Wild Speculation: BigTen looking at FSU & Miami
Greg McElroy thinks the BigTen is not done expanding and the wild speculation from SI is that the BigTen would get the most bang for its buck by getting into Florida via Miami and FSU from the ACC. Both schools are allegedly looking behind the scenes to jump ship.
Wouldn't there be a footprint limit due to the distance between the Midwest, Los Angeles, and Florida - especially for nonrevenue sports? Unless the TV deals make it worthwhile.
How many heavyweights can one conference have before their all destroying each other's record?
Though I agree, the B1G has not always worried to much about what a team brings in regards to competition, but in revenue. That's why Washington and Oregon most likely won't ever happen.
Miami is a garbage school with no stadium and less alumni than Michigan graduates in a year. Their academics suck too. Hard pass, and the B1G will not want them at all.
Not that it’s a perfect source, but just going by US News both Miami and FSU are tied at 55 in the National universities rankings - well above several existing Big Ten members.
Very imperfect--I hate those rankings and they are increasingly controversial in the academic world. But your point is a good one--FSU and Miami are not junk schools like they are perceived to be by some people--and more to the point this expansion stuff is increasingly about tv $$$ and expanding the conference's footprint and less concerned with academic prestige.
While there are presumably some B10 presidents who would raise their noses at the thought of adding non-AAU schools, the momentum in terms of college sports/revenue is fast emerging as a more powerful force.
The top 10 most populated state, which to the B1G means TV revenue are 1. California, 2. Texas, 3. Florida, 4. New York, 5. Pennsylvania, 6. Illinois, 7. Ohio, 8. Georgia, 9. North Carolina, 10. Michigan. The B1G already has 2 of the top 4 and 7 of the top 10. Adding Florida schools then ensures they easily will have the biggest broadcasting rights, which means whenever players get to start signing contracts to get a part of the biggest TV rights deals. The only thing they are missing is Texas and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't find a way there too.
I wouldn't be surprised to one day see Notre Dame, Florida State, North Carolina, and then one of Stanford, Baylor, and Miami. If they would take Miami now without being an AAU member, they would take Baylor without them being one if they thought that brought Texas TV rights with them. Stanford would be in my opinion more as a concession to bring in Notre Dame.
Is Baylor's fan base sizable? I think they're more on the SMU / TCU level than the UT / A&M level. It's my understanding that they got in the Big 12 only because they were connected well politically.
You are correct, but Rutgers doesn't have a big fan base in New York, but it still delivered the New York market. That would be the only reason Baylor would be a take and I would be willing to bet the B1G will know beforehand if they brought in Texas TV markets.
Makes me wonder how much of this is sabre rattling as Miami, another big ND rival, is threatened to be taken off the scheduling table for ND.
Could just be more pushing of ND than pulling of Miami and UF.
could anyone see FSU or Miami playing in A2, Illinois, or Maryland in November?
FSU yes, honestly, but Miami absolutely no way.
What's the basis for your certainty about Miami not traveling north during snow season? Of course it's not their ideal preference but their share of $1B+ would make the cold weather more tolerable, no?
Oh, that was based on the abject aversion to temperatures below 70 degrees to folks in Miami. Sort of made in jest, but mostly real. It doesn’t really often get colder than that in Miami and when it does it’s cataclysmic. Here’s a way to think about this: winter in Tallahassee is a lot like April or October in Ann Arbor, whereas winter in Miami is basically Ann Arbor in May or September.
I get it but now that I think about it they've traveled to play in Boston, Syracuse and Pittsburgh for decades and tolerated it just fine. I suspect they'd be swayed by the $$$ and exposure that (hypothetically) joining the B10 would provide.
Yeah, exactly. They - the players - would be fine. I was thinking more about fanbase when I wrote that. But I wasn’t clear.
I grew up in the Philippines and one year, it was in the 70's for a week and everyone was wearing full winter coats the whole week, haha.
Climate change is making it ideal to play in 70/80 degrees weather in Michigan during the winter.
yup, just ask osucks.
Our team playing in mid 90s high humidity in Florida is a lot more difficult than Miami playing in 30 degree weather.
All the Florida NFL teams records begs to differ on that point. Their records are way worse in cold weather than cold weather teams records in hot weather.
As usual, this is dumb. Midwest league adds Rutgers. Dumb. Then two LA schools. Dumb. Now two Florida schools? Dummmmmmb. I know they stand to make a ton of money but at the end of the day when D1 sports have been watered down to a less talented pro league, whos gonna care?
I agree. The regionality of the legacy conferences was part of the appeal. The rivalries are more natural when the teams share a culture, and when the alumni share workplaces, churches, and neighborhoods. I love beating (and hate losing to) other traditional B1G teams because I'm coworkers with many graduates of those schools. Conversely, I know exactly 1 FSU grad and 1 Miami grad (not the same person) so I wouldn't really GAF when we play them.
I'm not a fan. It waters down geographical rivalries and just a money grab. How does this benefit Michigan (besides financially) when we are having admissions challenges for basketball??? and to an extent football.
You could make the argument easily that it benefits much the same way that Rutgers does: proximity to relocated fanbase.
Just curious if when universities do studies of and make pledges and plans about their carbon footprint they take into account cross-country conference re-alignment and its subsequent logistical demands.
Their sustainability analysts are shaking their fists at the prospect of increased cross-country air travel (Scope 3, category 6 "business travel") but until some carbon tax is imposed (it's only a matter of long-term time) to get the admin to seriously question the cost of such emitting activities, the sustainability folks will continue to find creative ways to spin the emissions increases as anticipated caveats endemic to maintaining the financial health of the institutions they serve.
Good idea. You need to have in roads to recruit the south. You don't want the SEC having a monopoly on southern talent. They do a good enough job of that already. North vs South is a losing scenario with the current state of things.
Florida is is an ecological and overpopulation time bomb with a lit fuse. Best to let the feds and those folks figure it out as the shit hits the fans.
Academically Miami is the better school but FSU has a better campus and future. Both schools fit better in the SEC. Athletics of both schools have next to nothing to offer the conference.
--agree with other post re: baseball and some college sports where there would be a competitive boost from these schools...football and basketball would also be competitive but not top tier right now.
Integrity and regional rivalries matter and will strengthen the conference over time and add value and revenue. All the current BIG teams have oodles of fans in florida due to snowbird migration.
Cinci and ND are the best additions to get to 16 and I vehemently dislike ND and the state of ohio. If ND won't join, add Pitt instead and be done with it.
“Florida is is an ecological and overpopulation time bomb with a lit fuse”
same could be said about California but hey, we just added the two premier schools there……
My issue with Cinci would be that it's second-rate by all measures (academics, athletics, fan base, etc.).
Adding Cincinnati does and adds nothing to the Big Ten. Right now it’s about finding new eyeballs and new geographic markets, and you’ve already got that in Ohio.
i would like to see how cinci would do over time in the big ten. Not a big fan of the city or school but they have an in-state megalith cyclops and a natural rivalry in the making with IU and possibly rutgers and maryland.
If we want a conference, geography and rivalries should matter because the fans realistically can travel to games without flying at least most of the time. I get that jet-setting ad execs and bankers don't care HOWEVER the schools, the players, and students should care about this.
Since we already bit the west coast bullet we could add Oregon and Washington and add real value by balancing the conference across the northern tier of the us.
“Florida is is an ecological and overpopulation time bomb with a lit fuse.”
I love when people say this about Florida and overpopulation who have only been to the population centers and have literally no idea that at times during the year Florida is the state with the largest number of cattle of any US state. Making a claim that Florida is even remotely overpopulated is laughable.
While they wouldn’t necessarily be a cultural fit, I think they check a ton of other boxes. Gets the Big Ten into a geographic region it’s not in, a very heavily populated one with tons of recruits you need in order to win titles, brand name programs (OSU-FSU and UM-FSU games sound like blockbuster events) and solid academically. Again, the only issue I’d see is just cultural fit.
You’ve got a lot of southern good ol boys down there, especially up in the Florida panhandle, who wouldn’t be excited about mixing with “Northern Yankee types,” but once that TV revenue check starts to clear I imagine most everyone would bite their tongue and fall in line.
i would prefer we don't have Florida Men as a conference rival.
Miami-Nebraska games will be so much.....90s nostalgia
Miami-Rutgers basically has to be on Thursday nights annually
There are two factors that merit consideration based on the impact they might have.
1. Grant of Rights for the current ACC media agreement with the impact leaving early could have on any school who challenges it, or seeks to leave the ACC prematurely. And,
2. AAU - American Association of Universities. To my knowledge, neither Miami (Florida) nor Florida State are AAU members. And, the Presidents / Trustees of B1G schools would have to vote to offer admission to the conference. Academically speaking, this is a rather big deal.
Grab some popcorn... it's going to be interesting to watch.
There are 8 teams I would like to see the B1G go after... not that my wishes mean a damn thing. All fit the academic profile and (with he exception of Cal, which I could overlook a la Northwestern) bring at least one, if not several, high tier programs. In order of interest:
Washington (FB, Olympics)
Stanford (Olympics, WBB, Baseball, sometimes FB and MBB)
Oregon (FB, Olympics, Sometimes MBB)
Cal (Academics)
Vanderbilt (Baseball, Sometimes MBB, WBB)
Kentucky (MBB, Sometimes FB, Baseball)
Colorado (Olympics, Sometimes FB, Sometimes BB, Skiing!)
Utah (FB, MBB, WBB, Olympics, Skiing!)
I am not fond of the Florida options because... Florida
Those schools bring very little to the conference in terms of football and would be horrible choices.
Is there anything more click-baity than off-season speculation about conference expansion?
4 teams that could join the big ten, 1 team will surprise you!
The elitism and stereotyping in some of these posts is embarrassing.
Michigan @ Miami on Saturday and then watch the Dolphins play on Sunday, yes please!
National pundits consistently forget that the B1G really, REALLY wants its member institutions to be AAU members.
Neither FSU nor Miami fit that.
If the ACC implodes, though, UNC, Duke, Georgia Tech and Pitt are.
What is the objective of expansion? More media markets? Larger media payout per school? National / global domination?