Rumor Mill: ND and Stanford to the B10 (B18?)
Mates,
Two-off rumor. From a reliable buddy who has Pac10 connections, and those Pac 10 connections are saying that is the latest. These connections were correct and out front of the USC/UCLA to the B10, too. I am hoping someone can contact the Counter-Strike guy and get the real 'down low' on who is next to join our fine league.
What do you think? And if not these suggested two, then who?
I hope you are all having a dynamite holiday weekend. I did hear from one mgoblogger who is going cross-country and is having a pretty epic trip with his family. What do you have going on?
Happy Independence day, a few hours early.
XM
Regarding ND....
Again, Fuck Notre Dame (Spit).
WEST:
Washington
Oregon *
Stanford
UCLA
USC *
Nebraska *
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin *
Illinois
EAST:
Northwestern
Notre Dame *
Purdue
Penn State *
Maryland
Michigan State
Michigan *
Ohio State *
Indiana
Rutgers
Football:
10 games:
All 4 from your pod, 2 from every other pod alternating home and away. You never play both started teams from a single pod in the same year.
Protected game?
Notre Dame vs. USC (to get them in)
Indiana-Purdue
Northwestern-Illinois
Basketball:
28 games
Home and away for everyone in your division. Other division alternate home and away every other year.
I still say we should call the new divisions Coastlines and Cornfields
Rutgers might be insulted, but who cares.
Not necessarily. You could always add the Landfills division and put Rutgers, MSU, and some of the other scofflaws there.
MSU plays in East Landfill, MI.
I logged in just to laugh out loud at this.
Rutgers in the B1G is the insult.
How about Lakes and Oceans?
flip msu & purdue
Question: are you using the word “flip “as euphemism for something else?
No way basketball goes to 28 games. With 20 teams you can just do straight round robin with a 19 game schedule, or in the pod setup you described, play your pod home/away and everyone else once (23 games).
Usc and ucla are going to spend a lot of time on airplanes.
Well, if they join I think they are going to actually have to schedule Michigan beforel 2033...
For this reason they probably opt out.
If it is all about the football money, the size of the fanbase is relevant. ND has a very large fanbase; Stanford does not. Oregon and Washington would be much better choices if we are looking at other West Coast teams.
https://duckswire.usatoday.com/lists/which-pac-12-school-has-the-biggest-fanbase-when-it-comes-to-football/
How about all four teams mentioned? Oregon, Washington, Stanford and ND <spit>? First league to 20 teams wins....the game has changed and it's all about making $ no. The old college football model is dead: long live the new king.
I'd still like to poach a couple of ACC teams. NC and ND (screw em, but quasi-ACC ) would be my two favs from the group and Washington and Oregon from the west. That would be one heck of a conference. The SEC would likely end up with 20 teams.
The number of conferences is going to drop. It would be nice to see a new governing body formed and give the NCAA the boot.
I agree with poaching some teams in the east as well. It has to be about market share and/or brand.
Syracuse = NYC (Brand)
UConn = NYC
Virginia = DMV
VA Tech = DMV
BC = Boston
UNC = Carolinas (Brand)
Duke + Caolinas (Brand)
GA Tech = ATL
Miami = FL (Brand?)
FL. State = FL (Brand?)
Memphis and Vanderbilt are the only teams that could solve the Tennessee market problem. Don't want Memphis and Vandy isn't going anywhere.
Yeah I can't imagine this is the end. I assume it's like, the more PAC teams you pull the less stable the rest of the league becomes, so you get Stanford in because two other California schools joined, and then a few more think they'd better get out when the getting's good.
Notre Dame is required to play 5 ACC teams in their football schedule through 2036. If they join a conference other than the ACC prior to then they would have to pay a hefty buyout. As bad as the ACC needs them, I could see them allowing ND to keep their current TV deal. The SEC is coming for Clemson, Florida State and prob Miami. If they can’t add a marquee brand like ND and retain their current members, the ACC is in trouble.
The size of the TV market is relevant. ND brings eyeballs from all over the US, Stanford brings in the NorCal TV market or at least getting the B1G network on a high cable tier.
FWIW - I saw on another post yesterday (cannot remember if it was on MGo) that a Fox insider said adding USC/UCLA was a net positive to the B1G contract and cost the PAC about $200MM per year on their potential TV deal whereas adding OU and UW would actually reduce the per-school payout of the (now) 16-team B1G.
I'm against expansion in general, but if we're going to expand further into a bi-costal conference, Stanford is obviously an automatic take, it has better football tradition than most of the B1G, wins the Directors' Cup every year, and is the best school in FBS. But, I'm not sure how much it moves the needle on Bay Area tv. Kind of has the Northwestern problem. It's on the outskirts of a huge metro but because it's a private school has no built in fan base outside of alumni and children of alumni, the way a state school does.
This is correct. I've lived in the Bay Area for 15 years, and Stanford Football has never been much more than a blip on the radar of local sports fans, even when they were winning the Pac-12 and playing in BCS/NY6 bowls. The sports culture in the Bay is heavily skewed towards the pros, and college athletics just doesn't generate the level of enthusiasm that it does in the South and the Midwest.
Having said that, Stanford can make a pretty compelling case based on its unparalleled academic prestige and its perennial dominance in the Directors' Cup rankings (as well as its squeaky clean NCAA compliance record). I'm sure the Big Ten Academic Alliance would love to have Stanford as a member. Given that it's the university presidents and not the athletic directors who are the ultimate decision makers on the issue of conference affiliation, I could see them looking past Stanford's limited TV audience and extending an invitation based on everything else Stanford would bring to the table.
Yeah, even though the money isn't about football, I do think ADs and Warren have a responsibility to think about how all the sports are impacted. Personally, I care about them, too. Stanford has had among the three best U.S. women's soccer teams in the U.S. for years; UCLA is usually very, very good. Those schools can be expected to move right to the top of the B1G ladder. Stanford's all-around excellence can provide a bar for many B1G sports. Men's hoop is going to benefit from the additions, and to be more fun, period. I'm with those who regret the open market whoredom that NIL has threatened to impose on football and bball. But where simple competition is concerned--across the range of sports--this can be expected to lift the quality of play.
Yes, for sure SF is a pro sports town much more than college. However, don't forget that San Jose is actually a bigger city than SF and right near Palo Alto - and entire bay area is a gigantically wealthy and huge TV market.
Stanford certainly has more resonance in SF than Rutgers does in NYC.
Stanford also has national name recognition, supreme academic prestige, excellence in almost every other sport, and believes in "playing school".
If the B1G is gonna play this crazy game, at least they should lean into the things they claim to be important along with $$. Stanford, USC and UCLA without question add to the prestige and brand of the B1G AND to the CIC.
It's also why I'm now in favor of adding Washington and Oregon. They fit in with B1G priorities and philosophy.
USC, UCLA, Stanford, Washington, Oregon and either ND or Cal. Done. 20 team conference - greatest consortium of academic institutions imaginable (especially if we ultimately include Hopkins, which is in conference for lacrosse but not (yet) CIC, I believe).
That is a good conference in every way. Athletically, financially, academically.
Agreed 100%. Honestly if "all" that comes from this is that the Big Ten can basically become another Ivy, with say, 10-15 of the Top 50 global universities or whatever we end up at, that's actually probably way bigger than sports in some ways.
I live in Oregon and have grandchildren who graduated from Oregon. I have no qualms about the Ducks joining the Big, but Oregon’s academics compare to Nebraska. Phil Knight has spent millions trying to improve Oregon both academic and athletic. He has succeeded on the playing field. Still a vast distance to go in the classroom.
I disagree, Oregon is one of 65 members of the Association of American Universities, Nebraska is not. Adding OU, Cal, UW, Stanford, CU, BU and UVA would mean the B1G had 23 of the 65 members and 23 of 24 member schools in the conference would be members of this association, a very important one to the B1G members.
Good analysis.
If we’re going Big XX I’d want Stanford, ND, UW and UVA.
By any standard, Stanford is still far better than Rutgers.
Stanford is the most successful athletic department with respect to all sports…they are way better than almost everyone.
Stanford is only "successful" because they field exponentially more teams than anyone else in the NCAA, it's a bit deceiving. It's almost as if the Sears Cup was created by Stanford themselves, I mean they won it 25 years in a row and ZERO cold weather schools have won it......UNTIL.... maybe, just maybe this year, Michigan may have pulled it off (only because Stanford reduced the number of teams fielded due to covid)
Once again, nobody has to actually WATCH the channel for you to make money off of it. Stanford allows them to put the channels on Bay Area cable packages. Cable packages that people are paying for whether they’re actually watching those specific channels or not.
I’m sure you’re paying for channels you don’t actually watch on cable/YTTV/Sling etc.
That’s why you probably have to take Berkeley as part of a package deal. Michigan in particular would probably like that because the two schools are in many ways brothers from a different mother, even down to their colors.
This...all about TV markets. It's the only reason Rutger is in the league, not academics, tradition, and team competitiveness. ND of course. Adding in top TV markets in Phoenix, SF, Seattle and Denver with their respective teams means a bigger TV contract payday.
Actually, Rutgers can be said to bring tradition, as most of us know. And--honestly--lazy potshots aside, Rutgers is already using the opportunity to improve the quality of play, facilities, etc. It's the state school of New Jersey, where high school football is in fact pretty strong, and Jersey is the eleventh-most populous state. And once the B1G is a coast-to-coast conference, that is going to be meaningful, too, especially in terms of moving to real parity with the SEC, which will look narrowly regional in comparison. It helps to look at where some of these programs are going, not just at where they've been.
Much as I like to bag on Rutgers the truth is that the NYC metro area market is almost 30 million strong with a ton of BIG alumni from almost every school in the conference. Michigan especially has a large presence and a lot of support fan-wise and from a donation perspective. You really have to be in NY if you truly want to be considered a national conference. Though I’d prefer Syracuse or even UCONN, I have to say that Rutgers really is the most logical choice from a proximity, academic, and recruiting standpoint.
I'd swap Seattle and Portland for Phoenix and Denver. Washington and Oregon seem like a good package and rivalry, and Seattle is big and wealthy. U Washington is almost exactly like U Minnesota, except Seattle has more money than Minneapolis.
IMO AZ would be the school of interest to the B1G, not AZ St. - and Tucson is not nearly as big a market. U of AZ is the flagship school in AZ, and AAU member. Colorado might be a possibility.
Oregon, Washington and Colorado all seem like excellent cultural and academic fits in the B1G.
Frankly, I'd prefer if we swapped out Nebraska for Colorado or Arizona - both are AAU, unlike Nebraska. Nebraska might be better off in Big 12. They'd be a big dog there.
B10 network is already on Bay Area Comcast with the Sports Package add-on (gets you nfl, MLB etc). I can state with a high degree of confidence that it draws more viewers than Pac12 network too.
Direct TV too i believe, with an upgraded package.
But B10 is not in HD, which it would be nice if this deal gets us that!
Actually, at least in SF that's not entirely true, shreibee.
I have the sports package but don't get BTN. I used a streaming service for that in the past, but may upgrade my Comcast to include it in the fall. It's an extra few bucks/month just for BTN.
San Francisco/San Jose is alot bigger than Eugene or Seattle.
Oregon doesn't have a large fan base. Stanford would be about academic standing.
That's not true, jbohl. Oregon has a surprisingly large fan base. Those crazy uni's seem to have made them a "thing".
https://longhornswire.usatoday.com/lists/texas-football-longhorns-college-fan-base-rankings-ohio-state-notre-dame/
There are a bunch of other articles that indicate the same/similar thing - Oregon has a top 10 fan base.
Interesting. Shows you what marketing can do.
No kidding. Power of the swoosh.
Media market is more important than fan base size. Bay Area alone is almost 8M people, and you shore that up with Stanford. Youd probably get some northern CA media markets as well. Academically, they’re a huge plus.
I would like to emphatically disagree. If its all about fan base, why is Rutgers in?
It's all about MEDIA FOOTPRINT/TELEVISIONS. Next most important is academics which is why ASU, even though its huge TV market will not be invited. It's also why Stanford, Cal, Washington and Colorado will be while Oregon is on the bubble due to its media market but Oregons academic standing is a plus for them.
I will admit my disdain for ND and hope like hell they dont join because, if ND is stuck playing an ACC football schedule that doesnt include Clemson or maybe another defection then, who is watching ND play Duke, GT, Louisville, Wake and PItt, week after week? Wondering.
I would like to suggest a few B10 sleepers, first is one I think its a perfect fit and that is Boston University, great academically and a huge media footprint. Next is one that is way out the box and its University of Kansas. Lawrence has a very underrated media footprint as it's located within three hours of several fairly large TV markets, KC, St Louis, Wichita, Topeka etc and is an excellent academic U.
Finally, every one of the schools I mentioned as my favorites to join the B1G belong to the Association of American Universities. This would mean that of the 65 members, 20 of my 21 B1G schools are members of this elite academic organization. I believe only Nebraska is not.
If not BU or Kansas then how about the University of Virginia, HUGE media footprint and fantastic academics, also a member of the Association of American Universities.
Another point that may help Kansas is it effectively nullifies Missouri being in the SEC, making it a wash.
B1G East
- UM
- MSU
- Fosu
- PSU
- Maryland
- Rutgers
- Virginia or BU
B1G Central
- Iowa
- Wisconsin
- Purdue
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Northwester
- Minnesota
B1G West
- USC
- UCLA
- Cal
- Stanford
- Washington
- Colorado or KU
- Nebraska
Or go with three 8 team divisions and take UVA and BU in the East, mover CU or KU to the Central and add Oregon to the West.
Can your plugged-in buddy figure out how ND gets out of the ACC grant-of-rights agreement? If not, then he's got нуль, comrade...