Posted on 04/17/2010 6:12:38 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
Edited on 04/17/2010 6:36:37 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Remember the talk that the Big Ten would take 12-18 months to decide whether to expand?
An accelerated timetable has emerged, according to sources familiar with the process.
High-ranking Big Ten representatives will meet Sunday afternoon in Washington D.C. to discuss expansion. The timing and location of the session make sense considering the Association of American Universities is holding its semi-annual meetings in D.C. from Sunday-Tuesday, and all 11 Big Ten schools are AAU members.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingsports.com ...
There’s also some academic standard that has to be followed as well. All Big Ten schools are members of some esteemed collegiate group (can’t remember the name), and the schools that are to be considered must be members of it. I think I read somewhere that Pitt was not, but Rutgers and Nebraska are.
West Virginia is slavishly followed by the entire state, so they offer in breadth what they don’t offer in a large metro area.
Pitt, of course, is a large metro area, so they are not a bad deal in terms of TV market.
I agree regarding Missouri.
Virginia Tech doesn’t have either a metro area or a statewide following, but they do have a dynamite program. Cincy is in a America’s 24th largest metro area, but their facilities are beautiful, traditional, and woefully small.
Maybe. I guess I should mention I only care about FB and BB as far as my beloved Cowboys do well and they fund other sports.
Money matters. Gaining or losing a team that brings the DFW and Houston markets matters where the money is concerned.
The operative factor is “revenue earned per school.” The “common revenue pool model” with equal shares pushes the weak sisters to excel or risk being dumped.
That will be a huge incentive with a Big Ten TV channel and lots of other sports other than football. ESPN alone is up to what—6 channels? This is about $$$ and not academics...trust me.
F
** ping **
Agree that the SEC is the premier football conference bar none.
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Missouri would be a good bet, but then what would happen to the MO-KS rivalry ? Notre Dame won’t join anything because they’re doing well as an independent. The Rust Belt colleges further east don’t have the following that Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa have.
I still think Texas might be just the school to break new ground.
There goes the Big East! I’m sure Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is running for U.S. Senate, will sue any Big East school who tries to leave just as he tried to do when the ACC came calling a few years ago.
I think the Texas state legislature has to approve a move by any state Texas school and I don’t think they would ever approve Texas without Texas A&M and maybe even Texas Tech.
Will the league finally change its name when it expands?
Perhaps Notre Dame should join the Big Sky, not the Big Ten.
I think the Big Ten is seriously looking at Rutgers because 1) Rutgers is a well-funded school and 2) Rutgers would bring in the the New York City and Philadelphia area fans—and that’s huge financially because that means Rutgers would get to host teams like Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan at Rutgers Stadium—a gigantic financial windfall for Rutgers and it forces the Philadelphia and New York City media to start paying attention to college football.
“If anything, a new member of the Big 10 will come from the Big 12; Missouri, possibly.”
If I had a choice in the matter, I’d remove Penn State and admit Iowa State to the Big Ten. I’d even be OK with adding Notre Dame - although the Fighting irish would proabably prefer to remain Independent.
Geographically, it makes more sense to have ISU in the Big Ten that it does for PSU. The Nittany Lions should ideally be in the Big East.
You've got it backwards. The idea is to expand the conference geographically so it gets more media attention in markets that currently ignore the Big Ten. ISU isn't going to generate any more revenue for the Big Ten if it joined.
Rutgers makes sense on that basis.
Iowa will continue to play Iowa State in the non con schedule.
btw; Iowa and other BT schools played Penn State in the non-con for many years. I can’t see PSU leaving the Big Ten.
Well, the Big Ten (or whatever it will be called after expansion) will immediately split into divisions when they get their 12th school. I’m not sure how many conference games they will play. It could be that the “Big Ten” conference schedule will be a similar number of games currently played by the Big East.
The Big Ten really, really needs a conference championship game.
At the expense of royally pissing off the alumni. It would mean the death of the Border War.
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
UT ain't going anywhere without A&M. If you told me they were BOTH going to the Big 10, I might believe it.
UT has long term rivalries with A&M, which is almost love-hate, and of course, the Red River Shootout with Oklahoma. They've also had rivalries with some of the other schools, like Tech and Baylor forever, but I could see these being broken more easily.
There's also the fact that Texas politics would come into play in any conference realignment. Ann Richards blocked Texas and A&M going into the Big 12 until Baylor got the nod over TCU to enter the conference.
Rick Perry is an Aggie. Unless the Big 10(11) can accommodate two teams, Texas isn't going anywhere.
Years ago with Joe Paterno was doubling as A-D, he attempted to build an eastern football conference but he couldn't make the other schools, principally Pitt & Syracuse, see the wisdom of it. So PSU goes the Big Ten route and later on the Big East expands to include football. Probably the biggest professional failure in Joe Paterno's career.
I don't see any way that Penn State voluntarily leaves the Big Ten. Given that the Big Ten is likely to expand eastward, there isn't much chance that the Big Ten will dis-invite the Nittany Lions, either.
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