To me, Jim Delaney's moves have been calculating and very interesting. I believe his shrewd business moves will eventually force Notre Dame to join the B1G - and, even if they don't join - the B1G is already becoming a better conference.
I don't know if anyone mentioned this during the time when Maryland and Rutgers were announced as new conference members, but I apologize if this was already mentioned.
After reading "Buckeyeneer" 's post ( http://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/football/2012/12/sicom-notre-dame-weighing-options-after-big-east-fallout) about Notre Dame, (and the SI article), I think Delaney knows exactly what he's doing. By picking out an ACC and Big East school, it further weakens both of those conferences. Although the ACC added Louisville, which is a good move, the Big East is now all but done as a basketball conference. And, at the same time, it's a great financial move for the B1G - opening up new television market$. Notre Dame is scheduled to join the ACC for basketball in the future, but it may just make more sense for ND to join the B1G - especially if the B1G adds more ACC schools, (rumored that UNC, Virginia, Georgia Tech, and even FSU are BIG targets). The B1G is down in football right now, but I think it will always be a stronger option than the ACC in football. Couple that with the fact that B1G basketball is the best conference in the nation. I think Delaney is playing his cards wisely here. IF the B1G plucks another school or two from the ACC...I predict Notre Dame will follow.
For the record, I am not a Notre Dame fan, but I do think they'd be a solid addition to the B1G. At first, I wasn't a fan of Delaney. I wasn't too excited with the Maryland & Rugters addition, and I didn't like the overmarketing of "Leaders" & "Legends" divisions, but I think the B1G will eventually change those names. Delaney is starting to grow on me. I think he knows exactly what he's doing; regardless if Notre Dame joins or not - the B1G will be a stronger conference.
I just don't see it. ND makes way too much money for that t happen. The only I could ever see them joining a conference in all sports is if all the major conferences froze them out of the playoff.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
They actually would make more in the B1G than they do on their own. The bigger issue is that ND sits alone with their NBC contract, which caters to only them. ND doesn't need to make the most money, they're already filthy rich.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
Please cite a source.
O rly? I think their very well qualified economists disagree with you
And I disagree with them.
ND makes $15 mil/yr now with NBC and it's expected to go to 20 on the next contract.
http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/1576/nbc-likely-to-hold-on-to-notre-dame
B1G schools raked in an average of $23.7 mil last year. It's expected that with the new deal in 2017 that B1G schools will get $40 mil + every year.
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/51064/big-ten-to-distribute-284-million-to-teams
As far as endowments go, M!chigan is the only B1G school ahead of ND.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
I didn't see that Northwestern is also ahead of ND.
I find it amazing (not surprising) that from 2010 to 2011 OSU raised it's endowment $250 million while Harvard (#1) raised theirs by $4 billion. Harvard has $31 billion in endowments... astounding.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
Edit: my reply has been removed due to it basically reiterating what the previous poster stated before I could post mine.
“Right now, Michigan is not at the pinnacle of college football, and that’s all Urban Meyer cares about...He’s been there and knows what it takes to get there.”
I want ND in our conference it would do so much for the conference from a national point of view. Give them their three out of conference games so they can play USC yearly, and rotate Stanford, Navy, BC and any other big teams they wanna play out of conference. They'll still play their in conference rivals Purdue, Mich St, Mich depending what division they end up in. They have great academics and great sports. Plus I imagine our TV revenue would go up quite a bit and the BTN could expand its boundry even more reaching out to ND fans.