ESPN Big Ten Expansion Report...Schools Notified

[dencyguy]

According to ESPN's College Football Live, the Big Ten commish has notified four schools that they will receive offers to join the conference. Here's the link to the local affiliate that reported the story:

Sports Radio 810 WHB - Powered by Fans

And the money quote:

>>The Big Ten Conference has extended initial offers to join the league to four universities including Missouri and Nebraska from the Big 12, according to multiple sources close to the negotiations.

While nothing can be approved until the Big Ten presidents and chancellors meet the first week of June in Chicago, the league has informed the two Big 12 schools, Notre Dame and Rutgers that it would like to have them join. It is not yet clear whether the Big Ten will expand to 14 or 16 teams but sources indicated Missouri and Nebraska are invited in either scenario. Notre Dame has repeatedly declined the opportunity to join the Big Ten. If Notre Dame remains independent, Rutgers would be the 14th team. The Big Ten would then decide whether to stop at 14 or extend offers to two other schools. If Notre Dame joins, sources say an offer will be extended to one other school making it a 16-team league.<<

Okay, let's assume this is true...

1) I can't see Nebraska leaving the Big 12, so I think they would turn them down.
2) Notre Dame has talked a good game about remaining independent for a long time now, but they've also become virtually irrelevent in the BCS race over the last couple of years. Lou Holtth is more than happy to proclaim them BCS-bound every year, but with the rise of the mid-majors, it's gotten even harder to back into a BCS bowl with three losses. Unless you play in the ACC.
3) Missouri I could see leaving.
4) Rutgers too, but that's kind of a baffling pick to me. It seems like the Big East has other programs which make better sense, in terms of visibility and long-term competition. Louisville comes to mind. Heck, even Syracuse makes more long-term sense. Or, if Nebraska and Notre Dame say no, make a run at Pitt and West Virginia together. Okay, Pitt-West Virginia would be awesome, and I don't even like the Big Ten.
5) If the Big Ten (or Big Fourteen, or whatever) expands, I'm curious as to what happens to the other conferences. If Missouri goes to the Big Ten, does the Big 12 go after Arkansas to come back to the fold? Do they go after TCU? Does the SEC try to expand to a 16-team superconference? If they do, do they go after middling regional schools like Memphis, or do they try to poach from larger conferences (South Florida from the Big East or Clemson from the ACC)?

I'm not particularly bothered by the idea of conferences going to 12 teams, I start to get uncomfortable at 14, and 16-team conferences are an abomination before God and man; they completely screw up any sense of competitive balance when they expand to a point that teams play, at most, 60% of the teams in their conference.*

*--Assuming teams go to three non-con games, they would end up playing 9 out of the 15 other teams in their conference. By contrast, a team in a 12-team conference can play four non-con games and still play 8 of the other 11 teams (almost 73%).

Dennis
Screw Lane Kiffin

[grimmreaper3]

Originally Posted by dencyguy

4) Rutgers too, but that's kind of a baffling pick to me. It seems like the Big East has other programs which make better sense, in terms of visibility and long-term competition. Louisville comes to mind. Heck, even Syracuse makes more long-term sense. Or, if Nebraska and Notre Dame say no, make a run at Pitt and West Virginia together. Okay, Pitt-West Virginia would be awesome, and I don't even like the Big Ten.

New Jersey Market. Aggressive expansion.

Though Pitt/WVA/PSU would be... intriguing.

[dencyguy]

I hadn't thought of the media angle. That said, even with the whole "State University of New Jersey" thing taken into consideration (will douchebags in that state start insisting on calling it The New Jersey State University"?), I wonder what Rutgers' numbers are like right now. Would they improve if Rutgers was in the Big Ten? Sure, Ohio State or Michigan can't help but be better media draws than South Florida or Louisville, but still. And I doubt that New Yorkers would start watching Rutgers in droves if they were in the Big Ten because, better conference or not, it's still New Jersey.

Dennis

[mz.]

Big 10 strikes me as, well, retarded? Syracuse/WVA/Pitt would have been their best options out of the Big East IMO. By far.

I'd rather have my 'Cuse in the ACC, anyway.