This is the first time I have heard Kentucky as a possible 12th team. I guess that is one way for kentucky to win a football conference championship.
Low blow
We’ve been assuming two 6-team divisions. Presumably that would mean 5 intra-divison teams and probably three inter-division games per season, and four non-conference games.
What if they divided into three 4-team divisions? Then you would play 1) the other three teams in your division 2)all the teams in another division (rotating each year), and 3) the team in the third division that finished in the same standing last season that you did in your division.
So if you won the East one year, the next year you would play the East, the Central, and the top team from the West.
Hmm, the first problem I see is determining which two teams go to the playoff game. goes back to the drawing board
I think Pitt is the most likely and then the question is who does the Big East go after? East Carolina? Dayton? Toledo?
Does Dayton play football? East Carolina would be my bet. Someone mentioned Central Florida, and I can see that happening too. Villanova could be upgraded to Div IA in football. I think Temple would jump at a chance to be part of the Big East.
Pittsburgh does not give the Big 10 an additional television market, as they are in the same one as Penn State. The number of subscribers for the Big 10 network would be vastly greater by adding the largest market in the country, the NYC metro region, which includes Rutgers.
I get that, and I am not saying that Pitt is the only team, I just think that Pitt is a better fit and a more likely candidate for all the other reasons. Every team has plusses and minuses.
Correct. OSU will do a home and home with all teams in the south, will go to K-State, Iowa State, and Mizzou, and will host Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas. Next year, that will flip.
The Big XII tourney is seeded based on standings: 1-4 get byes, the other 8 play first round games.
Don’t ask me how baseball scheduling works.
As I see it, the only advantage that Pittsburgh offers is that it’s located a bit closer. I think that a new tv market and its revenue from cable subscribers will weigh more heavily.
But in the standings, there is no North/South designation in B-Ball, unlike the SEC which has East/West standings.
In the First round of the SEC Tournament,
#3W plays #6E which plays 2E in Round 2
#3E plays #6W which plays 2W in Round 2
#4E plays #5W which plays 1W in Round 2
#4W plays #5E which plays 1E in Round 2
No, the other advantage is that Penn State would dearly love the chance to renew the PSU/Pitt rivalry. I don’t know that that tips the balance, but it’s certainly a factor.
Because that’s how you get a conference title game, under NCAA rules.
Dayton plays football in 1-AA, in a non-scholarship conference. The Big East would be too big a jump, and so would 1-A, really. If the Big East raids C-USA again, East Carolina and UCF would be the best fits. I’d say UCF because they’d have an immediate rivalry with USF, and besides, eastern NC is not a big market and is already fully footballed.\
Syracuse would give the Big 10 the entire upstate NY market, which is not chopped liver.
Wisconsin - Minnesota is the oldest and most played rivalry game in Div 1 football. You can’t get rid of that game anymore than you could Ohio State - Michigan. Plus, they play for Paul Bunyan’s axe, the coolest trophy in the game.
FWIW, Texas was all set to join the Pac-10 when the SWC was breaking up, despite being 2 time zones from the Pacific. I believe it was Stanford that blackballed them.
To focus on the question of who to add as opposed to splitting the divisions, here’s the big factors as I see it:
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Geography.
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Finances.
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Academics.
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Fit.
Now, you’re a fool if you dismiss any of these factors. Don’t scoff at the academic aspect. This isn’t the SEC or Big 12, academics are a huge factor and the Big Ten would not sublimate them in favor of any of the others. The school doesn’t need to be a top 50 school necessarily but they have to be a big research University with a commitment to high minded ideals and a real opportunity to improve their status by aligning themselves with the CIC schools. Endowments and Graduate programs will be considered. This probably rules out the likes of Cincinnati, Memphis, TCU and Iowa State.
Finances obviously are key but there’s a split between two concepts. First there’s a financial benefit to adding a 12th team, period. Regardless of who it is, just adding a team will allow a Championship game and a extension of fan base amongst alums. Merchandising and TV revenues will get a boost just from having a 12th school carrying that Big Ten logo. So it should be considered that while Notre Dame would give the biggest boost financially and open up TV negotiations like no other, adding a lower profile school isn’t exactly a money loser. That will give them a bit more ability to remain high minded and selective. That said, the least coveted schools from a “financial” perspective would be those with smallish alumni bases and without a large natural metropolitan association and those which overlap with existing Big Ten schools. That would put schools like Iowa State, various Ohio schools like OU and Cincy and Pittsburgh a little lower on the list. Notre Dame actually fails all those tests but obviously they are a bit of a weird fish.
Geography is an obvious one and it too has 2 components. Proximity will play a role but I’m not sure how big a role that will play in this modern world. Certainly flying teams to Texas, New Jersey or Upstate New York would have it’s costs from existing locales but it’s not as if going from Happy Valley to Minneapolis or Iowa City is a short trip. I don’t know that any of these schools would allow the costs of sending teams around the region limit the addition of a school that checks the other major boxes. The other component is strategic location. A second aspect to this move, aside from adding a 12th football team, would be to expand the reach of the brand into new markets and to increase TV revenues in untapped areas. Really there are two ways to do that, to add a team with national recognition or to add a team in a new market unserved by the Big Ten. Notre Dame checks the first box in a big way, and it adds exposure in the largely unexploited Northeast. Texas adds both categories but I’m not convinced the Big Ten can gain that much from getting into Texas where it’s have to compete with the Big 12. The best fits are probably Rutgers in New Jersey and Missouri/Nebraska on the western border.
Lastly is Fit. Fit is a bit of a catch all, but I think it’s a very important aspect. Firstly, the school has to have athletic facilities and tradition on par with the rest of the conference. Many schools fit this criteria but a few notable ones don’t. Facilities and tradition are dynamic things and some schools could expand their commitment to athletics pending an addition and by becoming a perennially recognized Big Ten school could reach a new level so one wouldn’t want to dismiss out of hand any of these schools. Still, Cincy, Memphis, TCU, Iowa State and several other have a long way to go in those respects. Another fit issue is a bit subjective, but the Big Ten’s members are largely very similar in character. They are almost all land-grant Universities that are state affiliated and all represent the largest 1 or 2 schools in a given state. There really isn’t a single city school in the group and no commuter schools. Northwestern is a bit of a odd duck on all counts but I’m not sure they represent a compelling reason to add more. If another private, elite academic institution presented itself that’d be fine but I’m guessing Stanford and Vanderbilt aren’t in the making. Adding a commuter school like TCU, Cincy and Pitt would be quite a break from the current atmosphere.
So, considering these factors I’ve boiled it down to Syracuse, Rutgers, Missouri and Nebraska assuming Notre Dame is a nonstarter. Basically the choice is East versus West.
Missouri and Nebraska are the closest in fit to the current Big Ten and their athletic programs are finished products. They both have serious issues with academics and offer minimal rewards from a exposure standpoint. Competing head-to-head with the Big 12 in their backyard might blunt the benefits to expanding into new territories and neither Missouri or Nebraska have large populations to capitalize on. On the flipside, both schools have existing rivalries with current Big Ten schools so there’s be a smooth transition.
Rutgers and Syracuse would both open up the New York and Northeastern markets and those markets are largely under served in football and are fragmented in basketball. A ton of growth would be possible and they both have long traditions to exploit. Of the two, Rutgers probably offers the best fit as a land-grant state school but their endowment isn’t huge and their sports facilities have a ways to go. Syracuse is a bit of a poor man’s Northwestern. I’m not sure which of the two schools would offer the greatest return as far as capturing the Eastern market but Rutgers is a much bigger school with more alumni might offer access to both New York and Philly.
My pick is ND doesn’t want to come play is Rutgers.
I agree. I think Rutgers is the darkhorse pick, but it shouldn’t be.
That match up does not benefit the entire conference, so I don’t see it as an advantage or even a factor. Adding the NY market benefits all members of the league.
I do agree that quite possibly Pitt’s biggest negative is the fact that they play in an NFL stadium, Heinz Field. The Big 10 would defeinitley prefer a team with its own on-campus (or nearby) stadium.
Piffle! MSU and UM play for the incredibly beautiful Paul Bunyan Trophy
The Rutgers arguments make a lot of sense.