Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[BB73]

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.

Going to 18 would complicate the supposed request of Texas and ND to have 4 non-conference games. Two 9-team divisions means 8 divisional games, and then there are either no cross-division games, or if 1 is played then half the league has 5 home conference games and the other half plays 4.

Cross division teams would almost never play each other. With 18 teams, and 1 fixed and 1 rotating cross-divisional game, that would mean a trip to the cross division team's stadium once every 14 years. With only a rotating game as the 9th conference game, it means a visit once every 18 years (playing twice in 18 years, one at home and one away).

It would barely seem like many teams on the other side were in the same conference in football - it would be fine for basketball.

 

[Piney]

PBC speaks again...



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

Some slight confirmation...

Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) tweeted this...

Talked to someone well connected who said Texas-Big Ten talks are legit

 

[sepia5]

I think it is worth revisiting this excellent post regarding Mizzou. While I don't think adding Mizzou along with one other school that isn't Texas or Notre Dame would equate to successful expansion, I think Mizzou is as strong a candidate for expansion as anyone that isn't Texas or Notre Dame, perhaps short of Georgia Tech (the addition of which I don't think is too realistic anyway). To be honest, Kansas only strikes me as a better candidate in one respect: the excellent basketball program. That just isn't enough to overcome all of Mizzou's other advantages.

 

[Dryden]

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.

If 13 & 14 are Texas and ND, then 15 & 16 need to be the Packers and the Cowboys.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Some slight confirmation...

Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) tweeted this...

I think we can all guess who his "someone well connected" is....

 

[Piney]

I think we can all guess who his "someone well connected" is....

Chip Brown?


http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1262282


Alot of throw away things, but the first time I have seen Chip actually hint the Big 10 might be involved. Most of the article is about A&M going to the SEC in 2013, slowing down expansion so more expansive talks can be had

Sources say one of the options being looked at by Texas A&M right now would be to delay their departure from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference one year. Instead of joining the SEC in 2012 the Aggies would join the SEC in 2013....

But just imagine what that means...

All the scenarios about whom the SEC might add to get to 16; about whom the Pac-12 might add and how Texas and the Longhorn Network could or could not fit into a conference structure could be mulled over for weeks and months and not hours and days.

If the Big Ten came to Texas and said we will take you as a member and you can bring the Longhorn Network - with the only caveat being that Texas could not share in any of the revenue from the Big Ten Network, that could be deliberated and discussed thoughtfully.

An outside the box option would be something like a conference such as the Big Ten allowing Texas to join the league and only make money off of LHN and not share revenue from the Big Ten Network. File that one away

 

[ScriptOhio]

Going to 18 would complicate the supposed request of Texas and ND to have 4 non-conference games. Two 9-team divisions means 8 divisional games, and then there are either no cross-division games, or if 1 is played then half the league has 5 home conference games and the other half plays 4.

Cross division teams would almost never play each other. With 18 teams, and 1 fixed and 1 rotating cross-divisional game, that would mean a trip to the cross division team's stadium once every 14 years. With only a rotating game as the 9th conference game, it means a visit once every 18 years (playing twice in 18 years, one at home and one away).

It would barely seem like many teams on the other side were in the same conference in football - it would be fine for basketball.

In 1966 when I was a freshman at Ohio State the football team played 9 games. A few years later they went to 10. After several more years they went to 11 and now they play 12. Want to bet that in the next ten years schools will be playing 13 games?

If there is more money to be had they are going to want it. It's all about the money.

Greed is good.

 

[Piney]

If I didn't know any better there seems to be something going on.

And I am not talking about expansion. I am talking about Delany basically leaking this on purpose (and now a leak on the Texas side?) to basically send the SEC a message.

Do YOU really want to start this? Because if you do take A&M, I got the trump cards (Notre Dame & Texas)

 

[Muck]

Texas, Notre Dame, Nebraska in the West.

Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State in the East.

Unfortunately I guarantee you that TPTB would give us:

Legends - Texas, Nebraska & TSUN
Leaders - Ohio State, Penn State, ND

They were just too adamant over splitting the Buckeyes & Wolverines and ND would probably have to be in the east to leverage the market.

Plus, there'd be no competitive reason to add two more schools.

The world needs ditch diggers too.

Adding a couple of academic power houses (Virginia etc) that Northwestern & Indiana could beat up on wouldn't be so bad.

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?

You nailed it (in bold).

In 1966 when I was a freshman at Ohio State the football team played 9 games. A few years later they went to 10. After several more years they went to 11 and now they play 12. Want to bet that in the next ten years schools will be playing 13 games?

I'll bet you money that even without further changes most years the Buckeye football team will be playing 13 games.

Oh....and you're old.

 

[bucks93]

If I didn't know any better there seems to be something going on.

And I am not talking about expansion. I am talking about Delany basically leaking this on purpose (and now a leak on the Texas side?) to basically send the SEC a message.

Do YOU really want to start this? Because if you do take A&M, I got the trump cards (Notre Dame & Texas)

Hmmmmm, that's interesting take and I didn't think about it like that. I'd rather stay at 12 and I'm happy about the addition of Nebraska, but your guess is as good as mine at this point.

 

[SalemBuckeyeFan]

Chose Boston College, Texas, Missouri, and Virginia Tech. Screw Oklahoma and ND.


Got a couple of wildcards that weren't in the poll though. Has no one considered West Virginia for entry? Strong football and basketball programs that would fit well into the conference. And how committed to the SEC is Kentucky? With all the SEC's expansion teams have been added that Kentucky has no interest in playing while if they joined the Big 10 they would have natural rivals in OSU, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and if Missouri joined, them as well. Or is that too far out in left field?:)

 

[Woody1968]

Chose Boston College, Texas, Missouri, and Virginia Tech. Screw Oklahoma and ND.


Got a couple of wildcards that weren't in the poll though. Has no one considered West Virginia for entry? Strong football and basketball programs that would fit well into the conference. And how committed to the SEC is Kentucky? With all the SEC's expansion teams have been added that Kentucky has no interest in playing while if they joined the Big 10 they would have natural rivals in OSU, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and if Missouri joined, them as well. Or is that too far out in left field?:)

West Virginia adds no market value, and has bad academics. Kentucky has stinky football.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Baylor to the Big East?

Baylor has been one of the most vocal members of the Big 12 in recent days as the school does everything it can to keep the Big 12 together. It's a move that isn't difficult to understand because in all of the conference realignment talk, when it comes to the Big 12, Baylor is one of the few schools whom you don't hear mentioned as possibilities for other BCS conferences.

After all, in the Pac-16 scenario that keeps coming up, while Texas would want to bring Texas Tech west with them, you don't hear anything about the Longhorns being all that concerned about the Bears. As it turns out, however, Baylor may actually have a BCS contingency plan. According to a report by Yahoo's Jason King, Baylor is rather confident that if the Big 12 does dissolve, the school will find a home in the Big East.

?There haven?t been any guarantees,? a source with knowledge of the situation told King. ?But [Baylor] feels strongly that that?s what would happen.?

Entire article: http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/31816105

 

[Saw31]

PBC speaks again...



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

Response from that thread...

Let's call this the "Holy Cow" agreement.

I like it!

 

[Muck]

Got a couple of wildcards that weren't in the poll though. Has no one considered West Virginia for entry? Strong football and basketball programs that would fit well into the conference. And how committed to the SEC is Kentucky? With all the SEC's expansion teams have been added that Kentucky has no interest in playing while if they joined the Big 10 they would have natural rivals in OSU, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and if Missouri joined, them as well. Or is that too far out in left field?:)

WVU academics makes it a non starter.

KY (or any other SEC for that matter) isn't going anywhere for the same reason no B1G is going to jump ship for another conference. Unless there is some sort of MAJOR shift in the SEC (Auburn, Alabama AND Tennessee get the death penalty) it's a destination conference.