Is B1G Expansion a Dead Issue Now?

[Excel]

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.

Might as well add Marquette.

 

[akita]

I think it is. I would love to see exes and Oklahoma come over,but exes is not about to do that without special privilages and the Sooners cannot leave t.bone pickens behind. That would be 2 from the west. Where would the 2 from the east come from? nueter lame and who? That would be an interesting west division though. oklahoma exes HUSKERS MICHIGAN. That would bring in some viewers nationally.

 

[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.

Might as well add Marquette.

Of course, it makes sense...

 

[scarletNcream]

I think it is. I would love to see exes and Oklahoma come over,but exes is not about to do that without special privilages and the Sooners cannot leave t.bone pickens behind. That would be 2 from the west. Where would the 2 from the east come from? nueter lame and who? That would be an interesting west division though. oklahoma exes HUSKERS MICHIGAN. That would bring in some viewers nationally.

What does he have to do with it? He's a State homer and Texass can stay where they are.

 

[HuskerShark]

If we had to expand to 16, this would be the order of that I would take teams:

1. Notre Dame

2. Oklahoma

3. Okie St

4. Boise St (minus the blue turf)

5. either Rutgers or Boston College

6. Kansas

Adding the top 4 would make the B1G really competitive in football, and may make it stronger than the SEC.

 

[Hoosker]

If we had to expand to 16, this would be the order of that I would take teams:

1. Notre Dame

2. Oklahoma

3. Okie St

4. Boise St (minus the blue turf)

5. either Rutgers or Boston College

6. Kansas

Adding the top 4 would make the B1G really competitive in football, and may make it stronger than the SEC.

Wrong.

 

[Excel]

I don't want to expand too far outside our current Midwestern footprint. I'd take...

1. Notre Dame (I'd jump at this)

2. Missouri

3. Kansas

The thought of adding schools like Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers or BC just makes me cringe as does adding any school from Oklahoma or Texas. Everything our conference has worked to build will have gone to sh#t if they join. I'll become a bitter, non-football watching old man fully blaming NU and PSU.

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

There is a 0% chance we take anyone with academics that are lesser than OU(OU would be at the lower end and might not make it themselves but I would make the exception)

I am all about expanding the football recruiting area since expanding within the footprint does nothing(Adding ND adds nothing to Big Ten football but shiny helmets and some extra money)

I'm all for keeping ND out and going with talent rich states like Virginia or even Maryland/DC. Texas would be the easy choice for me(even though OSU doesn't recruit Texas).

1. Texas(great academics and great recruiting state)

2. UVA(great academics and good recruiting state)

3. VaTech(good academics and good recruiting state)

4. GaTech(great academics and great recruiting state with a northern-esque city since Atlanta is filled with northerners)

5. Maryland(good academics and the DC area is a very nice recruiting area)

6. Oklahoma(lower end of academics but they are improving and a top 5 program that is only 3 hours from Dallas)

7. Kansas(bad football but they are a good school and the basketball is top 5 all time)

 

[HSKR]

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.

Might as well add Marquette.

Note to the rest of the BIG, don't let Wisconsin pick future conference members.

 

[Excel]

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.

Might as well add Marquette.

Note to the rest of the BIG, don't let Wisconsin pick future conference members.

If they were to actually join I'd probably stab myself.

 

[HSKR]

There is a 0% chance we take anyone with academics that are lesser than OU(OU would be at the lower end and might not make it themselves but I would make the exception)

I am all about expanding the football recruiting area since expanding within the footprint does nothing(Adding ND adds nothing to Big Ten football but shiny helmets and some extra money)

I'm all for keeping ND out and going with talent rich states like Virginia or even Maryland/DC. Texas would be the easy choice for me(even though OSU doesn't recruit Texas).

1. Texas(great academics and great recruiting state)

2. UVA(great academics and good recruiting state)

3. VaTech(good academics and good recruiting state)

4. GaTech(great academics and great recruiting state with a northern-esque city since Atlanta is filled with northerners)

5. Maryland(good academics and the DC area is a very nice recruiting area)

6. Oklahoma(lower end of academics but they are improving and a top 5 program that is only 3 hours from Dallas)

7. Kansas(bad football but they are a good school and the basketball is top 5 all time)

Despite your personal hate to ND that most of us also share, you put ND on the top of that and I would say that would be a reasonable list of teams that the BIG presidents would go after for expansion. Maybe throw BC and Rutgers in the bottom five of that as well. Yea, ND has been sucking for quite a while now but they still have a very relevant national following. If they finally gave in to being equal partners, I have no doubt the BIG would take them in a heartbeat.

The next move may be up to the SEC. They will be at 14. I think the BIG is fine with 12 but if the SEC would go to 16, I think it would force everyone to get to that number and the mad scramble to the super conferences begins.

 

[HSKR]

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.

Might as well add Marquette.

Note to the rest of the BIG, don't let Wisconsin pick future conference members.

If they were to actually join I'd probably stab myself.

Well it would just be another lose for the Nebraska basketball team.

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

There is a 0% chance we take anyone with academics that are lesser than OU(OU would be at the lower end and might not make it themselves but I would make the exception)

I am all about expanding the football recruiting area since expanding within the footprint does nothing(Adding ND adds nothing to Big Ten football but shiny helmets and some extra money)

I'm all for keeping ND out and going with talent rich states like Virginia or even Maryland/DC. Texas would be the easy choice for me(even though OSU doesn't recruit Texas).

1. Texas(great academics and great recruiting state)

2. UVA(great academics and good recruiting state)

3. VaTech(good academics and good recruiting state)

4. GaTech(great academics and great recruiting state with a northern-esque city since Atlanta is filled with northerners)

5. Maryland(good academics and the DC area is a very nice recruiting area)

6. Oklahoma(lower end of academics but they are improving and a top 5 program that is only 3 hours from Dallas)

7. Kansas(bad football but they are a good school and the basketball is top 5 all time)

Despite your personal hate to ND that most of us also share, you put ND on the top of that and I would say that would be a reasonable list of teams that the BIG presidents would go after for expansion. Maybe throw BC and Rutgers in the bottom five of that as well. Yea, ND has been sucking for quite a while now but they still have a very relevant national following. If they finally gave in to being equal partners, I have no doubt the BIG would take them in a heartbeat.

The next move may be up to the SEC. They will be at 14. I think the BIG is fine with 12 but if the SEC would go to 16, I think it would force everyone to get to that number and the mad scramble to the super conferences begins.

For this list I actually am putting my dislike aside.

If you bring in ND you will find that nothing will improve outside of the money and we already have the top 3 fanbases in the country and huge alumni/fan bases in Wisky,Nebraska,Sparty and Iowa(probably all in the top 15-20)

Recruiting? Chicagoland IS Big Ten recruiting territory.

Competition? I will take at least 6 current Big Ten teams over ND's past 15 years. They add very little outside of being a fantastic school and having the #4 fanbase in the country.

Give me VaTech and UVA. Great connections for the Big Ten in terms of accessing southern talent while still retaining a northern identity(VA is a southern state but culturally they are very mixed) and then we also get one top5 Public school and a pretty good school who has a better program than ND.

 

[Excel]

There is a 0% chance we take anyone with academics that are lesser than OU(OU would be at the lower end and might not make it themselves but I would make the exception)

I am all about expanding the football recruiting area since expanding within the footprint does nothing(Adding ND adds nothing to Big Ten football but shiny helmets and some extra money)

I'm all for keeping ND out and going with talent rich states like Virginia or even Maryland/DC. Texas would be the easy choice for me(even though OSU doesn't recruit Texas).

1. Texas(great academics and great recruiting state)

2. UVA(great academics and good recruiting state)

3. VaTech(good academics and good recruiting state)

4. GaTech(great academics and great recruiting state with a northern-esque city since Atlanta is filled with northerners)

5. Maryland(good academics and the DC area is a very nice recruiting area)

6. Oklahoma(lower end of academics but they are improving and a top 5 program that is only 3 hours from Dallas)

7. Kansas(bad football but they are a good school and the basketball is top 5 all time)

Despite your personal hate to ND that most of us also share, you put ND on the top of that and I would say that would be a reasonable list of teams that the BIG presidents would go after for expansion. Maybe throw BC and Rutgers in the bottom five of that as well. Yea, ND has been sucking for quite a while now but they still have a very relevant national following. If they finally gave in to being equal partners, I have no doubt the BIG would take them in a heartbeat.

The next move may be up to the SEC. They will be at 14. I think the BIG is fine with 12 but if the SEC would go to 16, I think it would force everyone to get to that number and the mad scramble to the super conferences begins.

For this list I actually am putting my dislike aside.

If you bring in ND you will find that nothing will improve outside of the money and we already have the top 3 fanbases in the country and huge alumni/fan bases in Wisky,Nebraska,Sparty and Iowa(probably all in the top 15-20)

Recruiting? Chicagoland IS Big Ten recruiting territory.

Competition? I will take at least 6 current Big Ten teams over ND's past 15 years. They add very little outside of being a fantastic school and having the #4 fanbase in the country.

Give me VaTech and UVA. Great connections for the Big Ten in terms of accessing southern talent while still retaining a northern identity(VA is a southern state but culturally they are very mixed) and then we also get one top5 Public school and a pretty good school who has a better program than ND.

Virginia's a great state for recruiting but manages to fly beneath the radar for a lot of people but getting either school is a pipe dream. It was a huge political deal to get Tech in to the ACC and they're not going to leave now, especially with the new ACC exit fee. Also, while its mixed culturally and may seem "northern" in some parts it isn't a "northern" to which we can relate. NoVa has more in common with New England and New York than with Ohio or Illinois.

I know your list is just of where we should consider expanding or what candidates should be on the table and in that sense I agree they should make the list but they're just not viable. Same with a school like Georgia Tech. I lived in Atlanta for 15 years...its the Capital of the South and very much a southern city, especially just outside 285. I met a few folks from Chicago and a few others from Ohio but tons from New York and New Jersey. Also keep in mind Tech is a middle swimmer in the ACC, with a small stadium and shaky support...I mean, they're easily the second most popular team in their own town with Auburn and Clemson fans creeping in on the quite closely. So yea, scratch Tech off as well.

 

[VectorVictor]

I don't want to expand too far outside our current Midwestern footprint. I'd take...

1. Notre Dame (I'd jump at this)

2. Kansas

The thought of adding schools like Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers or BC just makes me cringe as does adding any school from Oklahoma or Texas. Everything our conference has worked to build will have gone to sh#t if they join. I'll become a bitter, non-football watching old man fully blaming NU and PSU.

Fixed to mesh with reality--there's no way Missouri is leaving the SEC, or that the SEC will let Missouri leave. And since the Big 10 mentioned themselves they were wanting to maintain a contiguous footprint during expansion, Oklahoma or Okie Lite aren't even on the table unless Missouri and/or Kansas are brought on board.

You or someone else had mentioned Boston College, and that's actually an intriguing option. We've heard rumblings that Notre Dame's interest in the Big 10 was piqued because of the forthcoming Big 10 hockey affiliation, and adding BC and Notre Dame to that would strengthen said conference.

And remember, what we're dealing with is a conference with a TV network that is needing to expand viewers nationally to get the Big 10 Network on more cable providers (which then helps the Big 10 Network sell advertising and ultimately receive more for advertising slots), and to expand the local footprint (as the subscriber fees are significantly more inside the footprint--this is where all the money is made in subscriber fees to keep the studio lights on). Notre Dame would serve the former (not unlike Nebraska), and Boston College the later, with the Big 10 being able to soak the whole of Massachusetts.

The only problem, again, is what the expansion committee originally said about a geographically contiguous footprint--BC doesn't fit, and until they announce they are not holding to that (there were rumors this was so when Georgia Tech was 'supposedly' being eyed by the Big 10...), they're off the table. Honestly, your list of possible schools includes Syracuse, Rutgers, Maryland, Kansas, Kansas State, and Memphis...other than Kansas, none of them really set the world on fire.

That's why your 1 and 2 are ND and Kansas...if Notre Dame decides to meld into the Big 10, and that's a big 'if' at this point.