rams80

Despite the unusual outreach, adding Rutgers does make sense and here's why: its close proximity to New York City (#1 Ratings Market!) and further encroaching on and possible puncturing of the Big East Conference.

The invitation to Notre Dame does not make any sense, at least from an academic standpoint, since they are not a part of the Association of American Universities.

And membership in said association is invitation-based. I'm pretty sure such an invitation would be forthcoming were Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.

I could be wrong, but I believe joining the AAU was a previous Big Ten expansion hangup -- for Notre Dame. Something about the values not matching up with a Catholic university.

Seeing as Notre Dame would have been a Big Ten member as of the early 2000s before some very last minute cold feet on Notre Dame's part, any AAU issues are overblown. There's also the 1998 invitation to join the Big Ten that Notre Dame turned down.

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The Big Ten is looking at Rutgers and/or Syracuse not because they are New York's official college teams, but because they would be cause for the Big Ten Network to expand its basic cable base to New York, which among other things has a large current Big Ten alumni base living in the region.

If this absolutly has to happen then it should be this:

Let the Big Ten have Missouri and Nebraska. It will leave the Big XII to a respectable ten schools.

The Big Ten can also take Rutgers but the Big East will take Navy or Army.

They just kicked Temple out a decade ago. There's no way they will introduce another Temple-caliber program into the Conference.

This would be a disaster I think, and could create complete havoc in the NCAA, some one needs to bring the Stop Reel Line Mint signs and stand outside the NCAA offices. Not that the current system is perfect but this could create a giant mess that will get bloated and eventually implode.

You know what the NCAA can currently do about conference expansion?

*crickets*

Some regulatory body, huh?

Despite the unusual outreach, adding Rutgers does make sense and here's why: its close proximity to New York City (#1 Ratings Market!) and further encroaching on and possible puncturing of the Big East Conference.

The invitation to Notre Dame does not make any sense, at least from an academic standpoint, since they are not a part of the Association of American Universities.

And membership in said association is invitation-based. I'm pretty sure such an invitation would be forthcoming were Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.

Bump.

Don't believe anything you hear until we have Commissioners standing behind podiums.

Do we have a source on these invitations?

I'm assuming its the since-denied-yesterday news report out of a Kansas City radio station.

BTW...there's a giant honking Big Ten expansion thread already on this board.

So when do the Capitals and Wizards banners come down? You want to honor winning, right?

Problem: Lowell's moving to Albany.

You know, some of those members joined the AAU after they joined the Big Ten. (Michigan State, I'm looking at you.)

According to this report, 5 schools are joining the BIg 10.

Missouri, Nebraska, Syracuse, Pitt, & Rutgers will be joining the Big 10, if this report is accurate.

I doubt they would admit those 5 schools to the Big Ten.

Why wouldn't the Big Ten take those 5?

I like to keep traditional rivalries i guess, And also it would be too big for my tastes.

What traditional rivalries are getting shivved here that cannot be replaced with a simple non-Conference game? Nebraska-Oklahoma was shot in the face by the Big XII when they adopted a schedule without protected cross-division rivalries, and Nebraska-Colorado is not a rivalry. Missouri can play Kansas at the end of the season annually if they would like.

It's even easier for Syracuse to set aside a non-conference basketball game with Georgetown, and since the Big East schedule is what it is, they don't always play twice now.

According to this report, 5 schools are joining the BIg 10.

Missouri, Nebraska, Syracuse, Pitt, & Rutgers will be joining the Big 10, if this report is accurate.

I doubt they would admit those 5 schools to the Big Ten.

Why wouldn't the Big Ten take those 5?

According to this report, 5 schools are joining the BIg 10.

Missouri, Nebraska, Syracuse, Pitt, & Rutgers will be joining the Big 10, if this report is accurate.

It may transpire that this is accurate. However, this could also be reasonable conjecture based on the Internet rumormongering about the formation of the Tengen Toppa Big Ten. I will not believe this until I see certain Commissioners holding press conferences.

The Pac-10 is going to have to get with the times if they want to survive in the new college football world. Also this board is one the most arrogant and elitist boards on the web. There are a lot of people on here to big for their britches.

Did my mild sarcasm offend?

It's based in truth, though. Much like the ill-fated Kingdom of Poland, the Pac 10 membership has a liberum veto regarding expansion. IIRC Stanford and said veto power are the reason why Colorado and/or BYU are not already members of the Conference.

If the Big Ten does the 16 school thing the Pac-10 better grow some balls and add Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma,

Oklahoma State, Colorado & Utah.

Congratulations, maybe half of those schools fit the academic profile that the Pac 10 looks for. Seriously. You're not getting some of those schools past Stanford.

Serious reel line mint discussion: Hypothetically, the New York Islaners move to Kansas City. Which Western Conference team jumps to the Eastern Conference? Columbus, Detroit, or maybe even Nashville?

Depends on where Phoenix ends up.

all things constant. They stay in the west.

As God is my witness, I thought Honolulu would work.

/Bettman

Well we have one of the nicest stadiums in the country and will be building a new arena in the next few years. Success in basketball and rebuilding a football team with a new BCS coaching staff. We would not be competitive in the Big East for a few years, but we easily have the facilities of a Big East school. I'm not saying it will ever happen, but we are much better than the MAC and time will show that.

Thanks, I needed the laugh.

The NFL, NBA and NHL are fine the way they are. But the MLB hasn't yet realized that the three other major leagues have actually evened out the teams in each division by now. I mean, do they realize how ridiculous it is to have only four teams in the AL West when there are six teams in the NL Central?

Anyway, FanHouse came up with an interesting idea in this post: have the MLB work like European soccer, with an A league and a B league - contenders go in the A league, and underachievers go in the B league.

The problem with "evening" out all the divisions IIRC is that there are not enough interleague games on the schedule to make having an odd number of teams in each league work without greatly increasing the number of off days or having off series.

My thoughts on the Big Ten expansion. (SFW)

Apparently they recently tried to lure Texas to the conference. Not only would that render the Big XII almost completely irrelevant, it makes no geographic sense and would offend Texas fans more than Big Ten fans.

Isn't that...kind of the point? I mean, shooting your biggest rival for Midwest attention in the face less than 20 years in would be a welcome goal, right?

Geography is less meaningful when you talk about the money and prestige factor.

I also don't the Texas is as married to the Big XII as an institution so much as it is the revenue sharing system it has.

It makes sense in terms of the Big Ten reaching new markets and Texas joining an elite academic conference, but you know where it doesn't make sense?

1. Location, which coincides with

2. Non-Revenue Sports

The traveling the non-football and basketball teams would be doing would end up being very costly. And if that happens, you can expect some of those sports to get the ax. That's where I see the major pitfall in all this

Amen.

With the amount of money the Big Ten makes now, combined with the amount of money they stand

to make with a Texas expansion, even the water polo team can afford to go to matches in Austin in the aforementioned golden carriages drawn by albino penguins.

I want no part of this. Nothing against the Big Ten whatsoever, but I like seeing teams in my region on a regular basis. I have friends and family etc. that have ties to Tech, Baylor, Gigem U and so on. I know the almighty dollar rules all in college football (hell, in life period), but the backlash UT would get due to this decision would make the powers that be rethink it. Leave it alone.

Then what about the Pac-10? Every year, UT would play Sooner and the Corps, but just replace Baylor and Texas State with Purdue and Indiana. The Purdue game would be great so we could see who REALLY has the World's Biggest Snare Drum! That intrigues me.

Hey, where's "spammy" with all his inside information since he works directly with a D-1 athletic director? ]

That's a low blow.

To Texas State

With the Big XII, Baylor or TCU was the key point which the Texas Legislature debated. Heck, they could take aTm to give Texas a travel partner then Pitt as Penn State's travel partner. In terms of funding, both schools receive state funding via the PUF (Permanent University Fund), an endowment specific for those two school. UT System receives 2/3 of the profits with the other third going to the TAMU system. That could be their main legislative funding stumbling block, but they account for less than 20% of each operating budget. Plus current Gov. Rick Perry is a former Aggie cheer, er yell-leader and his main opponent US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a Texas Ex.

Academically, any possible move may also allow UT to enter the CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a consortium of the 11 Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago. CIC universities confer, on average, 15% of all PhD degrees awarded annually in the US. In addition, CIC members engage in $6 billion in research funding (3.2 billion which is federal), accounting for 12% of the total federal research funds awarded annually.

Also take note that the Pac-10 has hired former Big XII commissioner (1998-2007) Kevin Weiberg as a Deputy Commissioner and COO this week.

I keep seeing the "14 team Big Ten" idea punted around online, and I'm not sure I think its a good idea. College Super Leagues strike me as being more unwieldy than its worth; and I dislike the thought that a football player could theoretically go all 4 years without playing every team in their own Conference. The WAC ended up imploding, and I see minor signs that all is not rosy in the Super East either.

That said, adding those teams pretty much would give Jim Delany the ability to drive around the country in a solid gold carriage drawn by albino penguins screaming "I'm rich bitch!" at the top of his voice. Texas alone might do the trick for that.

I still think the Texas Legislature is going to be the major obstacle in all of this; the Big Twelve exists because of them, and they will not take kindly to the meal ticket/centerpiece of the Conference running off to join them Yankees.

I'm bumping this up because there's a report that the Big Ten and Texas are talking

Big Ten reportedly talks with Texas

From an $$$$ standpoint why not,but geographically WTF???

If admitted, nearly all of the state of Texas which does not have BTN will have to get it due to the Texas Exs who would always see their teams (football, basketball, volleyball) in national games and never in Standard Def.

Athletics, academics, research, graduate studies, incremental TV households for the BTN, national reputation/fan base, the "in" to a football recruiting hotbed of La/Tex, a great college town...what's not to like? Losing Tech and Baylor as rivals is worse for those schools than for UT. Sort of makes the thought of adding Mizzou or Rutgers seem silly.

This presumes, of course, that the Texas state legislature will let UT-Austin bail on all of those teams without cutting state aid. IIRC this was one of the considerations that led to them joining the Big XII with half the old Southwest Conference. Additionally would Texas want to bail on a very, very cushy revenue sharing deal they have in the Big XII now, and their rivalries with Oklahoma and A&M? (The aforementioned legislators may definitely take issue with bailing on the latter.)

If the Big Ten manages to get Texas, do they get to take Texas' former conference's name, too?

Well, Texas pretty much owns the Big Twelve, so why not? (Outside of brand awareness for the Big Ten name.)

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I'm not sure I'd like to be the Big Twelve Commissioner at the moment, with the Pac 10 sounding like its getting serious about courting Colorado, and the Big Ten possibly poaching Missouri, Texas, or some other team(s) from my league.

I don't know about you, but I don't think anyone would consider the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis a step down from MSG.

Actually, I think several people would think a tournament in flyover country is indeed a step down from playing at MSG.

Hey, we're not that bad!

EDIT: Also, we get the Final Four once every 5 years is it? MSG is home to the NIT. Talk about big time.

Yeah that would be awesome...

If the Big Ten tournament was played at Lucas Oil Stadium. Only it's at Conseco.

but I am in favor of a divisional format. I'm just having a hard time arranging the divisions so that they make sense but are also relatively even while maintaining traditional rivalries.

And that's where having protected cross division rivalries comes in handy.

Not for nothing but... Isn't it entirely possible that other teams could win either division? I'll say it again, we keep acting as if the season is just a formality that will lead to the inevitable Ohio State -Michigan clash for the Big Ten title every season. Last I checked, it's no longer the 60's and 70's when it was the Big 2 and the little 8. (Then again, I take a lot of painkillers so you may want to double check my assessment of what decade it is. )

Well...the Big Twelve did get their Nebraska-Oklahoma Title game once. Granted it was after Tom Osborne retired, so it was nothing more than Oklahoma pimp slapping the utter bejeezus out of the Huskers, which in turn was a prelude to next season's defensive implosion-which resulted in the termination of Bill Callahan and AD Steve Pederson and the appointment of Osborne as God Emperor and Dictator for Life in Lincoln...wait what was I saying?

Oh yeah...you can get the "desired" championship game. The Big Twelve did so once.