Big 10 expansion

[-mmm-]

I know everyone is talking about the 96 team field and how its going to ruin March Madness. All one has to do is surf over to espn and look at Joe Lunardi's projected field of 96 teams for next year to see what a mess that will be. But the other story that could unravel college sports as we know it may start to unfold this next week. A few months back both the Big 10 and Pac 10 both said they were going to start to look at teams for expansion and a possible football championship game. The Pac 10 seems pretty straight forward, as all the talk right now is that they'll likely add Utah and Colorado and shore up every big TV market in the western part of the country.

However Big 10 expansion is another story. And as this story shows it could all begin to take shape next week. And this is all about money. The Big Ten network has proven to be a cash cow, and is now making more money for its schools than even that enormous tv contract that the SEC signed with CBS/ESPN. And now the Big 10 is using expansion as a means for getting its network into more homes, and thus its not necessarily about a football title game. The conventional wisdom is that they'll just add 1 team to get to 12 and have the title game. However it wouldnt surprise me if they get to 14 or 16 teams. I think Notre Dame is going to jump in as the BTN can get them anywhere from $5-10million dollars more per year than their NBC contract (just speculation on my part as I havent seen any hard figures). I know the fans all love the indie status. However the faculty all want to be in the Big 10 (they voted overwhelmingly for it some years back) because it would put their school in the prestigious CIC. And that is another aspect of this. There are more than athletics to look at as you have to look at academics (which is why schools like Cincy, Louisville, and West Virginia are non-starters in any expansion talk...for one thing the Big 10 is likely only looking at AAU universities).

There are a few combos that I can see happening when its said and done though it could very well go a different direction:
Scenario 1: ND joins the Big 10 along with Syracuse and Rutgers giving the Big 10 a very strong presence in NYC.
Scenario 2: ND joins with Syracuse or Rutgers and Nebraska or Missouri. Still a strong NYC presence and they either add a traditional football powerhouse with a strong fan base or the St Louis and KC markets.
Scenario 3: The machiavelli scenario. Scenario 2 plays out with Nebraska going to the Big 10. Now right now the Big 12 deal is top heavy with the big schools (NU, Texas, Oklahoma, A&M) getting more money than the other schools from the tv deals. However take out NU and the other schools suddenly have a veto-proof majority to make the tv deal more equitable to all schools. This causes Texas and Texas A&M to jump to the Big 10 conference to get all of that cable tv money (Texas cannot leave without A&M, the governor is an Aggie after all) and the Big 10 Network now has the NYC, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio markets along with its traditional footprint.

And that last scenario would leave the Big East and Big 12 conferences in dramatically different shapes. In fact if that happened I wouldnt be surprised if the ACC picks up a couple more northeastern schools to go along with Boston College and really decimate the Big East as a football conference. And the Big 12 might look at TCU and BYU as possible replacement schools. And if that played out you'd get rid of the weakest BCS conference (Big East) and with the Pac 10 already taking Utah, you'd take out the power players out of the one conference trying to get into the BCS (Mountain West Conference). Very machiavellian indeed for the big schools to make more money and keep more money amongst themselves. But for now thats just a possibility and not a reality.

And now I feel kind of disgusted talking about big money for supposed amateur athletics.

[TroyB911]

I wanted the Pac-10 to get Notre Dame but oh well. If the Pac-10 adds 2 they should go Utah and Utah St. or Colorado and Colorado St. Keep it like it is now for travel etc. I know they want 1 from each state but.
Oregon
Oregon St
Arizona
Arizona St
Wash
Wash St
Cal
Stanford
UCLA
USC

So I like how the design is now. Wouldnt mind expansion but do it right. Take all 4 or just 2 from 1 state. Or get Colorado and ND. They both have like helmets.