Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[ScriptOhio]

In a landmark college football defining move, the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins have signed their national letter of intent to join the Big Ten’s 2024 class. A move that was both unexpected and unsurprising in the same instance has shaken college football to its core.

If you woke up on Thursday expecting this move, then you are either a university president at one of these 16 schools, or you should pay the lottery because you can see the future. This move was made in silence, with back-room conversations, secret Zoom meetings, and confidential feasibility studies. In one swift motion, the Big Ten has ended the Alliance, potentially ended the Pac-12, and set off another round of realignment. The impact of this decision will touch every corner of college football for years to come.

We may never know if this move was a reaction to the 2022 stunner of the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners moving to the SEC. If you ask Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, and they did, he will tell you, “Our marketing and media rights opportunities along with the relationship with two institutions that fit us were too good to pass up.”

He’s not entirely wrong. The Big Ten would be a laughingstock if they turned down USC and UCLA. Adding them in 2024 at the beginning of their new media deal alone is reason enough, as now the Big Ten stretches from coast to coast and lays claim to five of the top seven TV markets — including the top three in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Whether they were playing catch up to the SEC or not, this move continues to keep the Big Ten in a class of its own. Off the field, the Big Ten is easily the biggest conference. It has the most blue bloods, the best TV markets, rabid fan bases, schools in major cities — not just college towns — and the most lucrative TV contract. This move only furthers that for the conference, but it also may help the Big Ten catch up in the one place it has fallen behind: National Championships.

The Big Ten hasn’t won a football national championship since 2014, when the Ohio State Buckeyes won. They haven’t won a basketball national championship since 2000, when Michigan State brought home the title. In one colossal move, the conference has added another contender in football with USC and will soon join the SEC in calling for a 12-team playoff with as many at-large bids as possible to increase their chances of bringing home the trophy. The same can be said in basketball with UCLA.

This move not only makes the conference better, but should light a spark under some programs who have settled for mediocre coaches, mediocre facilities, and overall just non-serious athletic departments. This move signifies the future of the Big Ten, including the removal of divisions. No longer can you you hide behind winning the weaker West division every few years. No more can you accept being the fourth-best team out of seven, as that can quick turn into the 10th best team out of 16, which has an entirely different ring to it.

The reverberations of this move are not quantifiable right now, but no one is safe — not even the coaches who signed 10-year contracts. Buyouts don’t matter when your school is bringing in over a $100 million dollars annually.
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[cincibuck]

That's a great table.

Please cite your source if it's not too much trouble.

Which college football programs bring in the most TV …

 

[cincibuck]

I guess ND can join the SEC and be the educational leader in the SEC wasteland.

Vandy is ND's equal in undergrad and quite a bit better in grad school.

 

[BB73]

I wonder what the domers are asking for. I don't think they'll be so crazy as to ask for uneven revenue splits, but I'm pretty sure that they're asking for things like:

• Their own separate NBC broadcast window and dedicated announcing crew
• Other conference teams using their home games with ND to play neutral site games in NFL stadiums
• Probably some say over their schedule above and beyond the dedicated rivalry games that other teams will have

Any others?

And, oh yeah, they should be told to shove all of it up their ass.

They’ll still want Seamus McGillicutty, Sean O’Halloran, Liam Sullivan, and Paddy O’Hara to have whistles at all of their games.

 

[cincibuck]

After I looked at the TV ratings for the PAC 12 heavyweights, USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington I see what the problem is. In the words of the immortal Rachel Phelps in Major League, "We don't draw dick." Hard to see how USC and UCLA will move the BTN needle given their numbers. I had no idea how bad things were. Makes me wonder how this makes the Big Ten TV rights that much more valuable. But someone who knows a lot more than me must have run the numbers.

 

[BB73]

If the big ten allows notre dame anything special then it will be the end of the conference. Texas’ special treatment completely destroyed the big 12. If the domers get special treatment then OSU needs to call up the sec.

On that note I wonder if usc and ucla will get full member money or the Rutgers Maryland treatment. If not it’s real shitty on the latter.

And I’ve got to say as an older millennial that only gen xers and boomers are holding onto this feeling that notre dame should be in the big ten. The rest of us don’t give a shit about them as they lost relevancy shortly after I was born. Gene smith is showing g his age.

This boomer says FUCK the Domers, today, tomorrow, and always.

Let them decide between trying to save the ACC by fully joining, living among the SEC crowd, or continuing their path to irrelevancy by trying to last as an independent.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

After I looked at the TV ratings for the PAC 12 heavyweights, USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington I see what the problem is. In the words of the immortal Rachel Phelps in Major League, "We don't draw dick." Hard to see how USC and UCLA will move the BTN needle given their numbers. I had no idea how bad things were. Makes me wonder how this makes the Big Ten TV rights that much more valuable. But someone who knows a lot more than me must have run the numbers.

We had people who were or claimed to be in the industry when we brought in Rutgers and Maryland. Those two schools bring in nothing on their own; but it wasn't about that. It was about bringing the B1G fans that live in New York and the DMV, which is a lot of people. Similarly, bringing the Big Ten Network to the basic cable packages in Southern California is going to mean a lot; not because of the surfers, but because of the B1G fans who have been transplanted there (like me).

Transplants are a huge part of the equation, and might play a role in who ends up where. There are a metric butt ton of B1G transplants in Maricopa County (ASU), including a LOT more Iowa fans than you'd think. And I swear it seems a miracle that the city of Chicago isn't empty. When I lived in "the valley of the sun", it seemed they'd all moved to Arizona. Cardinals vs Bears games were home games for the Bears. ASU is desert Florida State; so they’re an academic "no" from the word "go". But the fact that there are far fewer B1G transplants in Washington and Oregon might also have a lot to do with why they aren't already part of the equation. They said Fox was part of the discussion lately; I bet they are saying just about the opposite of what the academic folks are saying. It will be interesting to see just how much emphasis remains on academics in a world where academics and sports are starting to wonder what they're doing in a relationship in the first place.

 

[Dryden]

After I looked at the TV ratings for the PAC 12 heavyweights, USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington I see what the problem is. In the words of the immortal Rachel Phelps in Major League, "We don't draw dick." Hard to see how USC and UCLA will move the BTN needle given their numbers. I had no idea how bad things were. Makes me wonder how this makes the Big Ten TV rights that much more valuable. But someone who knows a lot more than me must have run the numbers.

I don’t think it’s about the LA schools’ own market as much as it is the Big Ten alumni and Great Lakes transplants that now live on the left coast.

Let’s be honest about this, USC and UCLA are fine, prestigious institutions that offer some programs Big Ten schools can’t match. The CIC/remote study boons are enormous.

As many of my graduating classmates from Lancaster High & Fisher Catholic went on to attend USC as did those that matriculated to Ohio State and Ohio U.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Clemson's not an AAU school and Josh Pate is an SEC schill for the most part with his college football commentary, so I don't trust any if this. With that said though, this is outside the box of everything we have been hearing and thinking the last few days

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

Clemson's not an AAU school and Josh Pate is an SEC schill for the most part with his college football commentary, so I don't trust any if this. With that said though, this is outside the box of everything we have been hearing and thinking the last few days

I will move to Canada.

 

[CincyInterloper]

Clemson's not an AAU school and Josh Pate is an SEC schill for the most part with his college football commentary, so I don't trust any if this. With that said though, this is outside the box of everything we have been hearing and thinking the last few days

I suppose if you have to add a school from South Carolina, but why would the B1G waste a slot on those guys? They seem more like SEC material to me.

 

[Thump]

I don’t think it’s about the LA schools’ own market as much as it is the Big Ten alumni and Great Lakes transplants that now live on the left coast.

Let’s be honest about this, USC and UCLA are fine, prestigious institutions that offer some programs Big Ten schools can’t match. The CIC/remote study boons are enormous.

As many of my graduating classmates from Lancaster High & Fisher Catholic went on to attend USC as did those that matriculated to Ohio State and Ohio U.

No Domers?

 

[Thump]

Clemson's not an AAU school and Josh Pate is an SEC schill for the most part with his college football commentary, so I don't trust any if this. With that said though, this is outside the box of everything we have been hearing and thinking the last few days

I have to ask, why is AAU membership a big deal or sticking point?

I am totally ignorant to that situation.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Federal agencies rely on universities to perform critical research in the national interest - AAU universities perform the majority of that research. $27.7 billion in federally funded basic research, or 62% of the total amount funded, is performed by faculty at AAU universities.

Additionally BTAA members get a total of about $10 billion a year in research funding. AAU and BTAA is a TON of research money every year for members.

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

I have to ask, why is AAU membership a big deal or sticking point?

I am totally ignorant to that situation.

Guessing, but I think research and the student piece of student-athlete means a little more to some schools versus others.