USC and UCLA to the B1G

ColoradoHusk said:
It won't.  The new commissioner is going to work for the AD's and school presidents.  Big Ten AD's and school presidents don't make baseball a priority.

Frankly, it's very difficult for Big Ten schools to attract the talent to be competitive with the schools in the south.  This goes beyond the SEC, ACC, and Big 12.  The "lower level" schools in the South have better baseball teams because they have more talent and depth.

D1 baseball players care very little about academics, so they want to go to a school that they can play baseball (outside) nearly year-round.  Playing D1 college baseball in cold-weather states would suck.  That's the biggest thing holding back Big Ten baseball.
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I agree with this 100% and I don't think they want to make it a priority.  

 
I have a hard time believing that Washington and Oregon are going to be added soon.  If the B1G really wanted Washington and Oregon they would have added them with USC and UCLA last year, especially since the TV contracts were up.  They would have wanted those 2 teams in their pocket as part of the negotiations.

My guess is that the B1G has "friend zoned" both schools and is keeping them warm while seeing what the landscape looks like over the next handful of years.  Obviously Notre Dame will always be #1 to the B1G (I'm sure they have a standing invite), but outside of that I don't see why the B1G would look to add schools just for the sake of it.

 
Red Five said:
I have a hard time believing that Washington and Oregon are going to be added soon.  If the B1G really wanted Washington and Oregon they would have added them with USC and UCLA last year, especially since the TV contracts were up.  They would have wanted those 2 teams in their pocket as part of the negotiations.

My guess is that the B1G has "friend zoned" both schools and is keeping them warm while seeing what the landscape looks like over the next handful of years.  Obviously Notre Dame will always be #1 to the B1G (I'm sure they have a standing invite), but outside of that I don't see why the B1G would look to add schools just for the sake of it.
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One  Sports radio here in Denver mentioned them joining in 2024 with USC and UCLA. Maybe he was wrong. Seems odd to make an announcement about being vetted. I do not remember seeing that prior to pulling the trigger on USC and UCLA. I wonder what game is being played.

 
nic said:
One  Sports radio here in Denver mentioned them joining in 2024 with USC and UCLA. Maybe he was wrong. Seems odd to make an announcement about being vetted. I do not remember seeing that prior to pulling the trigger on USC and UCLA. I wonder what game is being played.
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No chance they are joining in 2024.

The B1G never announced they were "vetted".  That is a reporter's word.

 
Anybody ever heard of Heartland College Sports? Edit: Ah, guess Brett McMurphy is the source?

I would think 'cleared' would mean that the university presidents have voted to approve it. Though that last step is largely a formality - they won't even hold a vote if they don't know in advance that it will pass. If such a vote were to occur, it would be published almost immediately.

 
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nic said:
the PAC12 implodes soon.  
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Bill Walton:

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I'm not 100% sure how but I think the B1G's strategy is to tie up every one of Notre Dame's historic rivals (in this case Stanford) to the point where they can't play any of their historic games unless they join the conference.

 
If Florida State, Clemson, Virginia, North Carolina and Miami were to become available, that’s a real and major domino to fall in conference realignment. As one Big Ten source put it, “Those schools are where the real value is.”

That person was particularly interested in Virginia and North Carolina as new states and/or markets for the Big Ten to extend down the East Coast. This Big Ten source believes expansion out East makes far more sense than expanding into the Pacific Northwest, which has not had nearly enough support internally or among the league’s media partners since the idea was first broached.

 
Red Five said:
If Florida State, Clemson, Virginia, North Carolina and Miami were to become available, that’s a real and major domino to fall in conference realignment. As one Big Ten source put it, “Those schools are where the real value is.”

That person was particularly interested in Virginia and North Carolina as new states and/or markets for the Big Ten to extend down the East Coast. This Big Ten source believes expansion out East makes far more sense than expanding into the Pacific Northwest, which has not had nearly enough support internally or among the league’s media partners since the idea was first broached.
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I would be in favor of adding north Carolina just for the fact I would have a close game to attend.  Scoop up wake forest too.  Even closer 

 
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Red Five said:
If Florida State, Clemson, Virginia, North Carolina and Miami were to become available, that’s a real and major domino to fall in conference realignment. As one Big Ten source put it, “Those schools are where the real value is.”

That person was particularly interested in Virginia and North Carolina as new states and/or markets for the Big Ten to extend down the East Coast. This Big Ten source believes expansion out East makes far more sense than expanding into the Pacific Northwest, which has not had nearly enough support internally or among the league’s media partners since the idea was first broached.
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It would be a mistake to overlook Washington and Oregon.  The B10 may do it, because they are stupidly blind and elitist to anything not east coast, but Washington in particular is an excellent school and the flood of people and dollars that hit the PNW over the last 20 years from people moving up there to work in tech would be stupid to overlook.  The only problem may be that the more tech savvy people aren't paying for cable subscriptions.  If that's the case at that point though you're not innovating, you're going the country music route and just trying to ride a dying medium (CD sales for country music, cable TV for college football) until the people willing to buy that die off.

 
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LA is a different beast than anywhere in the country aside from NYC.  I'd put WA and OR (and Stanford) as better targets than the ACC teams.  For the universities as a whole, but that's my bias.

 
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