A new Article about a possible Big East raid

[usf97]

http://blogs.ajc.com/barnhart-college-football/2010/04/05/what-happens-if-the-big-ten-goes-to-16-teams/?cxntfid=blogs_barnhart_college_football

So even at the big dance, this is one of the main topics. I still have a hard time seeing the Big Ten going solely after Big East teams over Big 12 schools. I guess it may be easier to go after 4 Big East schools as a group but the hard sell would be to get Notre Dame.

[Apis Bull]

What would be the advantage of going to 16?

[Danm1983]

It won't happen. 16 teams in the football world is too many. Even 14 is too many, or at least pushing it. The media has finally run out of Tiger Woods stories and is trying to blow hot air into whatever rumor mill there is for expansion.

After all is said and done, I surely hope it's minimalized as follows:

-Notre Dame to Big Ten (12 teams)

-UCF to Big East (9 teams football, 16 teams basketball)

-LA Tech to C-USA (12 teams)

-Utah and BYU or UNLV to Pac 10 (12 teams)

-Nevada and Boise or Fresno State to MWC (9 teams)

-FCS Montana moves up to join WAC (8 teams) [perhaps Eastern Washington to make 9 teams]

-USA (South AL) joins SunBelt as planned in 2013

Play football.

The end.

[usf97]

What would be the advantage of going to 16?

I was asking the same question weeks ago and I finally found a good explaination. The media for the most part does not discuss the true benefit. It is specifically about the Big Ten Network and the number of cable subscribers it can get it's network to at a lower tier level.

For example, if you were to get the BTN on your "BASIC" tier package, the BTN gets nearly a dollar for every subscriber each month. So last year they made around $60 million. So they are thinking.....if we could add Rutgers, we could maybe get Comcast to add the BTN to the basic package for all of New Jersey and New York. If they could pull that off, that would add a lot of money.

A lot of these writers don't really think that part through because you often see Pitt mentioned but Pitt does not help since the Big Ten already has Penn State. They already have the Pittsburgh market. That is why you keep hearing names like Nebraska , Missouri, UConn, Syracuse. Notre Dame would be the big haul because although the BTN already has the Indiana market, the BTN would hope that ND could get them on all basic cable tiers nationally.

[Apis Bull]

Still 16 teams is incredibly unwieldy.  I guess you's play the 7 teams in your division and then 1, 2 or 3 from the opposing division. That would leave at least 5 teams in your conference you don't play so the teams in your division wouldn't play the same opponents and it could really screw up your division standings.  I know it happens with the 12 team leagues, but not to the same extent.

[usf97]

Still 16 teams is incredibly unwieldy.  I guess you's play the 7 teams in your division and then 1, 2 or 3 from the opposing division. That would leave at least 5 teams in your conference you don't play so the teams in your division wouldn't play the same opponents and it could really screw up your division standings.  I know it happens with the 12 team leagues, but not to the same extent.

I agree scheduling would be a bear for a 16 team conference and that is why the Big Ten is researching this. Basically, they are trying to figure out if the money would be worth it.

The article pointed out they are looking at 3 options. Stay at 11 (status quo), expand by one (ideally ND or then Rutgers), or go age and expand by 5 (biggest gamble, big money possibly or it could blow up in your face and you make less with the pie being divided by 16).

I think the big Wild Card is can you get ND to move because if you can, just expand by 1 and take them. That would have to be the biggest monetary option. ND needs to see if NBC really wants to pony up to keep them because there would be much more money at present to jump to the Big Ten.

[smazza]

we are headed towards super conferences fellas

[dmarino110]

It won't happen. 16 teams in the football world is too many. Even 14 is too many, or at least pushing it. The media has finally run out of Tiger Woods stories and is trying to blow hot air into whatever rumor mill there is for expansion.

After all is said and done, I surely hope it's minimalized as follows:

-Notre Dame to Big Ten (12 teams)

-UCF to Big East (9 teams football, 16 teams basketball)

-LA Tech to C-USA (12 teams)

-Utah and BYU or UNLV to Pac 10 (12 teams)

-Nevada and Boise or Fresno State to MWC (9 teams)

-FCS Montana moves up to join WAC (8 teams) [perhaps Eastern Washington to make 9 teams]

-USA (South AL) joins SunBelt as planned in 2013

Play football.

The end.

I like this look but in the end if any conference goes past 12, the have-nots (non AQ conferences) become worse...whether or not there is enough money in the pool to dilute among all of those teams I do not know...

[Danm1983]

It won't happen. 16 teams in the football world is too many. Even 14 is too many, or at least pushing it. The media has finally run out of Tiger Woods stories and is trying to blow hot air into whatever rumor mill there is for expansion.

After all is said and done, I surely hope it's minimalized as follows:

-Notre Dame to Big Ten (12 teams)

-UCF to Big East (9 teams football, 16 teams basketball)

-LA Tech to C-USA (12 teams)

-Utah and BYU or UNLV to Pac 10 (12 teams)

-Nevada and Boise or Fresno State to MWC (9 teams)

-FCS Montana moves up to join WAC (8 teams) [perhaps Eastern Washington to make 9 teams]

-USA (South AL) joins SunBelt as planned in 2013

Play football.

The end.

I like this look but in the end if any conference goes past 12, the have-nots (non AQ conferences) become worse...whether or not there is enough money in the pool to dilute among all of those teams I do not know...

To a point.

C-USA would get LA Tech which is a decent WAC team and could fill in nicely for UCF...better than most other candidate schools (forget TCU moving to C-USA, won't happen).

If the MWC only lost Utah and another team, but kept TCU and BYU, they'd be in good shape. If they brought over Boise State from the WAC or Nevada, or even Fresno State, they'd still likely get the 7th automatic BCS bid.

The WAC would lose out in football and wrestling by losing Boise State...because that's about all they're good at right now. The WAC would survive and remain a mediocre mid-major just like it is now. WAC is a stepping stone league, it just doesn't know it yet.

If the Big East expanded to 12 teams, and drew enough teams out of C-USA, it could domino into C-USA maybe pulling the two New Mexico teams into their West Division. Together, the WAC and MWC have 18 teams, and if you pull out LA Tech, the 2 NM teams, and two more going into the Pac 10, you're left with 13 teams that could easily merge to be a large western conference. The MAC gets along fine with 13 teams for now. Send Air Force back to independent status, or bring up Montana anyways, and have 14 teams. I hate having more than 12 teams in a football conference, but I wouldn't be as opposed to it if were not a "major" conference.