Is B1G Expansion a Dead Issue Now?

[Creed]

Has there been an official statement released about future expansion? Especially now with Missouri off the table, I don't see any reasonable targets that don't water down the conference. The only attractive options would be a ND, UT coup but I would think that is highly unlikely.

 

[Comish]

I think you never say never with the fluid situation that is conference realignment today.............BUT, of all the conferences...............I believe the B!G is clearly the most stable and unlikely to expand.........

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

There just aren't any no brainer options for expansion and it takes two to tango. Mizzou was no homerun option so the Big Ten passed. They are just another school. Not bad by any means but they don't really add much.

Texas wants to jump on ? take them in a heartbeat. The thing is they don't want in.

OU? I think we can make an exception with their academics since they are improving but then Okie Lite comes into play and they cannot(and will not) be taken by the Big Ten.

On the east coast? Who wants to leave the ACC? If we could steal GaTech,VaTech,UVA or Maryland it would be awesome but no one is gonna leave the ACC.

Rutgers and Kansas are the only two viable options to expand the footprint(Where the school wants out of their conference) and one brings very little to football and the other brings bupkis

 

[Nexus]

My guess is they'll only expand for Notre Dame. It's anyone's guess who #14 would be if ND did join the B1G. For the sake of appeasing Notre Dame in such a scenario, I'd go after Boston College. It gives ND a fellow Catholic institution in the conference as well as an old rival. Plus BC and ND bring hockey teams which would mean an 8-team B1G Hockey league. Adding BC also gives BTN a footprint in the Boston TV market.

 

[Husker John]

My guess is they'll only expand for Notre Dame. It's anyone's guess who #14 would be if ND did join the B1G. For the sake of appeasing Notre Dame in such a scenario, I'd go after Boston College. It gives ND a fellow Catholic institution in the conference as well as an old rival. Plus BC and ND bring hockey teams which would mean an 8-team B1G Hockey league. Adding BC also gives BTN a footprint in the Boston TV market.

:thumbs Sounds good to me.....

 

[Excel]

Just looking at the overall landscape of football I'd say its more or less dead. Barring some colossal change that forces Notre Dame to play its hand we're out of it for a while...and that should be the only school for which we make a reach because they're the only "Big Ten School" not in the Big Ten. No expanding East of Ohio or South of Illinois/Indiana/Ohio....Penn State was bad enough...not Midwestern at all, I'd cringe at BC not to mention they'd never join.

 

[HSKR]

My guess is they'll only expand for Notre Dame. It's anyone's guess who #14 would be if ND did join the B1G. For the sake of appeasing Notre Dame in such a scenario, I'd go after Boston College. It gives ND a fellow Catholic institution in the conference as well as an old rival. Plus BC and ND bring hockey teams which would mean an 8-team B1G Hockey league. Adding BC also gives BTN a footprint in the Boston TV market.

Good post. I agree it will depend on what ND does and when. BC would make a lot of sense for TV market expansion and for other sports. If the BIG does add schools, my guess is the divisions get expanded to east and west so It's not going to be that big of a deal to add someone like BC because it won't be that bad of a travel situation for schools like PSU, Michigan or OSU to have someone like BC in their division and the western division schools won't have to go but probably once every four years at most. If what I read online is correct, ND has it's current NBC contract until 2015 and are getting about $15 million a year for football. The BIG is already paying it's schools $22 million for TV contracts. If the BIG would add ND and another big market school like BC, they could get their next tv contract up in the $30 million range. I think our new agreement with the PAC12 would also be luring to ND since they have history with schools like USC and Standford. Unless the numbers I am reading online are wrong, I just don't get why ND would want to stay independent. It looks like they could make more being the the BIG.

 

[Excel]

My guess is they'll only expand for Notre Dame. It's anyone's guess who #14 would be if ND did join the B1G. For the sake of appeasing Notre Dame in such a scenario, I'd go after Boston College. It gives ND a fellow Catholic institution in the conference as well as an old rival. Plus BC and ND bring hockey teams which would mean an 8-team B1G Hockey league. Adding BC also gives BTN a footprint in the Boston TV market.

Good post. I agree it will depend on what ND does and when. BC would make a lot of sense for TV market expansion and for other sports. If the BIG does add schools, my guess is the divisions get expanded to east and west so It's not going to be that big of a deal to add someone like BC because it won't be that bad of a travel situation for schools like PSU, Michigan or OSU to have someone like BC in their division and the western division schools won't have to go but probably once every four years at most. If what I read online is correct, ND has it's current NBC contract until 2015 and are getting about $15 million a year for football. The BIG is already paying it's schools $22 million for TV contracts. If the BIG would add ND and another big market school like BC, they could get their next tv contract up in the $30 million range. I think our new agreement with the PAC12 would also be luring to ND since they have history with schools like USC and Standford. Unless the numbers I am reading online are wrong, I just don't get why ND would want to stay independent. It looks like they could make more being the the BIG.

Two things,

I don't think Bostonians keep up with BC as much as the school would like. I'm not sure how "loyalty" functions into TV contracts, and it may not but if I'm an ESPN exec looking at a conference based in the South or Midwest and another based in say...the Northeast, and they're both equal in on the field success I'm paying a lot more to the Southerners and Midwesterners than to the Northeasterners simply because I know more people will watch that first conference's games which means I get paid more for ads. From this fan's perspective I don't want BC in the conference. While I love the city of Boston and would enjoy road games they don't fit our culture one bit. Their fans won't travel and their stadium would be the smallest in the conference.

Also, on the Pac 12 thing, while ND does have rivalries with Stanford and USC it also has three strong ones with Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue. (very bitter in Indiana) Also, and this is purely based on a wiki article they have a fair amount of history with Northwestern, Nebraska and Penn State.

Six good reasons to join our conference.

 

[HSKR]

My guess is they'll only expand for Notre Dame. It's anyone's guess who #14 would be if ND did join the B1G. For the sake of appeasing Notre Dame in such a scenario, I'd go after Boston College. It gives ND a fellow Catholic institution in the conference as well as an old rival. Plus BC and ND bring hockey teams which would mean an 8-team B1G Hockey league. Adding BC also gives BTN a footprint in the Boston TV market.

Good post. I agree it will depend on what ND does and when. BC would make a lot of sense for TV market expansion and for other sports. If the BIG does add schools, my guess is the divisions get expanded to east and west so It's not going to be that big of a deal to add someone like BC because it won't be that bad of a travel situation for schools like PSU, Michigan or OSU to have someone like BC in their division and the western division schools won't have to go but probably once every four years at most. If what I read online is correct, ND has it's current NBC contract until 2015 and are getting about $15 million a year for football. The BIG is already paying it's schools $22 million for TV contracts. If the BIG would add ND and another big market school like BC, they could get their next tv contract up in the $30 million range. I think our new agreement with the PAC12 would also be luring to ND since they have history with schools like USC and Standford. Unless the numbers I am reading online are wrong, I just don't get why ND would want to stay independent. It looks like they could make more being the the BIG.

Two things,

I don't think Bostonians keep up with BC as much as the school would like. I'm not sure how "loyalty" functions into TV contracts, and it may not but if I'm an ESPN exec looking at a conference based in the South or Midwest and another based in say...the Northeast, and they're both equal in on the field success I'm paying a lot more to the Southerners and Midwesterners than to the Northeasterners simply because I know more people will watch that first conference's games which means I get paid more for ads. From this fan's perspective I don't want BC in the conference. While I love the city of Boston and would enjoy road games they don't fit our culture one bit. Their fans won't travel and their stadium would be the smallest in the conference.

Also, on the Pac 12 thing, while ND does have rivalries with Stanford and USC it also has three strong ones with Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue. (very bitter in Indiana) Also, and this is purely based on a wiki article they have a fair amount of history with Northwestern, Nebraska and Penn State.

Six good reasons to join our conference.

If ND does join, the BIG won't stop at 13. Whoever Nebraska, Wisconsin or any of the western schools want probably won't have the pull that Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State want. That's why I guess they go east. BC is one option, Rutgers and maybe Maryland are others. I'd love to see them add someone like Kansas but I don't think that would happen until they went to 16, then maybe a school from the west gets added. My ideal scenario from a Nebraska standpoint would have been to add Mizzou and ND but that is long gone now.

 

[HuskerShark]

One thing I know: If Texas wants into the B1G, the money may be convincing, but I vote HELL NO! I don't ever wanna deal with Texas again. I know the B1G probably has enough integrity not to let Texas take the conference over like they have the Big12, but they are and always will be a crooked school, and letting them join the B1G would be a mistake IMO.

 

[HSKR]

One thing I know: If Texas wants into the B1G, the money may be convincing, but I vote HELL NO! I don't ever wanna deal with Texas again. I know the B1G probably has enough integrity not to let Texas take the conference over like they have the Big12, but they are and always will be a crooked school, and letting them join the B1G would be a mistake IMO.

I just can't ever imagine Texas joining because they would completely open up the state to BIG recruiting. I'd take a wild guess and say that was the number one issue they had with A&M leaving that it opens the door that much more for the SEC to raid the state.

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

One thing I know: If Texas wants into the B1G, the money may be convincing, but I vote HELL NO! I don't ever wanna deal with Texas again. I know the B1G probably has enough integrity not to let Texas take the conference over like they have the Big12, but they are and always will be a crooked school, and letting them join the B1G would be a mistake IMO.

Texas would have no power in the Big Ten. What school in the Big Ten would vote with Texas over the other Midwestern schools?

Sorry, just don't see IU or Minny siding with Texas over PU and Illinois.

great school, great money, great recruiting, no headache.

This is probably why they will never join, unfortunately.

 

[Excel]

Seeing how cliquey and up-ity most of our presidents can be I don't see them ever letting Texas in.

 

[Omaha-Husker]

Also, on the Pac 12 thing, while ND does have rivalries with Stanford and USC it also has three strong ones with Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue. (very bitter in Indiana) Also, and this is purely based on a wiki article they have a fair amount of history with Northwestern, Nebraska and Penn State.

South Bend: Nebraska's home away from home.

Nebraska is also the only team to beat ND's famed Four Horsemen...twice.

 

[Nexus]

I merely suggested BC to appease ND since they'd have a peer institution that identifies with their Catholic interests. Plus it's been said that PSU has been wanting to expand to the east for their own geographic interests. It's a kill two birds with one stone suggestion. BTN is close to becoming a standard channel on basic cable nationwide (according to recent comments from Jim Delany), so finding a school with a large TV market becomes a moot point in that scenario.

From a purely competitive football standpoint, BC, Rutgers or Maryland doesn't move the needle. Selfishly, if I could pick an eastern school to join the B1G, it'd be Virginia Tech. Whether they'd join or not is a whole other discussion.