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
Schools have to be panicking right about now. What happens to the leftovers from the Big12 and PAC? What happens to my Chippewas and the Mac?
Our Chips go to the Big12 and dominate.
MAC goes to FCS where they belong.
San Francisco/Oakland/Bay area has more tvs than Seattle. Plus Stanford won’t leave without Cal Berkeley, which is one of this country’s premier universities.
So at this rate, the B1G will be the Northern Superconference, and the SEC will be the Southern Superconference? Then at some point they can combine and we will be right back where this all started…?
Go Blue! Beat whomever gets scheduled from wherever!
I like Stanford...don't really care about ND
I'm sure it's fun for some to play with their pods and/or present new conference members who can lure ND into the B16 via some imagined historical bonds. Howevah:
- Geographic and/or competitive balance is irrelevant to this process. Only TV$ matters.
- USC and UCLA came to the B16 (possible via TV execs) with an offer, the conference did not seek them out. From a revenue point of view, acceptance is understandable.
- The LA schools make the TV$ pie larger. Adding more schools will make the slice each member receives going forward smaller. Nobody is motivated by that.
- It's important to note that, as LabattsBlue observed, the USC/UCLA vote was unanimous on the part of ADs and school presidents/chancellors. That unanimity is not guaranteed in the future for other schools. The Big Ten Academic Alliance does pull some weight with some administrators and USC and UCLA bring resources that are desirable.
- Getting the LA schools into the B16 effectively decapitated the PAC12 as a rival for TV contracts and kept the B16 apace with the SEC for $ and TV eyes. PAC12, Big 12, and ACC are left outside looking in.
- Washington, Oregon, Stanford, Cal, Notre Dame, UNC, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Pitt, Syracuse, and every other school that routinely comes up in conference expansion talk is irrelevant. At least not in the 2023/2024 context.
I enjoy watching Notre Dame twist slowly in the wind and hope they never join the conference.
If you add all of the schools you mentioned. You could ask for double the TV money and get it because look at what's left over. Who would want to watch that?
First off, fuck ND.
That out of the way, this makes sense. Look for Washington and one other (Oregon?) to come on board to make it 20. Then the question will be if the SEC and Big "Ten" both go to 24.
I live in SoCal, and whenever I see someone who appears to be a USC or UCLA fan, I tell them welcome and how excited we are to have them join the B1G family.
If ND joins, it will just be, Fuck Notre Dame.
Honest question - with the Big 10 expansion focused on high academic schools with good athletic departments is it possible that a bigger plan is at stake? With the way NIL is going and the shady reputation of the southern schools with regards to rules, could the Big 10 be looking to create a super conference with stricter, more enforceable rules than what we see in the current NCAA landscape?
That's fun to fantasize--I have. Then you look and see that FOX helped engineer all this, and hear rumors that this means more rather than fewer commercials. Doubt creeps in. Then it strangles you in your bed.
While possible, all the schools would need to agree to it. It is my feeling that there would not be a unanimous decisions to do that.
Even if there was, it would run the risk of the SEC hoovering up even more top recruits if they have a more open NIL policy than the new B1G conference does (which arguably was starting to happen before NIL).
the only way to tamp down on NIL is having B1G and the SEC agreeing to it...not something I see in the foreseeable future.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Looks like we are headed to a two-speed system, where one is the Wild West where almost anything goes and completely throws off the charade of amateurism and the other tries to at least maintain some balance of "amateurism" and academic "integrity". I’m not trying to get on my high horse about the amateurism or academic integrity thing because that has been pretty much a bust since at least the BCS era and I am skeptical that the hypocrisy will be any better resolved by doing more of the same that got us to where we are today. Frankly, maybe the SEC has it right by dispensing with any pretense of amateurism or student-athletes. If the BIG wants to set that as the ideal then it can’t keep going the way things have been and will need to pick a lane.
Stanford and Cal are a take because of the SF Bay market, the Olympic sports success, and the obvious academic upgrade that they give to an already great academic conference. Washington would do the same. Much as I hate to admit it, so would ND. Oregon, besides Nike and uniformz, doesn’t hit many of the priorities that the BIG usually values.
Per On3 and SI, "independence remains the preference and the leader in the clubhouse" for ND.
Explain to me why ND would give up the best single school contract in all of college football?
Probably because its not as lucrative as you think?
NBC pays out 15 million per year for games... with the ACC kicking in 11 mill last year for the five games in the ACC.
that's no where close to what the B1G and SEC currently have and the gap will become even wider if ND remains independent for much longer.
Don't know if the break out is unequal in the SEC, but in the B1G every member takes the same cut of the TV money pool. 46 million last year. Indiana gets more money that ND from pure TV GOR.
Direct quote from Swarbrick himself:
"There is no financial advantage to Notre Dame being independent in terms of operations,” Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick told The Athletic last year. "It costs us money. We would be much better off all in with the ACC or any Power 5 conference.
"But it is the broader value it produces. And this is the dynamic that’s always a bit hard to articulate and engage in for the fans just focused on whether you’re going to win the national championship. That is very important to all of us, but the decisions we make don’t just drive to that question.”
ND, Stanford, Oregon and Washington are the targets.
But ND is the key. If they don't think they can get ND. They may poach from the ACC to weaken that conference and force NDs hand to the B1G.
The 3 Pac-12 teams are the goal...but they're not ruling out UVA, UNC and GT to hurt the ACC enough to get ND into the B1G.
All that said and ND really doesn't have to do anything. They can wait until the very end and decide what they want to do. It's not like anyone is going to tell them, "no."
The B1G, just better not lose out on the best of the rest (like they lost Mizzou, even though that didn't turn out to he horrible). If they wait on ND, they run the risk of a merger that.
What you DON'T want is to end up with teams like Iowa St. even close to the discussion.
If I'm the B1G, I take Washington and Oregon now and get to 18.
Then you work on ND/Stanford and if that fails, you can poach 2 from the ACC (or Stanford + one from the ACC).
Honestly, I’m not sure I even care anymore. Whatever.
ND? Sure. Stanford? You betcha. Oregon? Just do it. Washington? Them too. Long Beach State? Umm, would Snoop Dog do a halftime show? UNC? Not sure why, but sure. Literally anyone else not already in the SEC? Come on down!
They have taken something great and screwed with it to get every penny they could. Now, it’s just silly. USC and Rutgers are gonna be in the same conference?!? Golden goose has been killed and eaten.
/ Get off my lawn with your Cali Big Ten!
Something about giving Notre Dame a say in who gets a Big Ten membership offer before they're even a member rubs me the wrong way.
My ideal:
Stanford and ND
Wash + Oregon + Berkeley
UNC and Duke and Georgia Tech
This would be an amazing 24-team conference and great at football and basketball. You could then divide into 4 six-team divisions and have an awesome playoff.
Cal Duke UNC and Gtech would be a huge cut into the TV revenue stream. Which is 100% why you bring on USC UCLA. It seems like (for the purpose we brought on USC/UCLA in the first place) this would be one step forward and 1.5 steps back.
That's why you ask for more money. This isn't McDonalds anymore, this is Red Robin and you're gonna have to pay double.
Notre Dame can kiss my wrinkled old ass.
Stanford because they are 10 minutes from my house.