Insider Claims Memphis, Maybe ucif, To Be Announced As Big East Members Soon

[bulldozier1]

if a merger were to happen...hmm

Here it is...

BIG EAST/ACC Merger Conference. 

Call it the BIG ATLANTIC CONFERENCE

There would be a south and north division.

The North Division would have 10 teams.

BC, UCONN, CUSE, RUTGERS, PITT, WVU, MARYLAND, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati

The South Division would also have 10 teams. 

USF, FSU, Miami, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Duke, UNC, Clemson, Wake, NC State

That sounds like a dream conference to me!!!

WOOT WOOT!!!

GO BULLS!!!

We would be everyones chew toy during basketball season. We would be passed around like a 150 pounder in prison.

[Danm1983]

depaul was solely a chicago TV market addition. temple didnt work out very well for the big east years ago either but villanova is working out so far. and they're looking impressive in football so far too...would be a big risk bringing them up, but i'd almost prefer that over trying to steal and pillage other conferences.

depaul is so ****** in basketball now (hell even USF beats them in bball) that they're almost not worth the TV market anymore. isn't marquette in michigan or something too, so they have a big of the western side of the big east tv market.

if ucf got their act together in football they would be a better candidate since they do have a huge tv market in orlando, and the BE now has the champs sports bowl come 2010. their fans are rabid and very passionate, even though the team sucks (they had a good 07 run with K-smith). i personally loved the usf/ucf rivalry, it had potential to grow if both teams improved. but until they can prove it on the field, they won't get any recognition and they probably would be middle upper pack in the sunbelt, sadly. their problem is o'leary sucks as a coach, and they can't recruit for ****. their basketball program is obviously in the shadow of memphis, but they're not that bad. (i think michael jordan's son plays for them LOL).

people want to drop st john's, seton hall, and providence from bball because they're not very good, but the BE president is a providence man i think and the big east has its roots in the catholic schools up there, so i don't see that happening. if it was a possibility, they'd have been dropped years ago before they got to the point of this monstrosity of a super 16 league.

[Danm1983]

memphis' natural rivals could be louisville, cincy, de paul, kansas, arkansas, ole miss, miss st. if you count OOC games, but yah in conference, there isn't much for memphis to go on. its the same reason adding houston or southern miss is a no go since there just isnt much reason to try branching out that far west.

personally i like that USF has moved up in the world, but the BE is a ****** geographical fit for us. makes traveling next to impossible. if miami were in the big east, it would have helped, or if there was room in ACC country for us to make it to some of the GT, FSU, NC, Duke, NC State games, that would be nice. Right now Louisville, Cincy, or WVU are the closest points to travel... and the SEC probably won't realign for quite a while, and we'd be an SEC cellar dwellar for a few years before getting there (and we just don't have the fan base to be SEC style yet). we have to pack 60K plus to be even on the bottom end of the SEC population chart.

[MikeG]

hey-- if BC wanted to jump back to the Big East and slot us into the ACC-- I think we would do that in a heartbeat. BUt I gotta tell ya-- that would pretty much give UCF a leg up on getting in as atleast a football only member-- since the teams would still need someone to play in Florida.

another option is to add UCF in football only and make the schedule work out that teams would play at one or the other school every year-- so no time between Florida visits. That might appeal to all the northern teams from a recruiting perspective. Doesn't really help us out any but I could see this type of thing being proposed to help fill out schedules.

I hate that I wrote that

[bulls96go]

Those three don't give 12. ND better be part of the package then. I take it Memphis would bring te BEast the Liberty Bowl. What is ECU and UCF bringing?

http://ucf.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=899500

According to this, UCF is working to bring a bowl game to the Mickey Mouse Bounce House.  I hear rumors that with the auto industry hurting, that the GMAC Bowl in Mobile may lose sponsorship and could be relocated for 2010.

So...what did the NCAA say in April?

did they get the bowl or what?

[Bullhonkey]

I don't want it. I don't see it happening. It won't increase revenue per team. ACC originals didn't increase revenue after expansion. All it did was give them a tougher road to a BCS game. A former BE team has taken that spot 3 of 5 years. It only benefited v tech, miami and bc financially.

dream scenario: BE and ACC merge creating 2 ten team divisions. It will never, ever happen but that would be one powerful conference.

and an even more impressive 28 team basketball conference.... the whole problem revolves around the strangle hold basketball has on the conference. I think they added Depaul and Marquette precisely to maintain that arrangement

I said it would NEVER happen but they would obviously split from catholic basketball schools.

Play a 9 game round robin in the atlantic coastal division and BE division. Play a championship game. Create a TV network. The bargaining power of that conference would be unbelievable.

Your plan sounds vaguely familiar...

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_football/2009/08/think-this-will-work.html

I really like the first idea with Big East and ACC merging.  What if any thing would be an incentive for the ACC to agree?

[Who'sYourData?]

The ACC or Big East would have to drop like four schools.

[Bull94]

I don't want it. I don't see it happening. It won't increase revenue per team. ACC originals didn't increase revenue after expansion. All it did was give them a tougher road to a BCS game. A former BE team has taken that spot 3 of 5 years. It only benefited v tech, miami and bc financially.

dream scenario: BE and ACC merge creating 2 ten team divisions. It will never, ever happen but that would be one powerful conference.

and an even more impressive 28 team basketball conference.... the whole problem revolves around the strangle hold basketball has on the conference. I think they added Depaul and Marquette precisely to maintain that arrangement

I said it would NEVER happen but they would obviously split from catholic basketball schools.

Play a 9 game round robin in the atlantic coastal division and BE division. Play a championship game. Create a TV network. The bargaining power of that conference would be unbelievable.

Your plan sounds vaguely familiar...

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_football/2009/08/think-this-will-work.html

I really like the first idea with Big East and ACC merging.  What if any thing would be an incentive for the ACC to agree?

Conference power would be the incentive.

they would control 20 of the 65 auto bid schools. They could throw their weight around. Instead of being the 2 worst football bcs autobid conferences, they would be one of the strongest. They would control a majority of the eastern seaboard. They could start a TV channel and the bargaining power they would have with TV and bowls would be pretty impressive.

They don't have to drop anyone. 2 ten team divisions(move BC and Miami or v-tech back). An atlantic coast division and a BE division. Play 9 division opponents. same with basketball. nobody loses any of their traditional rivals. For all intents and purposes, they are different conferences except when it comes to negotiations(more powerful) and playing the championship game.

It will never happen but it would make for one powerful conference.

[mikemcp88]

Notre Dame should be the team added if they ever stop being stubborn about joining a conference. They already have their basketball team in the Big East. Memphis would be a nice addition. Can't say how much of an impact their basketball program will be with their violations and the loss of their coach. Even ECU would be a solid addition. ECU usually puts up a competitive team, but market is rather small.  I would not want UCF in our conference. If they are going to get shifted, then push them to the Sun Belt.

In an ideal world, would love to see USF in the Big Ten, so that way I can see them in Ann Arbor and/or East Lansing every year.