Yeah, what would they do with 15 teams? Three divisions of five? 
Actually… that might work…
Also, what if only two accept? Say Missouri and Rutgers. Congratulations, you have 13 teams! how do you schedule that? ISTM you want one, or three, or (I guess) four, so you can have even divisions.
The Big 10 has about 75 years of brand awareness behind their name. I doubt they’ll change their name even if they go to 16 teams.
You gotta believe these invites are not coming out of left field. They probably have a good idea what the answers will be. I am guessing they get the three besides Notre Dame, but I would not be shocked if Notre Dame joined, because they are in serious danger of being left out once everything shakes out and they have to know that if it becomes a handful of superconferences and they are not in one it would be pretty bad for them.
Call up somebody else from the minors. Syracuse, how you doin’? WVU, you there, bubba?
Now that I think about it, they might have mentioned a 5th school. But I specifically remember the four that I mentioned. I have seen rumors that Big 10 has approached Univ of Maryland.
This weekend, ESPNU was running a whole lot of scenarios with the Big 10, SEC, PAC10 all cannabalizing the Big East and Big XII conferences.
As discussed earlier in this thread, Rutgers and UConn can give the Big 10 exposure in the Northeast Corridor. Syracuse as well, although not as much, imo. Maryland will give them exposure in the mid-atlantic region.
There is a lot of possible scenarios. If something does happen, I think it will happen on a BIG scale. Big 10, SEC, and ACC will become MEGA conferences and the Big East and Big XII will decimated.
Texas, Texas A/M, OU and OkSU are in a great bargaining position if Nebraska and Mizzou bails on the Big XII.
SEC and Pac 10 would want them if they want to stay in step with the Big 10.
I think the ACC would pick up whats left of the Big East football teams. Pitt, Syracuse, WVA, UConn, South Florida would be available. But they got to hold on to FSU and Miami, SEC might be shopping for them.
Why do you need even numbers? So you have 6 teams in one division and 7 in the other - big deal. You can still schedule everyone with the same number of conference games - it just means that a few teams in the larger division don’t play all the teams in that division. Maybe with centralized scheduling, the top teams in the conference are the ones that don’t play those games, and they’re reserved for an OOC BCS team to play.
Dead. Colorado would jump to the PAC 10 (with Utah) and the PAC 10 would go hard after Texas and Texas A&M. I can’t see Texas going anywhere else - the SEC just isn’t in the same league academically as the PAC 10.
Here in St. Louis, the local sportsmouths feel called upon to address this issue every few weeks. Here’s their latest take on it.
Big 10 membership is dependent on CIC membership. Academically, that knocks out several of the schools mentioned here.
The goal of expansion is to maximize revenues. The Big 10 sees no value in adding Iowa State. Notre Dame isn’t interested. Texas isn’t interested because their Big 12 South rivalries are a lot more important (and lucrative).
Missouri makes the most sense on paper, and Missouri is unhappy with the Big 12. However, if Missouri leaves the Big 12, Colorado would probably jump to the Pac 10. If those two leave, Nebraska would be courted by damn near everyone, leading to the crash of the Big 12. Therefore, the Big 12 will make every effort to sweeten the pot for Missouri.
Given 1, 2, and 3, Rutgers is the logical choice. Numbers crunchers are currently hard at work trying to decide whether Rutgers would actually increase Big 10 exposure in New York and Philadelphia. That’s actually debatable.
If CIC qualifications are ignored, all bets are off.
The CIC is the Big Ten schools, plus the U of Chicago. Anyone who joins the conference would become a member of the CIC. They are likely thinking of the AAU, the Association of American Universities. All Big Ten Schools are members of AAU, as are Rutgers, Nebraska, and Missou. Interestingly, Notre Dame is not, but there don’t seem to be many Catholic Schools on the list.
The AAU is a group of 61 American and two Canadian schools that account for over half of all PhD’s granted in the U.S. each year.
I hate Notre Dame, but I would really love to have them in the Big 10 (speaking as a Northwestern alum). I’m dubious they will accept – this is at least their third invitation in the last 20 years – but I’m hoping to be surprised.
This is interesting. These are supposedly informal invitations, i.e. trial balloons. I suppose this is to throw the info out there and not officially offer spots and get embarrassed by getting turned down.
The Big East will be done as a football conference if it loses just one team, so if Rutgers goes, look for Pitt (at least) to go as well. That may start a chain reaction in the Big East with maybe the ACC coming in to pluck the UConn’s of the Big East into the ACC.
I don’t understand the Nebraska invite. They are historically part of the Big 12, as much as Oklahoma, and I think the Big 12 would be in big trouble.
And is Notre Dame actually going to join a football conference? I don’t see it. But then again, maybe this will be the time.
This will be an interesting summer.
Heh…think McGill would get an invite next? 
I don’t believe that’s true. Swarbrick (ND’s AD) has been fielding this question for a few months now, and he’s giving signs of seriously considering it. The Big 10 network has created a new game in town when it comes to sports revenue, to the point where independence isn’t as lucrative as it once was (crapping it up on the field certainly doesn’t help…). The biggest snag is pulling their non-football teams out of the Big East, where they’ve had a lot of success.
I guess I will only believe ND joining the club when I see it. They seem to be very attached to the idea of independence. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I was most surprised when an article a couple of weeks mentioned Nebraska. They have so much history in the Big 12 that it’s hard to believe they even entertained the thought. But as a practical matter I guess it works for them.
I was still hoping that Pitt would join. Penn State doesn’t have a real rival in the conference and Pitt has a long history with the Lions.
Notre Dames football is pretty tarnished right now. Joining would add interest to a fading program .
The success of the Big 10 Network really changes the landscape from the last time ND was invited. ND had their own TV contract and didn’t want to share that revenue with a rest of the conference, but now the Big 10 has their own money-making network which evens the financial playing field a bit; ND wouldn’t be giving up as much.
I’m in the Notre Dame or nobody camp. Get ND, and the BTN automatically goes on every cable system in the nation. Do it, divvy up the money 12 ways, and call it a day.
Not at all. If this is true (I suspect it is or will be) Mizzou, Nebraska, and Rutgers are almost guaranteed yes. That’s 14 teams.
If ND says no, the league can stay at 14, and maybe expand to 16 in the future. If ND says yes, they’ll need to add one more to reach 16 … but if/when ND is in the fold, the league would pretty much have their pick of damn near everyone else.
There’s no shame in getting spurned by ND. There would be by anyone else.
The 15 teams thing may not be an issue anyway. The reports say that if all four invited teams accept, the conference will turn around and invite one more team to make 16.
That was my point – if ND is #15, people will be dying to become #16. The conference can have a beauty pagent and take their pick. A lot of schools that might otherwise not be on the radar become possibilities. Boston College would bring in a major media market, for example, and would fit in a Big 10 that included ND and Rutgers. You can add Georgetown and a couple other Catholic basketball-only schools and bring in more big markets.