Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Dryden]

When they get to four 16-team superconferences, a 4-team playoff among the conference champions will most certainly follow. (It would be a de-facto 8-team playoff if you consider the CCGs as the first round.) In that kind of system, there's no deal available for Notre Dame (or BYU for that matter). You either have a seat at the table or you don't.

And with Utah in the Pac-16, we don't have to worry about that pompous douche Orrin Hatch rattling his sabre in Congress anymore.

Hey, the system isn't inequitible anymore -- even though I spent 2 billion of your tax dollars buiding up my program, while bitching about how unfair the system is the entire time! Ha ha!!!

 

[Buckeye doc]

Good points about what superconference post season play would look like that. I hadn't really considered where all this is heading. Pretty fun to watch it all unfold kind of in slow motion (thus far). I guess that could change now with some schools starting to get a little desperate and not wanting to be the odd man out. I will still light a candle and say a prayer for that to be ND.

P.S. Pitt, do not want.

 

[NateG]

Good points about what superconference post season play would look like that. I hadn't really considered where all this is heading. Pretty fun to watch it all unfold kind of in slow motion (thus far). I guess that could change now with some schools starting to get a little desperate and not wanting to be the odd man out. I still will light a candle and say a prayer for that to be ND.

P.S. Pitt, do not want.

There is a good chance NoD gets left out. Like I said, their brass and their fans have been super arrogant about this whole deal. The B1G has offered before for them to laugh it away. I think they pissd Delany off and he hasn't been afraid to flip organizations the finger. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do.

 

[Buckeye doc]

There is a good chance NoD gets left out. Like I said, their brass and their fans have been super arrogant about this whole deal. The B1G has offered before for them to laugh it away. I think they [censored]d Delany off and he hasn't been afraid to flip organizations the finger. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do.

They'd probably rather take their chances with the dregs of the ACC and big least - easier path back to glory!

 

[Dryden]

They'd probably rather take their chances with the dregs of the ACC and big least - easier path back to glory!

USF says otherwise! :p

 

[DaveyBoy]

I see expansion as a procedural matter:


1. Defend our footprint - I really don't think we can afford to let Missouri slip into the SEC. That puts 2 SEC programs within 6 hours of Chicago. Recruits in Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana now have something to truly think about because their families can drive to see them play in the SEC a lot easier than before. If we lock up Missoui, that suddenly gives the B1G 2 former Big12 programs that have recruited Texas very well in the past.....plus Columbia is pretty close to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Decent sports...probably no worse than mid-pack B1G. New TV sets in Missouri. Adding Mizzou before ND would be used to increase pressure on ND....and would soften the blow from their not being invited last year. Why not ?

2. Go big - (ND and/or Texas) tell each of them there is one and only one shot to jump on the train before the B1G goes to 16. If we land both or even one of them, then the pressure is off on further invitees....so we can afford to shore up East Coast revenue markets by adding Rutgers, Syracuse, and Maryland....not either/or. Simply put - if the B1G lands just one of them, conference realignment will have been at least tied with the SEC and probably won.

3. Take the offensive - get after GaTech. If the B1G could manage to land a program in the heart of SEC country that could pay huge recruiting dividends. Plus Atlanta would be a huge market of untapped potential for the BTN. Also - GaTech sports aren't exactly bad. Annexing GaTech would soften the blow for not getting ND as well.

4. Head them off - split a wedge between the SEC and the Mid-Atlantic by seeking out VaTech and Virginia. This would place the BigTen in a top 10 population state that is growing fairly well. It would enhance academic credibility even further plus it would put 2 more programs close to the very fertile recruiting grounds of Virginia and North Carolina and Maryland. I'd call this one a longshot but worth the effort. VaTech is worth it for football alone....UVa is not much to look at other than baseball, lacrosse.

5. Contingency - if we whiff on ND, GaTech, VaTech, and UVa....then we start to run out of options. We will have to focus on fairly mediocre athletic programs that show upside on potential. Rutgers has become a decent program the past 10 years. I'd put them in the range of Illinois or possibly Penn State. Perhaps its worth a try to snag a lot of TV sets in NJ. If pinned down right now....with Schiano I"d be buying Rutgers stock, not selling it. He has them climbing up slowly. Our other Eastern option is Maryland. I think they would be a longshot unless the ACC started getting rocked like the Big12 did. After Maryland, I"d say in order would be: Syracuse, BC, Pitt, WVU. If we have to get 3 out of this "contingency" group, I'd say the BigTen went backward in realignment......unless we got one of the ND/Texas combo too.


that is my take on conference realignment right now


ps: ND should be threatened with 100% of BigTen institutions taking them off their schedules indefinitely. Period. They should have to pay a price for flipping the B1G the bird all these times. Make their athletes and fans in Chicago, Detroit, and Cincinnati have to drive that much further for games.

 

[OSU_D/]

What about Pitt joining us?

Pitt is already in our footprint and recruiting grounds; adding Pitt means revenue dilution for the rest of the schools.

 

[MaxBuck]

What about Pitt joining us?

Don't worry, they will.

Every night, after the Lunesta kicks in.

 

[Mrstickball]

If we expand to 16, my choices, being forced to accept on institutional academics as the primary qualifier, and sports as a secondary qualifier, would choose (also assuming regional requirements):

1. Notre Dame - Yeah. We hate them, but they are easily the best college in our footprint and have everything we'd want - top-10 academics, good football, and have a lot of tie-ins with us already. Athletic Revenues (2007): $83.5 Million USD. US N&WR Ranking: #19. Stassen FB Ranking (1980-2010): #19. Directors Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 21.8
2. Virginia Tech - A very solid football pick. You'd get a college that is nestled in a nice new location to help lock up the east coast and region. Their football program is pretty stellar at >0.600 win percentage over their entire history. Athletic Revenues (2009): $50.2 Million USD. US N&WR Ranking: #69. Stassen FB Ranking (1980-2010): 16. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 42.8
3. Georgia Tech - Out of our footprint, but arguably one of the best research institutions south of the Mason-Dixon. Their football is pretty good too thanks to Paul Johnson, and has a great history. Opening up Atlanta (along with others with my arguable dark horse) would be a huge revenue boon as well. Athletic Revenues (2009): $50.0 Million USD. US W&NR Ranking: #35. FB Ranking (1980-2010): #50. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 50.6
4. Virginia - Not a great football pick, but a great Directors Cup and academic pick. They spend a ton of money on their sports - in the top 10 in fact. They may help to secure the Eastern seaboard alongside another pick like Va. Tech or Maryland. Athletic Revenues (2009): $81.8 Million USD. US W&NR Ranking: #25. FB Ranking (1980-2010): #42. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 9.6.

Also, I'm going to throw this out as a Hail Mary: If we got GT by some reason, we should look at poaching another southeastern team. How about Florida State? If the SEC doesn't get them due to Florida's bickering, they would be a phenomenal dark horse pick. Having the SEC after them makes me think they could be viable.

Then you got 2nd-tier universities for one or another reason: Kansas (crappy academics, great sports), Missouri (crappy academics, good sports/media market), Maryland (good academics, good sports/media market) and the like.

Ultimately, Delany knows who we can and cannot look at adding. We need a solid next 4. Any of the ones mentioned and even on the 2nd tier would be very good. We just cannot expand by adding crappy teams that are below 2nd tier... The expansion fever is leaving a lot to be desired by other conferences thus far, IMO. The Pac-12 whiffed in terms of football by adding Colorado, and Utah is good, but not elite like Nebraska. 4, 16-team superconferences mean the best of the best, and we need to poach the best to make sure we are viable in a 4 conference playoff (can you say Rose Bowl playoff against the Pac-16 as the NC feeder? Gonna be sweet!)

 

[DaveyBoy]

good post....but Kansas does not have crappy academics. Kansas is one of the first AAU members. KU is not bad all-around.

If we expand to 16, my choices, being forced to accept on institutional academics as the primary qualifier, and sports as a secondary qualifier, would choose (also assuming regional requirements):

1. Notre Dame - Yeah. We hate them, but they are easily the best college in our footprint and have everything we'd want - top-10 academics, good football, and have a lot of tie-ins with us already. Athletic Revenues (2007): $83.5 Million USD. US N&WR Ranking: #19. Stassen FB Ranking (1980-2010): #19. Directors Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 21.8
2. Virginia Tech - A very solid football pick. You'd get a college that is nestled in a nice new location to help lock up the east coast and region. Their football program is pretty stellar at >0.600 win percentage over their entire history. Athletic Revenues (2009): $50.2 Million USD. US N&WR Ranking: #69. Stassen FB Ranking (1980-2010): 16. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 42.8
3. Georgia Tech - Out of our footprint, but arguably one of the best research institutions south of the Mason-Dixon. Their football is pretty good too thanks to Paul Johnson, and has a great history. Opening up Atlanta (along with others with my arguable dark horse) would be a huge revenue boon as well. Athletic Revenues (2009): $50.0 Million USD. US W&NR Ranking: #35. FB Ranking (1980-2010): #50. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 50.6
4. Virginia - Not a great football pick, but a great Directors Cup and academic pick. They spend a ton of money on their sports - in the top 10 in fact. They may help to secure the Eastern seaboard alongside another pick like Va. Tech or Maryland. Athletic Revenues (2009): $81.8 Million USD. US W&NR Ranking: #25. FB Ranking (1980-2010): #42. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 9.6.

Also, I'm going to throw this out as a Hail Mary: If we got GT by some reason, we should look at poaching another southeastern team. How about Florida State? If the SEC doesn't get them due to Florida's bickering, they would be a phenomenal dark horse pick. Having the SEC after them makes me think they could be viable.

Then you got 2nd-tier universities for one or another reason: Kansas (crappy academics, great sports), Missouri (crappy academics, good sports/media market), Maryland (good academics, good sports/media market) and the like.

Ultimately, Delany knows who we can and cannot look at adding. We need a solid next 4. Any of the ones mentioned and even on the 2nd tier would be very good. We just cannot expand by adding crappy teams that are below 2nd tier... The expansion fever is leaving a lot to be desired by other conferences thus far, IMO. The Pac-12 whiffed in terms of football by adding Colorado, and Utah is good, but not elite like Nebraska. 4, 16-team superconferences mean the best of the best, and we need to poach the best to make sure we are viable in a 4 conference playoff (can you say Rose Bowl playoff against the Pac-16 as the NC feeder? Gonna be sweet!)

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

My choice: Don't expand

Adding Nebraska was a home-run

Leave it at that

Let other leagues go to 16 and beat each other up. So what if people say the B1G isn't as strong because blah blah yadda? Other leagues may end up with more total revenue, but will be splitting it 16 ways. I have yet to see anything that convinces me that the earnings per team would go up. One of you may well be able to convince me of that, my mind isn't made up. Or maybe you have some other reason to go to 16. As far as I'm concerned, there are plenty of good games with the B1G just as it is. If we go to 16, will we continue having the major intersectional games that we've had the past few years?

Having said all that; it seems likely that the 4x16 scenario will unfold regardless.

 

[Muck]

Syracuse is ripe for the picking.

Recently two schools lost their AAU membership.

The B1G has received plenty of heat for admitting one of them...there's no chance they're going to add the other one as well.

Why not Kansas in the B1G?

Because there are only 25 TV's in the entire state.

What about Pitt joining us?

Offers nothing that Penn State hasn't already provided to the B1G (not to mention Pitt only offers 5 or 6 varsity sports)....unless it's as a partner for ND.

1. Virginia - Not a great football pick, but a great Directors Cup and academic pick. They spend a ton of money on their sports - in the top 10 in fact. They may help to secure the Eastern seaboard alongside another pick like Va. Tech or Maryland. Athletic Revenues (2009): $81.8 Million USD. US W&NR Ranking: #25. FB Ranking (1980-2010): #42. Director's Cup Ranking (avg. 5 years): 9.6.

Virginia is one of the core four of the ACC. They are leaving UNC, NCST & Duke. Period.

BTW where are you coming up with the #10 in AD spending? That doesn't match any of the various sources I've seen.

 

[muffler dragon]

Fuck N_tre _ame. May they rot in irrelevancy for time eternal.

 

[korchiki]

I know this seems bizarre but is there a chance that things will move toward a 16 X 4 conference setup for football only? Realistically sports like women's soccer (Just throwing it out there) will lose a lot of money on travel if we were to add a team like Kansas or Ga Tech, but football would be able to support it.

I understand that the B1G is different than most conferences because we actually have tradition and care about academics but is something like that unrealistic?

Just throwing it out there as an option...

 

[Muck]

I know this seems bizarre but is there a chance that things will move toward a 16 X 4 conference setup for football only?

Schools cannot have sports in two different FBS/Div1A conferences if said sports are available in both conferences (so no football in the B1G & baseball in the ACC).