Big Ten Expansion?

[NightHawk78]

The commissioner of the Big Ten made some comments recently to the extent that the conference may explore expansion, probably to add a football championship game and add another market that could encourage some of the major cable companies to add the fledgling Big Ten Network to their regular lineup of offerings (as opposed to it being a specialty/digital channel). Most of the schools in the poll have been listed in previous expansion speculation with one columnist naming Nebraska as a possibility due to conference in-fighting with the Texas schools and the rabid Husker fan base.

Any thoughts?

Column mentioning Nebraska as a Big Ten candidate:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...bag/index.html

[JackJD]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

I can't see Nebraska leaving its conference. I have a hard time imagining any change in the Big Ten.

Notre Dame is unique and the Irish would be nuts to join any conference. Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit that when Notre Dame is winning, everyone loves college football and the TV channels know it.

[Jacks15]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

i would hope the big ten is serious about expansion. the football championship game would be a great money maker and huge to get the new network on major carriers. I voted for Notre Dame because I believe that would be the dream school for the Big Ten, but i would like to see either Nebraska or Iowa St added. i know the big ten would like to get the new york media, but Syracuse/Rutgers don' t do much for me.

[valleyrabbit]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

Everyone knows that this is the reason USD waited to go D-I. Those Coyotes are so much smarter than the rest of us. The Big Ten is going to build them a new football stadium and basketball arena and fund their athletic department just to have the mighty Coyotes in their conference. ;D ;D ;D

[sfsd]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

The commissioner of the Big Ten made some comments recently to the extent that the conference may explore expansion, probably to add a football championship game and add another market that could encourage some of the major cable companies to add the fledgling Big Ten Network to their regular lineup of offerings (as opposed to it being a specialty/digital channel). Most of the schools in the poll have been listed in previous expansion speculation with one columnist naming Nebraska as a possibility due to conference in-fighting with the Texas schools and the rabid Husker fan base.

Any thoughts?

Column mentioning Nebraska as a Big Ten candidate:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...bag/index.html

1. Jim Delany said the Big Ten doesn't want to have a football championship, so one would think adding Syracuse/Rutgers/Pitt doesn't make sense because the league would have to at 12 teams.

2. His biggest point was having balanced schedules for the non-rev and basketball schedules.

3. He said the new Big Ten Network was a driving reason.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the league is looking to take on Notre Dame in all sports but football, similar to the deal with the Big East...and revenue from another television deal would definitely change Notre Dame's tune after turning down the Big Ten in '99.

I would think a second choice would be Pitt because it fits academically, geographically and athletically more than the other two. As much as they'd love to wiggle into the New York market with Rutgers, it won't happen because it's too far away. And Syracuse and upstate NY isn't as populated. Pitt makes sense because of the natural/bitter rivalry with Penn State, the size of the market (Pittsburgh is 22nd, Buffalo/Niagara is 91) and with its academics (top tier, #57, just behind # 58 Ohio State -- Syracuse is 52nd/Rutgers 60th). The idea of geographic footprint (remember that term? ) seems to rule out Syracuse and Rutgers IMO.

If I had to rank the options, I'd go:
1. Notre Dame
2. No expansion
3. Pitt
4. Iowa State
5. Rutgers

ADDED: Also, I think Delany's comments at the Big Ten football media day Tuesday say one thing: The Big Ten presidents told him to shut up and not ruin any hush-hush dealings that are (likely) already going on with Notre Dame so the league doesn't look foolish as it did in the aftermath of ND saying no in '99.

[valleyrabbit]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

[quote author=NightHawk78 link=1186022179/0#0 date=1186022179]The commissioner of the Big Ten made some comments recently to the extent that the conference may explore expansion, probably to add a football championship game and add another market that could encourage some of the major cable companies to add the fledgling Big Ten Network to their regular lineup of offerings (as opposed to it being a specialty/digital channel). Most of the schools in the poll have been listed in previous expansion speculation with one columnist naming Nebraska as a possibility due to conference in-fighting with the Texas schools and the rabid Husker fan base.

Any thoughts?

Column mentioning Nebraska as a Big Ten candidate:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...bag/index.html

1. Jim Delany said the Big Ten doesn't want to have a football championship, so one would think adding Syracuse/Rutgers/Pitt doesn't make sense because the league would have to at 12 teams.

2. His biggest point was having balanced schedules for the non-rev and basketball schedules.

3. He said the new Big Ten Network was a driving reason.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the league is looking to take on Notre Dame in all sports but football, similar to the deal with the Big East...and revenue from another television deal would definitely change Notre Dame's tune after turning down the Big Ten in '99.

I would think a second choice would be Pitt because it fits academically, geographically and athletically more than the other two. As much as they'd love to wiggle into the New York market with Rutgers, it won't happen because it's too far away. And Syracuse and upstate NY isn't as populated. Pitt makes sense because of the natural/bitter rivalry with Penn State, the size of the market (Pittsburgh is 22nd, Buffalo/Niagara is 91) and with its academics (top tier, #57, just behind # 58 Ohio State -- Syracuse is 52nd/Rutgers 60th). The idea of geographic footprint (remember that term? ) seems to rule out Syracuse and Rutgers IMO.

If I had to rank the options, I'd go:
1. Notre Dame
2. No expansion
3. Pitt
4. Iowa State
5. Rutgers

ADDED: Also, I think Delany's comments at the Big Ten football media day Tuesday say one thing: The Big Ten presidents told him to shut up and not ruin any hush-hush dealings that are (likely) already going on with Notre Dame so the league doesn't look foolish as it did in the aftermath of ND saying no in '99.[/quote]

They want to add a school from a state that doesn't have a Big Ten School. Penn St is from western PA so Pitt really gains them nothing. Neither does Iowa State. ND has their own TV contract and will likely be an independent for FB forever. Rutgers and Louisville are most likely candidates. Louisville is one of two schools to play in a Final Four, BCS Bowl game, and CWS in the last 3 years, the other being Florida. They have a good athletic department and are in a new state for the conference.

[sfsd]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

They want to add a school from a state that doesn't have a Big Ten School.  Penn St is from western PA so Pitt really gains them nothing.  Neither does Iowa State.  ND has their own TV contract and will likely be an independent for FB forever.  Rutgers and Louisville are most likely candidates.  Louisville is one of two schools to play in a Final Four, BCS Bowl game, and CWS in the last 3 years, the other being Florida.  They have a good athletic department and are in a new state for the conference.

Be careful who you mean when saying "they" -- from everything I've heard, this was Delany speaking out of turn and his about-face Tuesday really made me think he was censured by the Big Ten Presidents for that interview with the Des Moines paper. Before anything, Delany needs to worry about Congress looking into this Big Ten Network (which may turn out to be his undoing as commish), and expanding even further for this purpose ("the network" is the reason he gave for expansion talks) would likely accelerate that Congressional probe. I'm sure if he had his way, they'd expand coast-to-coast to combat the SEC. But as you should have learned with SDSU's bids, conference presidents make these decisions, not commisioners. And they don't take to change quickly or easily.  

The Big Ten is and will always be a Midwestern conference. Apparently you didn't get the memo about how much GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT means to college presidents when SDSU was trying to get into conferences. What held true with the Big Sky holds true with the Big Ten -- it's a LOOONG way from Minneapolis to Piscataway, N.J. and Louisville.

The talk of going after Rutgers and Louisville, to me and other Big Ten experts I know who are in the know, are merely to force Comcast to bow to the league's demand to carry the network on a regular tier and a smoke screen to go after Notre Dame again. Why?

* Louisville's academics are pathetic (Tier 3) compared to other Big Ten schools, and their football team (which has been historically mediocre) only made a BCS game in a significantly watered-down Big East after BC, Miami and Va. Tech left. Also, there are only 21,000 students -- smaller than any other public Big Ten schools (Northwestern easily is the smallest, but also private). And Papa Johns Stadium is a converted baseball field and nowhere near Big Ten quality (only 42,000 seats would make it even smaller than Northwestern and in a market as nowhere near as viable as Chicago).

* Rutgers fits size-wise with 34K students and is sound academically. But their athletics have been historically weak and the facilities also are antiquated and small. Other than playing in the first college football game and the last few years under Schiano, SUNJ (State University of New Jersey/Rutgers) doesn't even register a blip in the metro-NYC media. Heck, few people in NYC knew anything about the Rutgers women's hoops team being in the Final Four until the Don Imus scandal afterward.

* Illinois has tried for years to get Missouri (St. Louis market)in, and THAT was considered too far from the Big Ten footprint.

* Penn State may want Syracuse or Rutgers, but Penn State is still the new kid on the block in the Big Ten and doesn't carry much weight. And why would Syracuse abandon their basketball rivalries with Georgetown, St. Johns, etc. That's all that matters at Boeheim University, anyway.

* And despite recruiting plenty of W. Pa. kids, Penn State is central PA, three hours from both Pittsburgh and Philly. Pittsburgh is fairly divided with Pitt and Penn St. fans, probably 60-40 toward Penn State (I know, I grew up there) but the Panthers' fan base is rabid when they do well. Pitt also has the new Petersen Events Center (one of the best in the country) for basketball and has been the No. 1 ranked team in the nation as recently as 2005-06 and plays football at Heinz Field (home of the Steelers). Interest has waned in Pitt's football program because the Big East has become so diluted -- check out the Panthers' horrible home schedule. But if you're throwing BCS bowl games in, Pitt played in one and also has five national football titles, most recently in 1976. Rutgers and Louisville have combined for ZERO.

* And don't forget -- the presidents from OSU/MSU/Michigan all are in a working relationship with Notre Dame in the CCHA hockey conference. That means more than you think, especially since the Big Ten has whispered for years how it would like to create its own hockey conference. Adding a sixth team (Notre Dame, with Minnesota and Wisconsin) would fulfill the league's bylaws to create one and might spurn Penn State to finally put up the cash to make its successful club hockey team a varsity program.

If the Big 11 doesn't want to hold a championship football game as Delany said, adding Notre Dame with a deal like the Big East gave it (all sports BUT football) or going after a non-football school such as Marquette (highly unlikely) would be the only thing that makes sense. With 12 in football, you HAVE to split into divisions and hold a title game. Plus, adding another football team significantly hampers the Big Ten's ability to put multiple schools into the BCS games.

And when it comes down to it, THAT is what matters most -- not the TV stuff, not the schedules, not the rivalries, but all that cash that comes from having 2 or 3 schools in the BCS.

[i_got_a_fever]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

I don't even know why Notre Dame is an option.  Come on guys, for ND to keep their traditional rivals, and too be able to schedule them, they have to stay independent for football.  USC, Boston College, Michigan, Michigan State, and Navy.  Plus they are already members of the Big East in Basketball, which happens to be one of the best conferences in Division 1 BBall. They only logical choice is Pitt.

[thebluehatman]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

Solari would be in the know about this one so I would trust his sources

[sfsd]

Re: Big Ten Expansion?

I don't even know why Notre Dame is an option.  Come on guys, for ND to keep their traditional rivals, and too be able to schedule them, they have to stay independent for football.  USC, Boston College, Michigan, Michigan State, and Navy.  Plus they are already members of the Big East in Basketball, which happens to be one of the best conferences in Division 1 BBall.  They only logical choice is Pitt.

Read this as a reason why ND would leave:

"In 2006, Notre Dame finished third among Division I institutions in the fourth annual Collegiate Power Rankings released by the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA). The Irish were seventh on the overall list that included all the top academic and athletic colleges and universities in the country at the Division I, II and III levels. Duke finished first among all Division I schools, followed by Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Boston College, Michigan, Virginia, Army, Rice and Vanderbilt."

It's another effect of the Boston College move. ND and BC are brother schools because of academics and athletics, and BC is gone. The Big Ten has two schools on that list just behind ND. I believe the term used over and over in this scenario is "like-minded institutions." The question is whether the Big Ten would stick its tail between its legs and do what they should have last time -- bend to ND, exclude football and take the other sports into the Big Ten.