Of course, we are loolking so much at the football side, but we cannot ignore the basketball side. Rutgers is pretty weak in basketball, especially compared to Pitt or Syracuse.
Plus, Rutgers just upgraded their stadium, and has the Meadowlands option too.
But is the NYC market really hungry for decent college football, with all their pro teams? The big conferences, and big programs, thrive in places where they’re the big thing, and don’t have to fight other franchises that make them look minor league. Would NYC football fans, already devoted to the Jets and Giants, really embrace a bunch of kids from New Jersey just because they played Ohio State every year? Or would it be like Boston, where BC gets pretty much only what attention is left over by the Patriots?
As for basketball, you can fix that by recruiting just one hotshot highschooler.
The quality of the competition is about 50th on the list of requirements. This is business and academics first, the talking heads at ESPN don’t get a vote. It’s reasonable to assume that Rutgers basketball program could expand in the Big Ten much like Penn State’s did.
College football does quite well in and around Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Ohio where there’s a ton of professional sports. The Big Ten has always thrived alongside professional sports, and frankly the Big Ten practically invented the NFL and the NBA grew up around it.
It’s not about capturing the hearts and minds of New York City. There’s a reason state colleges are preferred over city/commuter schools. The biggest detriment to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh is that they are in NFL cities, but it has more to do with the commuter part-time student aspect than the proximity of an NFL team. Neither Rutgers or Syracuse are city schools and they’d already have huge followings in the rural and suburban parts of Jersey and Upstate New York. Getting into the New York media market is about TV sets with cable subscribers who’d be demanding the Big Ten Network. That’s a lot of subscriptions regardless of how many New Yorkers count those universities as their Number 1 sport. There’ll be enough alumni that expect to have the option of watching Rutgers or Syracuse on Saturdays even if it’s a passing interest.
Men’s basketball at Rutgers is pretty horrible, but it is a sport that an change on a dime with just a handful of players. The women’s team would contend for titles regularly.
I don’t want Michigan and Ohio State in the same division. It would add interest if each could win their division and save the last game for each other.
I think it is wise to split up OSU and Mich. But inter-division rivals should not play the last scheduled game of the year. I could see a scenario where OSU and Michigan would have clinched spots in the championship game, and basically play a “meaningless” game on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and then have to play again two weeks later in the Championship game.
And FTR, I realize the first game would be far from “meaningless” for OSU and Michigan faithful, but for most of the other 48 states it would be meaningless as the Championship would be on the line two weeks later.
Nice post, Omni. Put me in for Rutgers. In addition to their big media market, land grant status, and decent football team, they almost sort of “feel” like a Big Ten football team. You know, grind it out, three yards and a cloud of dust, all that.
I won’t even try to split the Dirty Dozen (Dusty Dozen?) into two conferences. You’re bound to piss someone off by leaving out their favorite rivalry game/trophy.
That looks like they picked it up at the Thomas Kinkaide store half price bin.
A fair point, but it makes Syracuse look more attractive. There are more people in upstate NY than in the rural parts of NJ.
I question how much loyalty Rutgers football commands in NJ, though, given its long history of not having given the people much to be loyal to. The most notable part of their tradition might even be Phil Silvers’ recording of “Nobody Ever Died for Dear Old Rutgers”. But, if they actually start kicking butt, in a way they haven’t consistently in the Big East, that can come quickly.
Except that they can mostly do that already, with expanded basic cable. Having to subscribe to a pay channel is a big barrier to climb, psychologically, and might have to be delayed until the fan base is willing to climb it.
When Rutgers was good a couple of seasons ago, and had a big Thursday night game on ESPN, the Empire State Building was lit up in scarlet lights. Getting into the BCS conversation got New Yorkers interested in the team. THAT’s what the Big Ten is after.
I’m a Rutgers grad and a NJ native. I’d prefer they stay put. While their success over the last 5-6 years has sparked more interest in them, traditionally, college football is not a huge draw in that market. The are competing with 3 NFL teams (including the Eagles,) not to mention the Yankees who often play into October (and ok, even the Mets occasionally…) That’s not to say they don’t have a following, but it’s not like a Rutgers game on TV is a huge draw. I will say that they have been smart in the last few years by scheduling many of their games on Thursday nights (I’m not sure if that’s a school thing or a conference decision) to get exposure. They are certainly going in the right direction, and it has taken them some time to get competitive after joining the Big East. Their main recruiting bases are the north east and Florida. Would it help or hurt recruiting to be in the Big 10? They have a chance to compete for the Big East BCS berth now, would they compete in the Big 10?
Additionally, they do not travel well. I don’t foresee huge crowds going out to Michigan or wherever to support them.
Michigan don’t need your Jersey asses 
Seriously though they sell 100,000+ seats without anyone travelling at all, it’s not part of the calcuation.
I think it would help Rutgers attendance. I can see Michigan, Ohio St, and other Big 10 faithful taking a long weekend to NYC.
Actually there are a lot of them already there. Michigan has a lot New-York-New-Jersey-but-couldn’t-quite-get-into-Princeton-or-Harvard types who go Back home afterward.
This is not entirely true. They do keep the North/South alignment as far as scheduling. Each team plays the others in it’s division twice (home and away), and plays the teams in the other division once, alternating home and away every year.
But yeah as far as seeding in the tournament, it’s based on overall ranking in the conference, the divisions don’t enter into it.
My biggest concern with the talk of Missouri moving to the Big 10 is that KU-MU is the oldest continuous football rivalry west of the Mississippi. I seriously doubt they’re going to continue to schedule a non-conference game with each other every year just to keep that rivalry intact.
I don’t see why not. Here are a few inter-conference rivalries that play each other each year:
Iowa-Iowa St
UGA-Ga Tech
Clemson-South Carolina
Florida-Florida State
Kentucky-Louisville
Sports Illustrated is quoting sources who say not to rule out expanding to 14 or even 16 schools.
So conceivably they could add Missouri, Pitt and Rutgers. I’d hate to see them dilute the brand too much, though.
That means those sneaky bastards have been pursuing this for a long time. Whats this world coming to, a conspiracy has been covered up again.
Then they could at least change the name of the conference without embarrassment.
I vote for the Big Sexy Conference