Big Ten Expansion

[JJHardy7]

So now the Big 10 could/should get Texas and Oklahoma? Why not just shoot for USC too?

 

I really think athletics wise some people might be overstating the Big 10 just a bit...I'm not knocking on the Big 10...I'm just saying the Big 12 athletics wise has done pretty well the past few years.

[PlayerHader]

It might sound funny, but athletic success is really not that great of an indicator of the strength of a conference in the grand scheme of things.

[JJHardy7]

It might sound funny, but athletic success is really not that great of an indicator of the strength of a conference in the grand scheme of things.

 

I was just pointing to the fact that Oklahoma was mentioned without even considering academics...like I've said multiple times...Texas has a strong academic program.

[Diskono]

Hey, if The Ohio State is allowed in, you never know!

[paul253]

I was just pointing to the fact that Oklahoma was mentioned without

even considering academics...like I've said multiple times...Texas has

a strong academic program.

 

Oklahoma was mentioned along with the fact that I didn't know anything about their academics and that was followed by a question about whether they were Big 10 material, academic wise. Academics was considered, in other words.

[Baldkin]

According to the Detroit News, the big 10 is on the verge of adding 5 schools, and bumping up to 16.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ugh

[paul253]

I'm kind of in the middle with those selections. Nebraska brings very strong football tradition, and they are working their way back to the top of the college football world. They play "Big Ten football" with strong defense and a smash mouth offense. Nebraska-Ohio St, Nebraska-Penn St and Nebraska-Michigan would be national level games. Rutgers I guess is a good academic school. Their football program seems to be on the rise. I can see them being a Northwestern level team....middle of the conference standings, maybe one or two years at a time competing for the championship. Basketball wise both Nebraska and Rutgers are duds. Missouri...while I'm not too much of a fan, it does bring in a few markets and they do have a rivalry with Illinois going. If Notre Dame would ever get over themselves, they'd be a good fit, both academically and location wise. I don't see it happening. I think the Big Ten will initially add 3 teams and go to 14, then once the SEC, ACC, and Pac 10 follow, they'll eventually add two more.

[LouisEly]

If Notre Dame agreed to join the Big Ten, it's all but certain the Irish would be looking at a payday far in excess of what they know in 2010, based upon the Big Ten's current business model of sharing TV revenues evenly. Notre Dame receives about $15 million a year in TV revenue compared with $22 million per school in the Big Ten.

 

Well, that would be a pretty good reason to get over themselves. However... is that $15M/year just for football? What do they get from the Big East for basketball? The Big East doesn't have a network like the Big 10, but they get a lot of games on ESPN (the cornerstone of Big Monday, among other slots).

 

The rivalries with the military institutions are nice, but I don't think they generate a lot of revenue. The do generate a lot of wins for ND though (not as many lately). They would continue the rivalries with Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State, and add Ohio State. Now they will have four non-conference games (would that change with 12 or 16 teams?), so they can still pencil in USC, Army, Navy, and Stanford.

[paul253]

Now before I even say this, let me emphasize that i am not suggesting it or thinking it would ever happen, but tonight at work I had a thought. What if the Big Ten and the Big East combined? Notre Dame would be forced to join or else they'd have to find another conference for all their non-football sports. That would the new conference 20 teams. Instead of 2 divisions, you go to four divisions. And instead of a championship game, you have a 4 team championship tournament with the winners of all the divisions. Each team could play the other four teams in their divisions plus four other teams throughout the conference, which would ensure rivalries like Michigan-Ohio St and West Virginia-Pitt would go on every year. I would envision the divisions to be something like this:

 

West: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern

North: Michigan, Michigan St. Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue

Central: South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, Ohio St, West Virginia

East: UConn, Pittsburgh, Penn St., Syracuse, Rutgers

 

They'd have huge TV markets from the likes of Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Philly, plus basically the entire east coast. Basketball wise you could have two 10-team divisions. Plus I have to imagine they could work out some huge TV and sponsorship deals for the conference tournament. Again, I am in no way suggesting this would ever happen and of course this isn't taking academics into account. I just thought it would be fun to suggest.

[chrisisoutrunning]

First thing I would say in response to that is what about basketball? You'd have a 27 team league. (Marquette, Seton Hall, Georgetown, St. John's, Providence and DePaul don't have football programs, and Villanova is FCS)

 

Interesting idea though.

[paul253]

No the Big East basketball would have to get broken up and the remaining schools could form some sort of basketball-only conference. Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Providence, Depaul, and Seton Hall could join up with Xavier, Dayton and some others. I know it would suck to break up the tradition of Big East basketball, but obviously football is the key. If basketball was the key, the Big East would be the #1 league, as opposed to the league most likely to die.

[sbrylski]

Nebraska to the Big Ten by Friday

 

Things are heating up.

 

Missouri likely to come as well then, and this should rule out Notre Dame.

[chrisisoutrunning]

sbrylski06 wrote:

 

Missouri likely to come as well then, and this should rule out Notre Dame.

I wouldn't go that far. That would put the Big Ten at 13, I'm assuming that they'll try to get an even number as long as their expanding. Also, if Notre Dame wants in, the Big Ten will take them in a heart beat.

[sbrylski]

sbrylski06 wrote:

 

Missouri likely to come as well then, and this should rule out Notre Dame.

I wouldn't go that far. That would put the Big Ten at 13, I'm assuming that they'll try to get an even number as long as their expanding. Also, if Notre Dame wants in, the Big Ten will take them in a heart beat.

Notre Dame won't want in if the conference is going to expand past 12 teams. At least that's my understanding.

 

I also think the Pac 10's play at a 16-team super-conference will push the Big Ten to go for 16 teams as well, with Missouri being the second add after the dissolution of the Big 12.

[JumpinMacFlash]

I personally don't give a crap about Notre Dame. I'd almost rather see them take Nebraska and Missouri from the Big 12 and Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and Syracuse from the Big East. If Notre Dame wants to make a big deal about their independence, I say let them have it. Worry about ND for too long will leave the Big Ten vulnerable to missing out on other schools.

 

With all the talk about the Big 12 dissolving, Kansas looks to be on the outside looking in (Link). With Nebraska being the finger in the proverbial dam keeping the Big 12 from falling apart, I'd offer a spot in the new Big Ten to Kansas instead of Syracuse (provided Kansas could be added without K-State).

[RyDogg66]

This is a mess. Id rather have a 12 team conference with the Big 12 staying together, by adding Notre Dame. I think it would be better for college sports to keep the Big 6 conferences in tact.

[berniebrewer4life]

With all the talk about the Big 12 dissolving, Kansas looks to be on the outside looking in (Link). With Nebraska being the finger in the proverbial dam keeping the Big 12 from falling apart, I'd offer a spot in the new Big Ten to Kansas instead of Syracuse (provided Kansas could be added without K-State).

I think this is a reason nobody is talking about KU, because they want K state to go with them(similar to Texas and Tech), and NOBODY wants K State.

[sbrylski]

This is a mess. Id rather have a 12 team conference with the Big 12 staying together, by adding Notre Dame. I think it would be better for college sports to keep the Big 6 conferences in tact.

College football is a mess as is. What's so great about the current six major conferences?

[TooLiveBrew]

This is a mess. Id rather have a 12 team conference with the Big 12 staying together, by adding Notre Dame. I think it would be better for college sports to keep the Big 6 conferences in tact.

I hate this idea too. Texas playing in the Pac-10... yeah, that makes sense.

[PKBadger]

I welcome the move. Ultimately, I'd like to see the top-tier universities reorganize into four 16-team conferences. Each conference would have a title game (a de facto first playoff round) and then the winners could meet in a "Final Four" of football.

 

Don't rule out Notre Dame for the Big Ten. This Nebraska annexation may be the first step toward that. The next step will be to break the Big East by poaching 2-3 teams. ND may not have a choice when all is said and done - these mega conferences will make it difficult to schedule quality opponents as an independent (not to mention the $$$ implications of being on the outside looking in).

[RyDogg66]

Two schools that should be worried Are K-State and Iowa State. If there are 4 16 team conferences, by my count, they are probably the two most likely to be left out.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Notre Dame won't want in if the conference is going to expand past 12 teams. At least that's my understanding.

 

I also think the Pac 10's play at a 16-team super-conference will push the Big Ten to go for 16 teams as well, with Missouri being the second add after the dissolution of the Big 12.

I think if it begins to look like there will be four 16 team super-conferences, Notre Dame will have to jump at being included in the Big 10. The reasoning is summed up here.

One point brought up by a source of Harris': If Notre Dame doesn't join,

and there are then four 16-team conferences, who exactly will the Irish

be scheduling? MAC, Sun Belt and WAC teams? If so, as the source says,

NBC won't be pleased nor would it help Notre Dame's BCS chances (you

know, if there still is a BCS).

It looks like they'll add Nebraska for sure to get to 12. Then either stay at that number or go all in to get to 16 if the Big 12 and Big East crumble.

[PeaveyFury]

Id rather have a 12 team conference with the Big 12 staying together, by adding Notre Dame.

 

Unfortunately, the problem with that is Notre Dame remains completely uninterested at this point.

 

I like the addition of Nebraska. Notre Dame and Nebraska were really the only two teams being thrown out there that fit the mold as "Big Ten" teams in terms of prestige, geography, etc. I'm thrilled about a conference championship, and adding Nebraska to the western side of the conference makes division-splitting much easier, IMO.

 

Obviously the most interesting thing about the move is the potential aftermath. With Texas expected to leave the Big 12 and the whole Big 12 south expected to follow, how awful must it feel to be the people running that conference and knowing there's a really good chance the conference won't exist next week at this time? I think there's a great chance that the scenarios are being overblown and there's probably just as good a chance that something simple happens like Nebraska to the Big Ten, Boise State to the Big 12, and everything else stays the same. Still, dramatic shifts to a 4 major conference format probably is the death of the BCS at long last and gets us a playoff system, and that end justifies the means for me.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Per Chip Brown:

Six schools being invited by Pac-10 - TX, A&M,

Tech, OU, Ok State and Colo - expected to accept invitations, begin

play in Pac-16 in 2012.

 

I agree with Peavey that moving to a format with four 16 team super-conferences gets us the playoff system that (most) everyone wants to see. If that's how the chips fall and the Pac-10 does become the "Pac-16", I could see the Big Ten moving quickly to try to add Mizzou and Notre Dame, and possibly two others (Syracuse and Rutgers?) to get to 16.