Expansion done?

The 9 Big XII members are attaching umbilical cords to Texas and feeding off them, which should end the talk of Mizzou coming to the Big Ten, and two, save schools like Kansas, Iowa State, KState and Baylor to going to the Mt. West.

So what does that do the rest of the expansion talk? I'm not really sure what the Pac-10 does. Goes after Utah? Utah is in a great position right now with the Mountain West. The Mountain West got stronger with Boise State, why would Utah want to leave? The Pac-10 at 11 teams would want to add and Utah has to be the target.

The Big Ten right now is the winner in the expansion getting Nebraska. I thought they would get Missouri, but not any more. Will they stop at 12? Maybe go after Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Notre Dame to round out at 16? Right now I think the Big Ten stays at 12. Goes to 12 in the Big Ten Title game, and cashes in on money.

So right now, I think all that we'll see is a 12th Pac-10 team.

Then the talk is of the Big Ten Divisions. What will it be?

If I were to guess....

BLUE
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Penn State
Illinois
Nebraska

WHITE
Ohio State
Michigan
Purdue
Indiana
Northwestern
Michigan State

Big Ten + 5

Ok, after seeing the dollar signs, and money, I didn’t like it at first, but the Big Ten will be 16. I didn’t think the scheduling would think and then I was looking at it as 2 divisions of 8. But if you look at 4 divisions of 4. It would work. Granted some scheduling would have to be tweaked but I think this is what is going to happen now.

And with that, I think the schools invited will be Nebraska, Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse and Maryland. The amount of money that will be brought in by the 5 schools with the Big Ten Network would be somehwere around 60-70 million a year on cable subscriptions. Then add in advertising. That is a lot of money for the Big Ten! Think instead of 22 million a year increased to 35 million a year.

So here’s now how I think it happens and will look. *NOTE – just quick thought of division names*

WEST
Iowa
Missouri
Minnesota
Nebraska
~the four schools west of the Mississippi

MIDWEST
Illinois
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
~Next four western schools

GREAT LAKES
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio State
Syracuse
~The Big Ten won’t make the same mistake the Big XII did, keep UM & OSU together and put in 2 weaker football schools

EAST
Maryland
Michigan State
Penn State
Rutgers
~MSU gets thrown in with the 3 most east schools, keeps the 2 land grant schols together. Adds 2 schools East with Penn State.

The divisions are mostly regionalized and keeps some of the schools together. And each team would then be assigned a rival from another division, to preserve rivalries. Rivals would be the following:

Illinois – Missouri
Indiana – Purdue
Iowa – Penn State
Maryland – Ohio State
Michigan – Michigan State
Minnesota – Wisconsin
Nebraska – Northwestern
Rutgers – Syracuse


Now on to the scheduling and figuring out the championship game. You’d still play 8 conf games. 3 games verse your division, 4 verse another division and 1 rival game. (this isnt my idea, I’m borrowing it, just adding it into the way I would set things up. To view my schedule click here.

So in this scenario the West plays the MidWest, Great Lakes plays the East. This would rotate yearly. And if your rival game is in a division you play, it would be sorted out with a different team you don’t play. So the 2 Big Ten Championship game participants would be determined by the 7 like games the 2 divisions play (West/MidWest & GreatLakes/East). The rivalry game would be a tie breaker.

So in this scenario you don’t get Michigan-Ohio State back to back weeks, but you still get THE GAME at the last week of the regular season. Other traditional rivalries are procteted even though there are different divisions. You keep Purdue-Indiana and Minnesota-Wisconsin and Mich State-Michigan. And create some new ones with Illinois-Mizzou and Iowa-Penn State (it’s budding)

I think this is the seismic shif that will shake and shape college athletics. I think an offere will be made to Notre Dame, and they will say “NO”. Then they will be left behind. I think they will have to join what is left of the ACC & Big East or be left out of the 4 team – 16 team leagues. I don’t think in the end 64 teams + Notre Dame will work. There will be too much power weilded by the Big Ten and then SEC.

What happens after the Big Ten goes to 16? The Pac-10 adds Utah, Colordao, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma & OK State. The SEC adds Miami, FSU, Clemson & Louisville. There’s 16. Then I think Notre Dame’s hand is going to be forced to join something or be left out. I think they go with the rest of the Big East and the 8 teams left from the ACC. That would leave 2 spots open. I think Kansas would be targeted and legestative pressure would take KState.

Their’s your 64 team Championship league. Sorry ISU, you don’t fit. The MT West, Conf USA, WAC, MAC, SunBelt and the Big XII left overs would create a mish mash of about 3-4 leagues and be set.

Big Ten Expansion

Everyone has a thought on Big Ten Expansion and the affects it will have on the college sports landscape. I put out a blog a while ago on who I thought the 12th team might be. Then shortly after the Big Ten said the would entertain expansion, the Super Conference notion’s came up and there is talk of a 14 and 16 team Big Ten. Then the Pac-10 expanding to 12 to get a title game and then the SEC doing the same as the Big Ten. So the landscape is going to feel a shockwave after the Big Ten says what they are going to do.

The small shockwave and what I think would be the best would be Notre Dame joining the Big Ten and adding it to 12. I think there is a chance yet that this happens. 25-30 million dollars a year and less travel and more tradition is better than 8 million for just an outlet of one of its sports. The Big Ten Network would give it more money and an outlet for all sports. Add 1 if it is ND, signed sealed delivered. Get the Big Ten Title game ready at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The bigger shockwave will come if the Irish don’t make the smart move, and the Big Ten then adds 3 schools. I truly believe that if the Big Ten gets Notre Dame, they won’t go to 3. They won’t need to. If the Irish say no, look for a 14 team conference. The talk of 16 is too many. It would dilute the product I think. Sometimes you can be TOO BIG. So going to 14, who are the 3 teams? I think it is obvious that the Big XII and Big East are the targets. The 3 teams being Rutgers from the Big East and Missouri and Nebraska from the Big XII.

All 3 are a part of the AAU, which all 11 Big Ten institutions are a part of. Rutgers brings in the New York New Jersey market to the league. They have updated facilities, and they have a good football and women’s basketball program. Some may say if the NY/NJ market was so big in college sports, why isn’t the Big East more of a commodity. Well would you get up for South Florida and Cincinnati coming to the New York area, or Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State? The answer is simple.

Missouri brings in 2 other big markets too in St. Louis and Kansas City, and Nebraska the Omaha market. More television revenue. Both schools are also getting hosed in the Big XII that is controlled by the schools down south. The Big XII’s TV package is terrible and both would increase their yearly revenue by somewhere around 2-3 times. They also get to join the Big Ten bowl alliance and have the options of 2 BCS bowls, the Capital One Bowl, Outback, and Gator bowls. There is no other conference that has better bowl options then the Big Ten.

I think the divisions would look like this:
Division 1
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Penn State
Wisconsin

Division 2
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Rutgers


Add Notre Dame, and its easy and clean, otherwise, the other conferences better get ready to go and prepare to feel the Big Ten shockwaves.

Big Ten + 2?

So there is the talk and debate heating up now (thanks Barry Alvarez) of the Big Ten adding a 12th team and adding a championship game. Alvarez feels like a lot of the media, that the Big Ten is irrelevant the weekend before Thanksgiving. He is right. The publicity for the conference is about 0 when the SEC, Big XII and ACC are hosting title games and the Pac 10 is playing into the first weekend in December.

So the talk is….who should it be?


The obvious choice is Notre Dame. Notre Dame is actually taking a pay cut being on NBC compared to the Big Ten Network. How exclusive is that deal now? The Irish could have national broadcasts on the BTN, ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. Better known outlets for college football. And if the Irish join the conference, how many more cable providers will want the BTN? Then there is the bowl situation, a 6-6 Big Ten team gets the Alamo/Champs or Insight Bowl in Arizona or Florida or Texas. A 6-6 Irish team has to wait it out and get options of the Pizza Pizza Bowl in Detroit? And next year the Big Ten takes away another option from the Irish taking the Gator Bowl away from the Big East. That’s 5+ new years day options for the Big Ten to play on Jan 1 or later. Easy choice, they are in the Big Ten footprint, they are irrelevant until they fire a coach. Join the Big Ten!
Notre Dame NBC Money



After the Irish sit on their high horse and decline the conference invite, the next choice should be Nebraska. The Huskers are getting crapped on by the Big XII. The Big XII has terrible tv deals, terrible bowl options and only care about 2 teams. The LongHorns and Sooners are like the Yankees and Redsox. It all flows through them. The Huskers joining would revitalize their football program and start new rivalries with Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan & Ohio State.



The next would be Missouri. They bring in 2 big television markets. St Louis and Kansas City. They are in the region, would have natural rivalries with Iowa & Illinois. They like Nebraska are good academic institutions (yes there is more than just sports involved in these decisions)



Finally I would look at Rutgers. They would be able to for a natural grouping with Penn State. A really good academic institution. And well if you look at money, there is the New York/New Jersey television market. Hello more cable providers and tv sets for the Big Ten Network.

So who should it be? It should be the Irish, but we know that won’t happen, so it should be Nebraska!

Your thoughts? React America!

Big Ten Expansion Talk