B1G Expansion and more Conference Realignment

[scarletNcream]

The ACC wants everyone to sign a GOR. NBC told ND that they can't sign one, breach of contract. FSU has sent a "plan" to the BIG, even though they are not AAU they are ranked higher than DONU as far as acedemics and Delany is impressed with thier efforts to achieve AAU status. Clemson has refused to sign the GOR (grant of rights) along with FSU and I believe NC and GT.

Is there any source of this outside of the WVU story tellers?

BTW if the SEC won't take FSU due to duplication of markets why in the world would they take Clemson?

It's no secret that UF, Georgia and South Carolina have and or will block any effort to add another "in-state" school going forward and you are right, Clemson would go Big 12. Sorry

 

[Muck]

Maryland was also Union.

It wasn't quite that simple. Maryland staying loyal required Lincoln sending Federal troops to occupy Maryland, suspending Habeas Corpus & arresting the Maryland legislature members that planned to vote for secession.

From 'The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run" (David Detzer):

The secessionists possessed about two-thirds of each branch of the State legislature, and the general government had what it regarded as good reasons for believing that a secret, extra, and illegal session of the legislature was about to be convened at Frederick on the 17th of Sept. in order to pass an ordinance of secession. It was understood that this action was to be supported by an advance of the Southern army across the Potomac....It was impossible to permit the secession of Maryland, intervening, as it did, between the capital and the loyal States, and commanding all our lines of supply and reinforcement. I do not know how the government obtained the information on which they reached their conclusions. I do not know how reliable it was. I only know that at the time it seemed more than probable, and that ordinary prudence required that it should be regarded as certain. So that when I received the orders for the arrest of the most active members of the legislature, for the purpose of preventing the intended meeting and the passage of the act of secession, I gave that order a most full and hearty support as a measure of undoubted military necessity.
On the 10th of Sept. Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, instructed Gen. Banks to prevent the passage of any act of secession by the Maryland legislature, directing him to arrest all or any number of the members, if necessary, but in any event to do the work effectively.

On the same day the Secretary of War instructed Gen. Dix to arrest six conspicuous and active secessionists of Baltimore, three of whom were members of the legislature.

It's no secret that UF, Georgia and South Carolina have and or will block any effort to add another "in-state"; school going forward and you are right, Clemson would go Big 12. Sorry

It may not be a secret but there also doesn't seem to be any evidence to support it being real. SEC fans are pretty consistent in saying that the 'gentlemen's agreement' doesn't exist and UF spent decades working to get FSU into the SEC, not keep them out.

 

[VectorVictor]

It's no secret that UF, Georgia and South Carolina have and or will block any effort to add another "in-state"; school going forward and you are right, Clemson would go Big 12. Sorry

It may not be a secret but there also doesn't seem to be any evidence to support it being real. SEC fans are pretty consistent in saying that the 'gentlemen's agreement' doesn't exist and UF spent decades working to get FSU into the SEC, not keep them out.

There may not be anything on the books, but the evidence lies in the lack of action the SEC has taken with FSU throughout expansion history. This isn't the first opportunity (or the second, really) that the SEC could have onboarded FSU since they've been worthy program, and they haven't.

Plus, it now makes little fiscal sense to add FSU to the mix, as they already have the Florida markets and would be carving the same pie into smaller pieces instead of expanding the pie before carving it up. Granted, FSU is a national program, so they would bring *some* value to the SEC...but in reality, it's probably not enough to justify onboarding another Florida school.

And ScarletNCream already covered the two big pieces of information out there, really--that we're in a holding pattern until the Maryland issue is resolved, and that Jim is (finally!) keen on FSU and, barring a surprise SEC invite (5% chance that would happen), FSU will be member school #16, #17, or #18 (as we already know Virginia is #15).

 

[Caven]

Isn't today and tomorrow the Big 10 athletic directors meetings in Chicago?

 

[knapplc]

It is, Caven, and I was just coming to post some updates from Rittenberg over at ESPN. Sorry about the source - I don't see anyone else tweeting about it right now.

@ESPN_BigTen

Just talked to Jim Delany. Said ADs and coaches only discussing 9- and 10-game league schedule models. No support to stay at 8 games.

@ESPN_BigTen

Also as expected, division alignment talk centered on geography. It'll be some type of geographical split, but also need competitive balance

@ESPN_BigTen

Here's big one for fans: If schools want to play primetime games in November, B1G won't stand in their way. Coaches want more night games

@ESPN_BigTen

One thing not discussed today was division names: "That would probably be the last issue." Don't know divisions yet.

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

 

[Mavric]

@ESPN_BigTen

Just talked to Jim Delany. Said ADs and coaches only discussing 9- and 10-game league schedule models. No support to stay at 8 games.

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

No support to stay at 8 games is pretty interesting to me. Not sure how general he is talking - or just trying to make it sound like everyone is on board - but a nine game schedule - let alone 10 - makes it very hard to have much in the way of a non-conference schedule and keep the number of home games everyone seems to want. With the Husker contracts with CU and OU, we could end up with only six home games at least three of those years. I thought everyone was afraid that wouldn't pay the bills.

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

@ESPN_BigTen

Just talked to Jim Delany. Said ADs and coaches only discussing 9- and 10-game league schedule models. No support to stay at 8 games.

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

No support to stay at 8 games is pretty interesting to me. Not sure how general he is talking - or just trying to make it sound like everyone is on board - but a nine game schedule - let alone 10 - makes it very hard to have much in the way of a non-conference schedule and keep the number of home games everyone seems to want. With the Husker contracts with CU and OU, we could end up with only six home games at least three of those years. I thought everyone was afraid that wouldn't pay the bills.

My guess is 9 game schedule.

Either the 4-4-1 neutral site game or the 4-5/ 5-4 schedule.

IF and when we get to 16/18 teams , 9 conference games.

IF we get to 20 teams, 10 conference games

 

[Mavric]

My guess is 9 game schedule.

Either the 4-4-1 neutral site game or the 4-5/ 5-4 schedule.

IF and when we get to 16/18 teams , 9 conference games.

IF we get to 20 teams, 10 conference games

If not already, I would say as soon as the B1G expands again, it will definitely be a 9 game schedule. Even at 14 teams, that's two 7-team divisions which would be six divisional games and three crosses. If you keep a protected crossover, you'd see the other six teams every three year.

Even at 16, I could see pushing for a 10 game league schedule. That's seven division games which means you see every team every three years. At nine games, you'd only see every team every 4-5 years depending on if the protected crossover stays. Some players could complete their eligibility without playing every team.

 

[Caven]

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

So the new schedule goes into effect when we get the extra couple of teams - got it

 

[HuskerShark]

I would be more than okay with a 10-game conference schedule. Watching 3 non-cons against crappy teams and 1 against a decent one kind of takes some excitement away from the beginning of the season to me. We ought to do what the SEC does and play all of our conference games early so we can finish our season against Nobody State and Worstteamintheuniverse State and put up gaudy numbers, then tout ourselves as world-beaters and climb the polls at the end of the year.

 

[VectorVictor]

@ESPN_BigTen

Just talked to Jim Delany. Said ADs and coaches only discussing 9- and 10-game league schedule models. No support to stay at 8 games.

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

No support to stay at 8 games is pretty interesting to me. Not sure how general he is talking - or just trying to make it sound like everyone is on board - but a nine game schedule - let alone 10 - makes it very hard to have much in the way of a non-conference schedule and keep the number of home games everyone seems to want. With the Husker contracts with CU and OU, we could end up with only six home games at least three of those years. I thought everyone was afraid that wouldn't pay the bills.

This is where the abundance of neutral-site games comes into play. Sure, tOSU, Michigan, Wisky, and DoNU won't be giving up a home game for a neutral site, but a school like Northwestern, who made huge bank off of Nebraska fans before has already agreed to moving the game into a larger venue to accommodate more NU fans.

As long as the profits from neutral-site games are shared properly (read: bigger draw getting the bigger check), 9 and 10-game schedules won't be nearly as big a hit as people are making it out to be.

 

[Mavric]

@ESPN_BigTen

Just talked to Jim Delany. Said ADs and coaches only discussing 9- and 10-game league schedule models. No support to stay at 8 games.

@ESPN_BigTen

The new B1G schedules (9 or 10 games) likely would go into effect for 2016 or 2017. Wouldn't happen right after Maryland/Rutgers join

No support to stay at 8 games is pretty interesting to me. Not sure how general he is talking - or just trying to make it sound like everyone is on board - but a nine game schedule - let alone 10 - makes it very hard to have much in the way of a non-conference schedule and keep the number of home games everyone seems to want. With the Husker contracts with CU and OU, we could end up with only six home games at least three of those years. I thought everyone was afraid that wouldn't pay the bills.

This is where the abundance of neutral-site games comes into play. Sure, tOSU, Michigan, Wisky, and DoNU won't be giving up a home game for a neutral site, but a school like Northwestern, who made huge bank off of Nebraska fans before has already agreed to moving the game into a larger venue to accommodate more NU fans.

As long as the profits from neutral-site games are shared properly (read: bigger draw getting the bigger check), 9 and 10-game schedules won't be nearly as big a hit as people are making it out to be.

Possibly not. But I'm sure sharing the revenue will be less that keeping almost all of it for yourself.

 

[Caven]

"As long as the profits from neutral-site games are shared properly (read: bigger draw getting the bigger check"

You are talking about the Big 10 here - bigger draw gets the same check as everyone else. The difference of course is that you are splitting the money from that neutral site game instead of it just being a road game for you and presumably that split will still be more than what the "lesser" draw team would have gotten by having the game at home.

 

[Mavric]

The biggest counter-balance I can see is pushing for a bigger TV deal if they can spread games featuring NU, tOSU, Mich, Wiscy over more weeks against "decent" opponents instead of directional or FCS schools.

 

[Muck]

There may not be anything on the books, but the evidence lies in the lack of action the SEC has taken with FSU throughout expansion history. This isn't the first opportunity (or the second, really) that the SEC could have onboarded FSU since they've been worthy program, and they haven't.

So the evidence that there is a gentlemen's agreement between schools like UF, UGA, South Carolina & (presumably now) UK to keep competing in-state schools out is the SEC having never added FSU despite the fact that THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA WAS THE SCHOOL THAT REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO GET FSU ADDED?

If the University of Florida was part of a secret cabal to keep FSU out how does their continual championship of FSU in the SEC further said plan?

And ScarletNCream already covered the two big pieces of information out there, really--that we're in a holding pattern until the Maryland issue is resolved, and that Jim is (finally!) keen on FSU and, barring a surprise SEC invite (5% chance that would happen), FSU will be member school #16, #17, or #18 (as we already know Virginia is #15).

The constant stream of wall bound fecal matter hurled by MHver & 'The Dude' does not constitute 'big pieces of information'.

That is why I asked if there was some other source. Without one it's just another in a long line of BS rumors by those two.