Posted on 11/10/2022 11:48:44 AM PST by dangus
Over-expansion has been such a pox on the old Big East/American, the ACC, the Pac-12, the Atlantic 8/10/14/whetever, and even the Big 10/14. Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland don't help the Big 10, and you can't tell me that the mega ACC and the American make for better competition and better sports than the old ACC, the Big East and Conference USA. Forgetting the effect on the raided conferences, The raiders often end up bloated, diluted conferences with shattered history, and weakened rivalries. So, it's weird that I'm proposing a huge new expansions, but reportedly the Big 12 and Pac 12 are making big moves to bring in Gonzaga, and I think the Big East would be much better for Gonzaga.
The thing is, Gonzaga plus the current Big East isn't much of an improvement for the Big East. Spokane is a small market in a far-off time zone, and the Big East provides a crazy tough schedule for their teams as it is.
But what about Spokane and CALIFORNIA?
See, it's no fooling WHY Pac-12 wants Gonzaga. It isn't about respect for the institution; this is the conference that rejected BYU years ago. With UCLA and USC gone, the Pac simply wants to destroy its rival West Coast Conference. The WCC could survive losing BYU, but not Gonzaga. With Gonzaga, St. Mary's and San Francisco could offer as much basketball entertainment as Stanford and UC-Berkeley.
What I propose is a three-division conference that really won't be able to call itself the Big East anymore.
The Eastern division would include Connecticut, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Providence, all within driving distance of each other.
The Central division would include Xavier, DePaul, Marquette, Butler and Georgetown.
The Western division would include Gonzaga and Creighton, which is a long trip from either coast, plus St. Mary's and San Francisco. USF have won two national titles, and are frequently on the bubble for the tournament, while St. Mary's is frequently a top-40 team. Loyola Marymount could bring the Big East an LA team for Fox Sports-1 to love; right now, I'd pass on LMU if I were basing it strictly on quality of play, but they are an improving program.
These divisions would actually intensify rivalries for pretty much everyone but Georgetown, who admittedly fits better with the Eastern division. (A 6-4-4 division is workable. The six-team division would play themselves twice and everyone else once; each team in a four-team divisions would also play their divisional rivals twice, and two teams from the other four-team division twice and everyone else once.)
Nobody really gets left behind: the remaining WCC teams haven't been strong enough to get a tournament bid in ages and now they can try for the automatic bid Gonzaga almost always takes. There are several private, western colleges that fit awkwardly with their current conference that could restock the WCC, including Grand Canyon, California Baptist, Seattle, Denver, Oral Roberts and Stanford. (Just kidding about Stanford.)
Ironically, the last few rounds of expansions worked out pretty well for the Big East, the old Atlantic 8, the original Conference USA teams. I respect the Big East's proclaimed desire to avoid over-expansion. But I'd rather the Big East consume the stronger WCC teams than see the WCC get decapitated by the Big 12 or Pac 12.
And the addition of UCLA and USC in 2024 will help?
It’s not about sports; it’s not about rivalries; it’s not about geography; and it’s sure as hell not about institutional and educational compatibility - it’s all about money. And with FIL and the transfer portal, it will only get worse.
College sports is being ruined. I have a hunch Nick Saban is going to retire because he wants no part of it.
Well, they’ll likely make a lot of money off of it. They can pretend the Rose Bowl is still a thing: Have Ohio State or Michigan meet UCLA or USC for the conference finals! But I do hate such over-expansion. Can you imagine if they had gotten Texas?
Arghh - where’s autocorrect when I actually need it - it’s ‘NIL’, not ‘FIL’.
Yes, because it brings in the Los Angelas TV market. The reason Rutgers and Maryland came in is to get the DC and NY TV markets. Kevin Plank of Under Armour fame negotiated Maryland getting in and paid off a significant athletic program debt in order to get them accepted.
The B1G Ten Network is starting a new TV deal that will bring in $1 billion per year for 7 years and that is about an 80% increase over the previous contract.
Whether people like it or not, those TV deals pay all the bills for the minor sports at the schools and gives the kids playing those minor sports far more TV coverage than they were getting.
No they’re not. Just looking at football and basketball keeps you from seeing how these deals bring much greater participation in the minor sports. And a lot of these programs contribute significant revenues to the schools themselves.
And the addition of UCLA and USC in 2024 will help?
It benefitted Fox and the Big Tennish conference by having their joint venture, the Big 10 Network paid for by every cable viewer in the Washington and New York areas. Now LA viewers can pay too.
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