Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Ryan36_1]

PBC speaks again...



http://northwestern.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=57&tid=162506546&mid=162506546&sid=901&style=2

JFC, it was bad enough spending all of my time following this when it was happening in the Spring last year. Now I'm supposed to follow this AND the CFB season?!?!

I might get fired.

 

[rampageripster]

If Delaney can score Texas and ND as #13 and #14... he wins the game of life... #15 and #16 don't really matter, and we might want to go with maybe Missou and Kansas to try and create some sort of geographical continuity... though it really doesn't matter cause the windfall from the first two would be absolutely staggering

 

[OSU_D/]

I went with:

ND - market value
Maryland - Baltimore and DC, solid academics
Georgia Tech - Atlanta and solid academics
Mizzou (but I could easily go with BC or Virginia, also)

I'd rather add both Md and GT than do a Mizzou/Kansas combo.

I went w/ 3 of your 4. ND, MD, GT for the reasons you stated.

I can't understand the love for a subpar academic university (save J-School) with no history of sports success and limited footprint add. But there are a lot of people on this board with love for Missouri so maybe I'm the blind man. I think Missouri is a throw-in school if we somehow end up with Texas.

My 4th is Rutgers strictly for population, recruiting and BTN footprint add.

If I could have added a fantasy 4 it would have been something like UGA, VaTech, Vandy and ND.

 

[MaliBuckeye]

Notably, there is a general discontent with the reporting of the situation by ESPN with specific regard to Texas. ESPN has, for self-serving purposes, drastically exaggerated the lean of Texas to the Pac12 conference in nearly all commentary. ESPN has essentially waged a propaganda campaign to drive support among the Texas stakeholders to the Pac12 conference. ESPN has gone so far as to attempt to accelerate the disintegration of the Big XII to pressure Texas into making an immediate conference change decision. http://northwestern.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=57&tid=162506546&mid=162506546&sid=901&style=2

Wait... ESPN is being less than forthright, and is working to create stories rather than cover them? You don't effing say...

 

[jlb1705]

If Delaney can score Texas and ND as #13 and #14... he wins the game of life... #15 and #16 don't really matter, and we might want to go with maybe Missou and Kansas to try and create some sort of geographical continuity... though it really doesn't matter cause the windfall from the first two would be absolutely staggering

IF Texas & ND were teams #13 & 14, then #15 & 16 won't matter because they're utterly unnecessary. The size of the pie would be increased so much at that point that any more additions on top of that would only serve to reduce the size of the slice for each member.

Plus, there'd be no competitive reason to add two more schools. Being a 14-team league of that stature would get the B1G not just a seat at the table, but perhaps the spot at the head of the table in any superconference championship structure. Also, adding two more teams to get to 16 would be counterproductive to the idea of maintaining an 8-game conference schedule.

All that said, PBC is certainly entertaining, but to me that all he is until I see something a little more concrete.

 

[BuckTwenty]

...Aaaaaand there's the end game.

I'm shocked there's no ransom attached to this. Those terms could be very agreeable. My only questions would have to deal with #5... LHN becoming "BTN2". Mainly, how would LHN go to BTN2 with their current contract with ESPN? How will the revenue from BTN2 be divied up?

If this is all true, at this point, sounds like BOTH Texas and ND are playing nice. Almost inconceivable.

 

[Gatorubet]

http://www.mrsec.com/

I good wrap up of the on-going mess in the Aggie to SEC story, with the news that Baylor is trying to block the move to the SEC - and as the SEC Presidents gathered to vote the Aggies in, Baylor called to say they they had "changed their mind" about letting Aggie go.

Since then, all Hell has broken loose, and just short of armed bands of Aggies marching to Baylor's campus to kill Ken Starr, they are not getting along in the Lone Star State.

This is getting messier by the minute.

The other thread has the news of the "Baylor Betrayal" and the reversal of the Aggie into SEC while the Presidents and Chancellors were filing into the room. This obviously has implications about how happily Okie and Tejas will be allowed to leave by their Brethren as well.

 

[Mrstickball]

IF Texas & ND were teams #13 & 14, then #15 & 16 won't matter because they're utterly unnecessary. The size of the pie would be increased so much at that point that any more additions on top of that would only serve to reduce the size of the slice for each member.

Plus, there'd be no competitive reason to add two more schools. Being a 14-team league of that stature would get the B1G not just a seat at the table, but perhaps the spot at the head of the table in any superconference championship structure. Also, adding two more teams to get to 16 would be counterproductive to the idea of maintaining an 8-game conference schedule.

All that said, PBC is certainly entertaining, but to me that all he is until I see something a little more concrete.

I wouldn't say that. The 15th and 16th members could still improve and expand the footprint vs. our average. No other member would have the impact of Texas and ND, sure, but you could still increase the average take by each university by adding teams with new footprints and major teams. Maryland and GT would be very new locales, and would likely expand the footprint significantly vs. the median we currently enjoy. Right now, there are about 60 million subscribers of the BTN, or about 5 million per team. I can see scenarios to where Maryland locks up the east coast with new rivalries and GT does as well, adding far more than 5 million subscribers per team.

 

[BuckTwenty]

I wouldn't say that. The 15th and 16th members could still improve and expand the footprint vs. our average. No other member would have the impact of Texas and ND, sure, but you could still increase the average take by each university by adding teams with new footprints and major teams. Maryland and GT would be very new locales, and would likely expand the footprint significantly vs. the median we currently enjoy. Right now, there are about 60 million subscribers of the BTN, or about 5 million per team. I can see scenarios to where Maryland locks up the east coast with new rivalries and GT does as well, adding far more than 5 million subscribers per team.

But would adding #15 and #16 improve the take for each conference member? Georgia Tech might, because it would be right in the middle of a whole new region that happens to be college football crazed. Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College, Missouri, Kansas... I'm not seeing them increase each school's take if ND and Texas were to join.

Patience is a virtue. We waited to pick up Nebraska instead of taking a Big East team 10 years ago to get to 12. Extremely smart. Who knows who could be out there looking for a conference down the road to be the #15 and #16... again, if ND and Texas were to join the B1G when the Big XII implodes.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

From orangebloods:

Trade KS for Mizzou and that would be my dream scenario if everyone played nice (not likely)

Edit: Also didn't see this posted here yet - from PBC

http://northwestern.rivals.com/showm...2289928&Page=2


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Strictly from a football standpoint, this (Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma) would be the ultimate win, and Mizzou would be a decent #16. However, Notre Dame and Texas are known prima donnas, and Oklahoma has academic deficiencies and a history of being a rogue program.

Adding those four teams would give a nice geographic balance to the conference, and the "power" of each division is pretty close as well:

East
1. Penn State
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Michigan State
5. Notre Dame
6. Indiana
7. Purdue
8. Illinois

West
1. Northwestern
2. Wisconsin
3. Minnesota
4. Iowa
5. Nebraska
6. Missouri
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas

And I'd still like to find some room for Maryland.... Would adding Maryland and Kansas for a B1G 18 make any sense? They sure would be nice additions on the basketball side of the equation, although they do virtually nothing to enhance the football status of the conference.

Under the above scenario, adding Mizzou allows the conference to maintain its contiguity rule (notice how the SW corner of Missouri just barely touches the NE corner of Oklahoma). For that reason alone, Mizzou might be the logical choice for the 16th team.

 

[Ryan36_1]

Under the above scenario, adding Mizzou allows the conference to maintain its contiguity rule (notice how the SW corner of Missouri just barely touches the NE corner of Oklahoma). For that reason alone, Mizzou might be the logical choice for the 16th team.

I would like to see a contiguous conference, which I presented a page back. If that were important to Delaney (my guess is that while it is like factor #3 or #4 on my list, it's actually factor #18 or so as far as the B1G is concerned) what does Mizzou bring that Kansas doesn't match or exceed?

I'm not saying that there isn't anything, just surprised that they are mentioned so much more? Is it a population thing?

 

[Bleed S & G]

I voted Texas, Okie, GT, and ND.

For the reasons everyone else has listed - plus I really wanna kick the shit outta the Irish every year.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Am I the only one that hates the idea of OU (and certainly Ok St)... the school is shit...

 

[kinch]

Am I the only one that hates the idea of OU (and certainly Ok St)... the school is shit...

You're not the only one.

 

[Buckeye86]

Am I the only one that hates the idea of OU (and certainly Ok St)... the school is shit...

I'm with you. Give me ND, Texas, and then look east to Maryland and south to Georgia Tech to really expand the footprint.