Big Ten Commissioner Delaney's Lucky CharmsFormer Big East commissioner (and long time BCS spokesperson/advocate) Mike Tranghese spoke Monday on the elephant in the room: the looming possibility of the Big Ten poaching one (or plural) Big East club(s). Pitt (!), Syracuse (eh), as well as Rutgers (sad face) have all drawn consideration/debate in the past several months since the rumor mill went haywire wit the possibilities of the conference looking east. Tranghese seemed to indicate at this point the expansion momentum had essentially turned all irresistible force on the college football scape:
`I don’t think there’s anything the Big East can do to prevent it. Everyone is on pins and needles waiting to see what the Big Ten will do. It’s a pretty dicey time.’’This echoes the anxious sentiments we've heard in recent weeks from WVU coach Bill Stewart and Washington athletic director Scott Woodward. With any kind of expansion just furthering the conference's potential to turn sports' most lucrative TV deal even richer, it remains likely that cash will continue to rule everything around us. That's not to say that any kind of move would be all windfall, as Tranghese also revealed that Big East clubs presently have a "buy out" fee so to pay if any of them were to attempt departing the league:
``For any school that wants to depart, there is a $5 million fee. That’s not enough to prevent anyone from going. The Big Ten is making an enormous amount of money. Is $5 million significant? Yes. Will a school pay it? Yes. It’s not a deterrent.’’
That pretty much says it all. If year 1 revenues exceed $15-20 million more than what the target schools were already generating, having to take a short term loan out for a cool 5 million dollars isn't going to serve as any kind of deterrent for the programs. The real interest lies in what would happen to the football incarnation of the conference if 1 (or all 3) clubs left. Villanova, the defending FCS champion, could theoretically attempt to make the transition to FBS play, but would be years away from relevance, at best, and hardly a short term solution to maintain the league's viability. Expansion possibilities like Marshall, UCF, Memphis, or East Carolina would hardly make up for the loss of a school of the caliber of Pitt and likely wouldn't make any headway towards keeping the league in possession of an automatic BCS berth. Even just one of the three losses could potentially catastrophic, but really all that can be done at this point (idle chatter aside) is to stay tuned.
National expansion talk doesn't just stop there. The Colorado Daily discusses the costs associated with a potential move for the Buffaloes (and ostensibly a Utah or BYU as well) to jettison their respective conferences and head west to join the Pac 10. Staff write Kyle Ringo sets the cost at roughly in the $9 million dollar range and opines whether the cost of absorbing the initial cost would offset in the long run while also discussing some of the rivalry perks of making the move (hello, Rick Neuheisel). Ringo goes onto explain that basic post-graduation relocation would be the most compelling factor to make the move:
One university official used an anecdote from the 2007 football season to illustrate the potential benefits of switching conferences. Colorado played a nonconference game in football at Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., that season. The game attracted more than 7,000 CU fans from the area and nearby Southern California. The weekend became a series of fundraising opportunities for regents and school administrators who attended breakfasts, lunches and dinners and small parties in between. Another similar weekend is expected this fall when CU plays at Cal in September. If a decision hasn`t been made by then, it could be an opportunity for Buffs fans to make an impression on Pac-10 officials. CU is generally fortunate to have 1,000 fans at a Big 12 road game.
Those kind of fundamental differences could make the sheer marketability of such a move more palpable and ultimately force the University's hand if the Pac 10's presentation is appetizing enough. The Pac 10's real motivating factor for the expansion at this point in the game (besides opening the door for a potential cash cow championship game) would be the ability to pitch their own network deal, as presently the league's TV revenues are far closer to the Big East level of gross than that of the upper echelon of conference high rollers. While CU's seen better days in both money sports, couple them with a Utah, BYU, and/or a Boise, and the league's profile becomes instantaneously elevated.
Comments
I would love to see CU join the Big Ten (for selfish reasons only). I live in Denver and it would be great to see local games every few years. There is also tons of Alumni and fans out here.
I'm against CU solely on the reason that they're not good. We already have Indiana for that.....
...CU isn't even being considered (and shouldn't be) for Big Ten expansion. The article is talking about their possible jump to the PAC-10.
that too
That would also apply to the Big East teams.
Cuse and Rutgers, yeah......
"hey, let's capture the NYC makret where they don't care about college football!!!"
I'd like Pitt though, they're decent to respectable lately
I live in the NYC market (NJ) and it is loaded with Big Ten alum and fans. My alumni club has 4k members. There are Big Ten bars in Times Sq. that are packed on game day. The market is captured.
4k in a city of how many? peanuts.
Could Michigan be sent to play in the MAC until they get their act together or fire Dick Rod?
Notre Dame or nothing.
My alumni club is the NJ Buckeyes. That is just Buckeyes. There are UM, PSU everywhere here too. This is not doubt Big Ten country.
the market is dominated by the yankees, jets, giants, etc. they're not gaining anything by adding any of these teams from a market share standpoint
scUM v2.0, a team that relies on it's past success to claim relevancy
Verily. And I'm all for nothing.
That was my point. Everyone keeps saying that adding Rutgers would open up the NYC market for the Big Ten. They don't need Rutgers to open up a market that has a large number of fans already watching Big Ten games. When ESPN shows regional games, we get the Big Ten. A Big East team needs the Big Ten, not the other way around
I don't think its about market share at this point, it's about revenue from a conference champ game, and extending the season....
i just don't like the rutgers or syracuse option AT ALL
Texas is the Best Option...ND is no longer relevant.
DickRod will be gone this year and then they rebuild from the bottom up... I LOVE beating them silly, but MICH. has to get better to in order to make OSU and the entire conference better.
that doesn't even make sense logistically.
Even with Pitt though, what are you adding? A Michigan State caliber program. I mean yeah they were number 2 in the big east last year, but they would've finished no better than 5th in the Big 10 last year.
Totally disagree, them getting down makes Wisconsin and Iowa better. They'll be back eventually but the conference had it's best year in quite a while with Michigan being 2nd last. They get rid of Dick Rod, it's going to take them another 3 years for someone to come in and make them respectable. Tressel will retire with 1 loss to Michigan.
given the current 3 or 4 if you consider ND, I think they're the best for football and basketball
If anything them sucking is helping other Big 10 schools recruit the Midwest.
still fun to beat them
I like the idea of Texas coming to the Big 10. We will see what Kelly does to ND. It would be fun to beat his ND team.
I agree that Texas is the best option. Notre Dame is always a coach away from being "back" I couldn't really see Notre Dame being any better or worse being in the Big 10, but they are always going to be huge ratings wise, no matter how good they are. They have loyal fans all over the country. It really doesn't matter if they are relevant or not. And, they'll still be able to play USC, BC, and Navy every year to make them have a "national" schedule.
As for travel and logistics of Texas, that is all overstated. BC to Miami is a long haul Pac 10 has several matchups where the schools are quite a distance apart. While Texas may not be neighbors with anyone, the revenue generated would outweigh increased travel costs.
I don't see why Texas would want to join the big ten.
I guess it will bring them more revenue but I don't see how that's possible.
I will be in Manhattan for the game can anyone recommend a place that isn't $9 a beer?
You don't think they like money? The Big XII payday is pathetic.
There are very few logistical problems.
If the Big Ten Conference decides to expand by only one team, then that team should be Notre Dame.
The best course of action for the Big Ten Conference, however, is to expand by three teams for a total of fourteen football teams. This allows for two additional expansion spots in upcoming years which will be highly sought after by many universities--even those not even whispered as rumors in today's news.
The top Big Ten Conference expansion choices in order of desirability are as follows:
1) Notre Dame
2) Missouri
3) Colorado
4) Pittsburgh
5) Nebraska
6) Kansas
7) Texas & Texas A&M as a package deal.
8) Rutgers
9) Oklahoma
10) Cornell
11) The Detroit Lions
12) Syracuse
Yes, I can recommend several nice, interesting restaurants & bars where the beers are $10.
Texas has to be No. 2 on the list. If we could get ND, Texas and A&M, our per school TV revenue would double (even with three additional slices in the pie). That would triple what ND gets now, more than triple what A&M gets now and be 2.5 times what Texas gets now. How much would ESPN pay for a package that contains ND, OSU, michig@n, Penn State, Texas -- these are THE BIGGEST DRAWS in college football. Plus the rest of the Big 10-4 outdraws most of the Big East, ACC and Big 12. Florida-Arkansas or Texas-Wisconsin? Which one gets bigger ratings NO MATTER what the rankings of the teams?
The only thing stopping this from happening is TRADITION. In the next 12 months, money (or lack of it at state institutions and even Notre Dame) is going to make it more acceptable.
I must be very old fashioned, for I was under the impression that sports was what a conference was about, not money. If it really is all about money, why not simply make a new conference? We can call it the Green Conference (for obvious reasons) and just take the biggest markets or best programs (if that even matters any more) and make one Oz-like super league.
OR...
we can continue to honor tradition. To me the Big Ten was never, ever about market shares; it was about mid-western life. It was about hard work and cold weather and leaving everything you have out on that field, if that field be green grass, mud covered or buried by snow.
ND is right here. They are one state over, a simple drive for most Big Ten fans. They have the history, they have the fan base and yes, the precious market share. They are not located in freaking Texas or, even worse, that pompous East Coast.
I'd go after ND, maybe Pitt or Nebraska, and if they don't want to join, then listen to the words of Nancy Reagan and just say no.
Money is the only tradition that matters in modern sports. It may not be for the Big 10 neccessarily but if Notre Dame, Texas, and others are offered a major boost in revenue, they will piss on tradition to follow that money.
You know, I've never attached the cultural aspect to a conference, but it's probably because I'm still fairly young and haven't witnessed generations of football being played in the conference. Obviously, when the conferences were formed years and years ago, you had to take regional teams for travel and cost more than anything else. I don't think that applies today though. Look at other conferences that have been around for decades, do people in Boston share the same values as people in Miami? Are UCLA and Stanford that similar? I don't know. Even within the conference I think people in Columbus don't share the same experience as those in Iowa City. Travel to Texas wouldn't be that big of a deal for the team, it may affect some of the fans going to the game, but when they played in Austin a few years back the stadium had some Scarlet sprinkled in.
Today, any and all sports are about money though, it is the way of the world today. That's why the NCAA tournament has expanded up to 64 teams over the years and is now talking about 65. That's why we have a Big 10 Network, and why ESPN is Disney's most profitable entity. We have 80 bowl games now, and it's not for tradition and matching up old conference rivals anymore, they are all about sponsorships, ratings, and cash. It's just the way of the world, and even in these bad economic times people still want to see their sports and are willing to pay for tickets and cable packages to see them.
"Be careful what you wish for" is appropriate advice for the Big Ten expansion effort if the primary consideration is money. What if Texas, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Boston College an
and Penn state decide that they can make more money by leaving the expanded
Big Ten and forming their own conference? What if they take Michigan & Ohio State
as well?
What if ESPN buys offers exclusive long term TV deals to Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, USC, Penn
State, Michigan, UCLA, Florida, Rutgers, Nebraska & a few other teams ? Once a money whore , always a money whore?
If Texas, for example, is willing to abandon it's own conference for more money in the
Big Ten, then when will Texas leave the Big Ten for more money elsewhere?
Tradition is important & tradition is built up over decades; let's hope that tradition
remains as football rivalries & does not become a tradition of big bucks conference shopping.
It's not like teams would be switching every year. I'm sure any expansion would have a huge buyout for the teams in the conference. I mean as it stands the big east only has a 5 million dollar buyout, but if you expand the conference then to ensure that teams won't jump ship you make that buyout 20 million on at least a 10 year deal. I for one, would love to see a super conference down the road that espn has bought into. However, the NCAA could block the movement you talk suggest would happen for money. I dont' see that being a real world scenario though.
Adding independent Notre Dame to the Big Ten Conference makes geographic, cultural & fiscal sense without harming another conference.
Adding Missouri to the Big Ten can be justified in a rational
manner but it will disturb the Big 12 Conference. The Big Ten, however, has an innate right to protect its natural TV market & geographic borders. This rational can be used to justify Big Ten Conference expansion to include Notre Dame, Missouri & Pittsburgh. If the Big 12 breaks up because of the departures of Colorado to the Pac 10, Texas & Texas A&M to the SEC, Missouri to the Big Ten, then Nebraska & Kansas become fair game for Big Ten expansion.
How the Big Ten handles this expansion will, in large part, redefine what the Conference is & what it stands for. If the Big Ten Conference wants to become a money whore conference, then be prepared for even bigger bucks to lure away current & future Big Ten members. You reap what you sow.
God, we REALLY don't want the lions!
If the B10 adds Pitt, Rich Rod moves down the list to second worst football coach in the conf. Save the #1 spot for Dave Wanstach.
Nah.
what about the zooker???? he's "top" 3 at least.