Osborne's comments on the Big 10 expansion

[Quinn10ND]

As long as they have NBC money why would they care.

 

Viewership on NBC has been in a decline for the past few years, until 2009 when the spectacle of Weis' termination loomed over the season. There'll be the inevitable bump in interest in the next year or two over Kelly's Heroes, but if (and this is a big if) Kelly can't turn it around and they stay mediocre, and the viewership fades again, and they're in a bind in 2015, does NBC renew that contract? You have to wonder.

 

Basically, allying themselves with a conference like the Big 10 assures Notre Dame of a continued income, not necessarily dependent solely on what they do on the field. The problem they face is, if they don't pull the trigger now, the Big 10 may not have another expansion for another two decades, if ever.

 

If the Big 10 wants Notre Dame all they have to do is hard ball them. It would be as easy as telling Notre Dame the Big 10 teams they schedule are no longer allowed to play them unless they join the Big 10. Why should the Big 10 support Notre Dame when the Big 10 no longer gets anything in return. It used to be lucrative for the Big 10 to play Notre Dame because of the TV viewership and Notre Dame was good, Neither of which is the case now. Notre Dame needs the Big 10 more than the Big 10 needs Notre Dame. If Notre Dame doesnt accept, the Big 10 should leave them out to dry and refuse to play them, that would leave Notre Dame in a heap of trouble. Have fun filling your schedule out with MAC teams and see what kind of respect you get then.

 

With the way the Bowl system is set up Notre Dame needs to join a conference to be successful. They only had two options for bowl games this year because all the others have conference tie ins and Notre Dame wasnt ranked in the top 8. How many years can they turn down bowl games before it really starts to hurt?

 

 

I haven't posted on here in a while, but congrats on your run to the Big 10 Championship game , I was cheering for you guys and believe that Suh should have won the Heisman.

 

If I may address a few things you brought up-

 

First: I'd love to see the Big 10 play "hard ball" considering ND played more teams from the Pac 10 in 2009 than Big 10, I'm sure ND would do just fine in finding other suitors for September games. You seem to think ND needs the Big 10; I happen to have enjoyed seeing ND play Nebraska and Texas in September just as much as any Michigan game. I don't think ND is desperate to keep Purdue and Michigan State on the schedule. Good luck to the Big 10.

 

Second: In 2003, after ND's worst season in 40 years, NBC renewed the contract. ABC, and FOX in particular, made it clear then that if NBC didn't renew the contract, then they'd be very interested. ND is going to have its own major network with or without NBC; since the current deal runs through 2015 and there is not an inkling of desire to end it, then ND will be on NBC for a long, long time. Personally, I'm tired of the same NBC announcers and would like to see a change, but it's not going to happen.

 

Third: ND's bowl tie-ins have been with the Big East; the Big East needs ND in a big way in this respect, not the other way around. ND has speculated recently going in a different direction on this front; so to say ND needs a conference because of the way the Bowl system is off the mark, as ND doesn't really care about non-BCS bowls anyway. A 6-6 ND team in the Big 10 isn't going to a much better bowl than a 6-6 Independent ND team. ND turned down a bowl this year because of a coaching change and no bowl was desirable enough to go to given that circumstance. ND's independence was the same in 2009 as 1996, when ND last declined to go to a bowl.

 

Best of luck in the Holiday Bowl.

[husker_99]

TBH the government should stay out of the BCS debate. The government would find a way to make it worse than it already is.

 

Maybe. But if it's a choice of involving the government and maybe the BCS goes away or leave the government out of it and we keep the BCS, I'm more willing to roll the dice with the government.

 

Yeah but the government doesn't have a great history on doing things right. Pretty much most programs go bankrupt or they screw up badly. I'd rather leave it to the system. You forget bowls have been around for a long time. It's not something you can just get rid of the next year.

[stargazer]

I don't get it... Mizzou gets passed over for Iowa State by the Insight Bowl... and we're supposed to believe that they're being sought for their fan support??

[huzkerbob]

TBH the government should stay out of the BCS debate. The government would find a way to make it worse than it already is.

 

Maybe. But if it's a choice of involving the government and maybe the BCS goes away or leave the government out of it and we keep the BCS, I'm more willing to roll the dice with the government.

 

Yeah but the government doesn't have a great history on doing things right. Pretty much most programs go bankrupt or they screw up badly. I'd rather leave it to the system. You forget bowls have been around for a long time. It's not something you can just get rid of the next year.

 

What people seem to forget is the fact that the majority of the schools that are members of the NCAA and the BCS are publicly funded institutions. It's not just the students a big money alum that are funding them, but all the taxpayers are as well. So like it or not, it IS the governments business. And in turn it's ours as fans and taxpayers also.

 

IMO the government only functions as well as the public demands it to. And in cases where an industry can't control itself, then someone has to insure that they do. In this case, that happens to be the big bad goberment!

[husker_99]

TBH the government should stay out of the BCS debate. The government would find a way to make it worse than it already is.

 

Maybe. But if it's a choice of involving the government and maybe the BCS goes away or leave the government out of it and we keep the BCS, I'm more willing to roll the dice with the government.

 

Yeah but the government doesn't have a great history on doing things right. Pretty much most programs go bankrupt or they screw up badly. I'd rather leave it to the system. You forget bowls have been around for a long time. It's not something you can just get rid of the next year.

 

What people seem to forget is the fact that the majority of the schools that are members of the NCAA and the BCS are publicly funded institutions. It's not just the students a big money alum that are funding them, but all the taxpayers are as well. So like it or not, it IS the governments business. And in turn it's ours as fans and taxpayers also.

 

IMO the government only functions as well as the public demands it to. And in cases where an industry can't control itself, then someone has to insure that they do. In this case, that happens to be the big bad goberment!

 

I wouldn't have a problem if the government could actually get something worthwhile done. The government just wants your money and you are paying the government when you take out a loan to pay for school. I think most BCS schools could function without government support but not just as well.