will be based upon a per-game rate - Any games ESPN doesn't pick up can be broadcast on the BYU network.

Reports show it's for the BYU home games, which is the same way the ND-NBC thing works.
 
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Wow Espn buying a contract to a team no one cares about. And they called the Big Ten out for messing with the landscape. Add too it the fluff piece they just had on tv about helping BYU spread the Mormon faith. Football isn't about spreading some religion that's just sad.
 
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In a warped way I actually like the move back to some independents...we'll see if they survive as a top tier program or end up playing Rice 6 times a year. There are definitely Mormons everywhere, but I really don't think the Subway Alumni coefficient is anywhere near Notre Dame's in logarithmic terms, therefore if that's the criteria they used (direct comparison to ND for widespread popularity) they are going to be sadly disappointed.

All that said...who's first in line for tickets to that BYU/Portland women's basketball game?
 
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jlb1705;1758095; said:
This is odd. Good for them I guess, but there's an implication that the MWC has been holding back BYU all this time, and I don't see it.

Probably financially more than athletically. They probably believe (and maybe rightly so) that they carried the conference for years, so they sort of took the Texas approach to negotiations, which pretty much didn't compute. Hard to say if that's correct or not without figures, but I imagine it probably will be a lot harder for BYU to make it on their own than they think.
 
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