Nebraska willing to listen to Big 10

[NUBackInBlack38]

I actually forgot what this thread was about, and I thought it was Vikings for a minute LOL.

 

Brb after seeing this picture everywhere

[Nexus]

I wouldn't mind seeing something like this in the future.

[JTrain]

I'm completely with redout. I don't want Nebraska anywhere near the Big 10. The Big 10's reputation is sinking and has been for years. The Big 12 may be dysfunctional, but it still feels like family. The Big 8 teams have been together since 1958, and the majority of them were together decades before that even. Plus, they produce better teams at the top more consistently than the Big 10. Going to the Big 10 would just feel horribly icky to me.

[Eric the Red]

I’m pretty sure every Big 10 but Wisconsin plays baseball, which is the same number of schools as the Big 12.

 

 

If you ask me if the Big 12 continues to put Texas before everyone else we should look elsewhere for a conference.

 

I'm on board...it would be really fun to travel to all those new stadiums.

[Nexus]

 

 

Big Ten hires firm to research potential expansion candidates

Initial list of 15 doesn't include Texas; UW board approves ticket increase

By Jeff Potrykus of the Journal Sentinel

 

Posted: Feb. 19, 2010

 

Madison — Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said Friday that Big Ten officials have hired a firm to research potential candidates as the conference considers expansion and that 15 programs were included in an initial report.

 

"They basically broke down what they would bring to the table," Alvarez said at a meeting of the UW athletic board. "They talked about academics. They talked about size. They talked about size of their arenas. They talked about attendance. They talked about the populace in that specific area."

 

According to Alvarez that process will continue, and Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany could make a recommendation to the university presidents this summer.

 

"I think it could be one (school), or I think it could be multiple," Alvarez said.

 

Alvarez declined to identify schools on the list of 15 candidates but acknowledged he did not see Texas on the list.

 

It was reported recently that the Big Ten and Texas had begun preliminary discussions about the Longhorns leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten.

 

"In our initial study, there wasn't anything on Texas," Alvarez said.

 

Alvarez thinks some schools are trying to anticipate possible moves by the Big Ten and the Pacific 10, which also has talked about expanding.

 

"You saw what happened a handful of years ago with the ACC and the Big East," Alvarez said. "I think there may be a re-alignment, and I think people are out there trying to position themselves, saying: 'When the music stops, we better have a chair.'

 

"I think people are looking right now and trying to decide what's best for them. I think our league is doing the same thing."

 

One school Alvarez doesn't see joining the Big Ten or any other league is Notre Dame.

 

"My read is that Notre Dame wants to be a national school, and they want to play a national (football) schedule," said Alvarez, an assistant with the Irish before taking over the UW football program in 1990. "And unless you've been there and seen the magnitude of their fan base and the interest nationally, it is hard to understand.

 

"I understand."

 

Meanwhile, as expected, the athletic board approved an increase of $3 for UW football tickets in 2010.

 

Tickets for the general public will be $42 a game. Tickets for students will be $22 a game.

 

The increase is expected to generate $1,207,928 in revenue for the 2010-'11 athletic department budget and allow the department to have a positive net margin of $130,714.

 

The board also approved a spending authority of $88,588,800 for 2010-'11. That includes $83,088,800 for athletics, $3 million for University Ridge Golf Course and $2.5 million for coaches' camps and clinics.

 

According to UW officials, the $88,588,800 spending authority for 2010-'11 is a decrease from the current fiscal year ($88,761,200) and from the 2008-'09 fiscal year ($89,149,700).

 

 

LINK

[shyndy]

at least if we went to the big ten we'd never have to hear michigan or penn state cry about stealing a future national championship from them

[Ohio Pete]

I think it is more of the academic/research limitations of UNL than athletics that will keep the Big 10 from calling. I'm not sure if this is valid, just what I hear when this topic is discussed.

This has been widely mis-reported (Northwestern grads). The Big 10 is largely made up of graduate research institutions. UNL fits in quite well.

 

It's actually Notre Dame which does not meet the academic profile (but the Big Televen will compromise their principles for that cash).

 

And another thing, a lot of the speculation has been based on adding a team in a population center which the reporters believe would get the Big 10 Network channel added to the base package on the local cable channels. Well, the Big 10 Network had trouble getting added to the base package in Columbus, Ohio. Why the heck would St. Louis and Kansas City be slam dunks if Missouri was added?

[Nexus]

I think it is more of the academic/research limitations of UNL than athletics that will keep the Big 10 from calling. I'm not sure if this is valid, just what I hear when this topic is discussed.

This has been widely mis-reported (Northwestern grads). The Big 10 is largely made up of graduate research institutions. UNL fits in quite well.

 

It's actually Notre Dame which does not meet the academic profile (but the Big Televen will compromise their principles for that cash).

 

And another thing, a lot of the speculation has been based on adding a team in a population center which the reporters believe would get the Big 10 Network channel added to the base package on the local cable channels. Well, the Big 10 Network had trouble getting added to the base package in Columbus, Ohio. Why the heck would St. Louis and Kansas City be slam dunks if Missouri was added?

 

After gleaning through various media and blog sites over the past couple of weeks concerning the expansion talks, I've noticed a trend among each reporting outlets talking points. These seem to be the important "must haves" for Big 10 consideration.

 

-- The most important talking point I see consistently being raised is Total Research Expenditures. For the sake of perspective, Indiana is the lowest ranked Big 10 school in this category coming in at #105. The other Big 10 schools are all ranked in the Top 1/4. The disparity between Indiana and the other 10 schools in that conference is quite distant in this category. The next lowest ranked school is Purdue coming in at #61. With that in mind, Texas A&M (#22), Texas (#32), Colorado (#62), Iowa St. (#73), Nebraska (#75) and Missouri (#77) are ranked higher than Indiana in this category.

 

-- The Big 10 also requires that the school be an AAU member. Most of the Big XII are AAU members except for Kansas St., Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas Tech and Baylor.

 

-- Last but not least, the most obvious talking point is TV sets.

 

I imagine it'll be a combination of all three factors mentioned above plus a few other things that aren't so obvious to the general public. With that in mind, Nebraska would qualify academically, they just don't bring a competitive local TV market with them. However Nebraska football in particular is a national brand and the Big 10 does recognize this, so the small TV market may be compensated by its nationwide fanbase since a lot of fans and alumni live outside of the local TV market. Afterall, Nebraska is the smallest BCS state in the nation, population wise, yet I've read elsewhere on the net that they consistently pull in the most PPV revenue in all of college football against those cupcake teams at the beginning of the season. At least those stats wouldn't go unnoticed in the eyes of the Big 10 and would be seen as a positive.