Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Bestbuck36]

Having been first hand witness to the migration of Cornhuskers for a football game, I'd say their national draw is legitimate. By them showing up for football games the way only Buckeyes fans will is a definite draw for the BiG. The addition of the Conference Championship game should be a huge boost if they keep the game and dont sell it off to Fox or ABC for that one huge game per weekend. Being the first year this year, it should have a mammoth payday.

 

[Buckeye86]

Perhaps. For all their "national fanbase" lore (which seems to essentially revolve around a couple of corntards coming home and hanging a "[name your state] for Nebraska" banner inside their stadium), I have yet to see them have any impact on expanding the Big Ten footprint outside of their immediate region. If the corntards were such a national program, then I'd assume that the BTN would start getting that $1/subscriber fee in, let's say, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, the West coast, the East coast, all of which would have been highly likely with the domers or possibly even Texas. Where is it? If Ohio State and Michigan couldn't leverage the BTN into the top tier pricing of those regions' cable providers, then the corn aggies aren't going to be some golden bullet to get it done. Until they do, their "national fanbase" schtick isn't worth [Mark May].


We've added Omaha and (maybe) Kansas City in any meaningful way.

The 16 team mega conference may still be on the way, giving the B10 four more chances to expand the footprint.

It would be pretty sweet if they incorporated a complete revamp of the NCAA in the process as well.

We can still dream.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Having been first hand witness to the migration of Cornhuskers for a football game, I'd say their national draw is legitimate. By them showing up for football games the way only Buckeyes fans will is a definite draw for the BiG. The addition of the Conference Championship game should be a huge boost if they keep the game and dont sell it off to Fox or ABC for that one huge game per weekend. Being the first year this year, it should have a mammoth payday.

How many fans they get to a game isn't really what Ord's talking about.

You pick off an east coast team (and they still may) then the game is afoot with a local cable company for the BiG to collect money from every subscriber. The details would get worked out but it has nothing to do with the "crazed' level of a fanbase, it's just multiplying the per household fee by the shitload of households in the geographic footprint of the east coast cable company.

In business terms, from what I see, adding Nebraska increases the value of the BiG brand but isn't really a great new revenue stream. Adding an east coast team adds top line revenue by penetrating a huge new market.

 

[Buckeye86]

How many fans they get to a game isn't really what Ord's talking about.

You pick off an east coast team (and they still may) then the game is afoot with a local cable company for the BiG to collect money from every subscriber. The details would get worked out but it has nothing to do with the "crazed' level of a fanbase, it's just multiplying the per household fee by the shitload of households in the geographic footprint of the east coast cable company.

In business terms, from what I see, adding Nebraska increases the value of the BiG brand but isn't really a great new revenue stream. Adding an east coast team adds top line revenue by penetrating a huge new market.

To you or ORD, do you feel that only one team would adequately accomplish that goal? I'd really prefer to look at Notre Dame, Pitt, and/or back to the Big 12 for three of the four and limit the east coast search to one team.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

The 16 team mega conference may still be on the way, giving the B10 four more chances to expand the footprint.

It would be pretty sweet if they incorporated a complete revamp of the NCAA in the process as well.

We can still dream.

In my eyes, that's the only way that Corn Aggy makes sense for the BTN: as part of a larger 14 or 16 team expansion. Because, their adding anything meaningful to the BTN footprint, basketball, maintaining the Big Ten's 100% AAU membership or bringing in a rich recruiting area sure as [Mark May] aren't happening.

In the meantime, I can only hope that OSU Police are given shoot on sight orders for the first couple of corntards who sneak an "Ohioans for Nebraska" banner into Ohio Stadium.

 

[Jaxbuck]

To you or ORD, do you feel that only one team would adequately accomplish that goal? I'd really prefer to look at Notre Dame, Pitt, and/or back to the Big 12 for three of the four and limit the east coast search to one team.

Well now I'd say you obviously need 2 to keep the divisions balanced.

I really didn't keep up with the conference expansion stuff so I don't want to get off on that tangent. I'll just say generically if they do expand further they should look east for 1 of them at a minimum. There are only 4-5 schools at most that fit the bill so which one is a discussion for the expansion thread.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

How many fans they get to a game isn't really what Ord's talking about.

You pick off an east coast team (and they still may) then the game is afoot with a local cable company for the BiG to collect money from every subscriber. The details would get worked out but it has nothing to do with the "crazed' level of a fanbase, it's just multiplying the per household fee by the [Mark May]load of households in the geographic footprint of the east coast cable company.

In business terms, from what I see, adding Nebraska increases the value of the BiG brand but isn't really a great new revenue stream. Adding an east coast team adds top line revenue by penetrating a huge new market.

Exactly. This isn't about the passion of the corntards; the existence of which I don't dispute. It's about what they can and can not do in expanding the BTN's power, and that's marginal. This whole discussion started in relation to the BTN shoving its foot up ESPN's ass. The true key to that is the Boston-NYC-DC corridor, and there are two paths to achieving that: the domers or 2-3 NE regional teams (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Maryland). I've lived in DC. If Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin (all of whom have much larger alumni presences in DC/Maryland/N. Virginia) couldn't get the BTN onto the top tier of the local cable networks, there is ZERO chance of Corn Aggy getting it done.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Exactly. This isn't about the passion of the corntards; the existence of which I don't dispute. It's about what they can and can not do in expanding the BTN's power, and that's marginal. This whole discussion started in relation to the BTN shoving its foot up ESPN's ass. The true key to that is the Boston-NYC-DC corridor, and there are two paths to achieving that: the domers or 2-3 NE regional teams (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Maryland). I've lived in DC. If Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin (all of whom have much larger alumni presences in DC/Maryland/N. Virginia) couldn't get the BTN onto the top tier of the local cable networks, there is ZERO chance of Corn Aggy getting it done.

Strictly from the BiG kicking ESPN's ass I'd take ND, Rutgers, Syracuse and Mizzou. I don't give a damn about how good any of them are at football.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Strictly from the BiG kicking ESPN's ass I'd take ND, Rutgers, Syracuse and Mizzou. I don't give a damn about how good any of them are at football.

I'd go Notre Dame, Boston College, Maryland and either Rutgers or Syracuse. The day that's announced, they'd be jumping off the roof in Bristol.

Their response to Corn Aggy was more along the lines of, "we got Texas, bitches.:groove3:"

 

[buckeyesin07]

Perhaps. For all their "national fanbase" lore (which seems to essentially revolve around a couple of corntards coming home and hanging a "[name your state] for Nebraska" banner inside their stadium), I have yet to see them have any impact on expanding the Big Ten footprint outside of their immediate region. If the corntards were such a national program, then I'd assume that the BTN would start getting that $1/subscriber fee in, let's say, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, the West coast, the East coast, all of which would have been highly likely with the domers or possibly even Texas. Where is it? If Ohio State and Michigan couldn't leverage the BTN into the top tier pricing of those regions' cable providers, then the corn aggies aren't going to be some golden bullet to get it done. Until they do, their "national fanbase" schtick isn't worth [Mark May].

We've added Omaha and (maybe) Kansas City in any meaningful way.

I agree with this. NU doesn't seem to have a national fanbase, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I'd go Notre Dame, Boston College, Maryland and either Rutgers or Syracuse. The day that's announced, they'd be jumping off the roof in Bristol.

I like yours better.

BC, Rutgers and Maryland give you a presence at each stop along the Boston/NYC/Washington line. Add the Domers and you just announced your east coast presence with authority.

Plus, since we are in fantasy land here, we could get rid of this stupid Leaders/Legends bullshit and make it east and west while at the same time putting OSU and scUM back in the same division to eliminate a rematch.

BiG east; OSU, PSU, scUM, MSU, ND, BC, Rutgers, Maryland (all natural big time rivalries)
BiG west; Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, IU, Purdue, NU, Illinois, Minny (preserves all those trophy games and the new Neb/Iowa rivalry)

That gives Nebraska a far easier bracket every year but other than that it works great.

 

[muffler dragon]

I agree with this. NU doesn't seem to have a national fanbase, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

I can verify the UNL fanbase claim from NE to the West Coast. They've got at least half of it correct.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

I like yours better.

BC, Rutgers and Maryland give you a presence at each stop along the Boston/NYC/Washington line. Add the Domers and you just announced your east coast presence with authority.

Plus, you add two quality (one national power and one up and coming program) D1 hockey programs to the BTHC, which wouldn't exist had the BTN not thought it important.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

I can verify the UNL fanbase claim from NE to the West Coast. They've got at least half of it correct.

No more so than Oklahoma (which has much stronger family dust bowl migrations to California) or Ohio State or Michigan (which have much larger alumni bases in California) or Texas (which has both). When Nebraska starts impacting BTN viewership and--more importantly--subscriber rates out West, I'll concede the point.

Notre Dame had at one time a true national fanbase, and even that was arguably confined to major urban areas with large concentrations of Catholic immigrants. Even that is in question today with the dissipation of those Catholics outside of the urban core neighborhoods, the lessened ties of their children and grandchildren to the church and the fact that those children and grandchildren went to colleges of their own rather than getting a factory job and automatically rooting for ND. That's not to say that the subway phenomenon isn't still alive and still passed down among some Catholic families, but I'd venture to say it's an echo of what it was a generation ago, much less its heyday in the 30s through 60s. Newer waves of Catholic immigrants only watch a ND game for the few seconds they skip past on their way to finding a soccer match.

 

[Mike80]

I'd go Notre Dame, Boston College, Maryland and either Rutgers or Syracuse. The day that's announced, they'd be jumping off the roof in Bristol.

Their response to Corn Aggy was more along the lines of, "we got Texas, bitches.:groove3:"

Fuck Boston College.

Give me ND, Mizzou, Cuse and either Virginia or 'Nova

But one thing we are forgetting, college sports aren't really as big on the East Coast as you guys want them to be....there's a reason the Big East has stadiums that don't seat 40,000....