B1G discussing potentially adding Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal
Can't see Stanford and Cal coming. They wouldn't provide any additional revenue for the league, most likely dilute the earnings of the current Universities. I can see Washington and Oregon being added with the BIG holding out for Notre Dame and another East Coast school in the future. A compromise would be to add Stanford if it would coax Notre Dame into the league, but I don't think ND comes in without another East Coast school being added.
Stanford’s R&D in 2021-2 was $1.82B. I’m fairly certain the Big10 member schools would love to partner up with Stanford on some of those projects. These are still academic institutions.
By contrast, UofM’s athletics department revenue for FY 2022 was $210M.
This is most assuredly not just a “football revenues” discussion.
Doesn't adding Stanford make sense from a Notre Dame standpoint, though? I haven't followed any of this that closely, but my understanding is that basically the only school that truly brings in an above-average amount of $$ is ND.
If that is true, seems to me the right strategy is to get very close to an agreement with Cal, Stanford, Oregon and Washington and then go to ND and say, "If you ever want to play USC, Stanford, Michigan, Michigan State or Purdue again, join the big."
Then, if (when, I mean how could they just lose almost all of your historic rivalries?) ND says yes, you kick out Cal and add ND, Stanford, Oregon, and Washington.
On the other hand, to hell with Notre Dame.
Oh yeah, well I heard that Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and Clemson were getting together and joining a super conference that they are planning to simply call “Checkmate, Bitches”.
I think these successive goofy school rumors (FSU, Miami, these P<12 teams, etc.) all probably have a kernel of truth, but not much more. The conferences are churning, so of course everyone is talking to everyone else. But it only takes 1 phone call to qualify as "potentially discussing." It just doesn't mean much because every school not already in the B1G or SEC is probably looking around right now.
Poor Oregon State and Washington State.
I like this better than Clemson and fsu. I still care about school. Boot msu and Nebraska and we raise the profile!!
Let's face it, everything about college athletics these days is selling football content to networks and streamers. If that's the case, I say expand as much as possible and get as many name brands under the B1G banner as you can. It's like Netflix only having 12 good shows or HBO having 20 or more. Which would you pay for, which would be more valuable? Sure, you don't want to have stinkers like Fuller House or Rutgers, but if the B1G is the producer of the shows, have as many big ones as you can to "sell."
We can restore the beloved traditions of college football in the era of super leagues and the 16 team playoff (making bowls basically obsolete) by keeping divisions and giving one a hilariously bad travel schedule.
B1G Midwest: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue
B1G Coastal: USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal, Nebraska, Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State
B1G Championship game moves to the Rose Bowl.
The original B1G is basically restored, while all the expansion teams get their own division.
I don’t understand why people want the Big Ten Title game at the Rose Bowl… fuck that, keep it in Indy. Why make it a huge disadvantage for mid west and eastern teams in the Big Ten.. why give the new members an advantage.
Because people love the Rose Bowl and it's a way to keep it important in a new way. The Rose Bowl is basically dead in the era of a 16 team playoff. It was dying a slow death before that but the B1G was determined to make it somewhat relevant still.
Could also rotate between Indy and Pasadena.
Edit: Or you could think of the game being in the Rose Bowl as a consolation for making the other division traverse the country back and forth all year, though this does nothing for the likes of Rutgers, Maryland, and Penn State, 66% of whom will likely never have to worry about it anyway.
And if Penn State is the only one left mad, I am okay with that.
Or why not just rotate it among major stadiums? Indy. Rose Bowl. Ford Field. Sofi. Soldier Field. Etc. No reason to give any program a natural geographic advantage every year.
I like a lot of this idea, but I am laughing at the notion of "coastal" Nebraska.
Enjoy CFB this year, 2024 is going to be a lot different.
Here's the source we can all trust, weighing in yet again!!!
(This is sarcasm. Didn't read. Just copied the link as a joke.)
I like the initial "tell me when the pizza's done" response.
But it was FSU yesterday!
I realize nobody gives a shit, but the addition of Stanford and Cal would make the BIG the preeminent academic conference in the country.
The Ivy League would like a word.
Any challenges The Ivy makes will be resolved in a contest on the gridiron.
I like the B1G’s chances.
UAA too ......
On a tangent, I wouldn't be completely shocked if Cal and Stanford go Independent in football and then form their own all-sports-but-football conference. Something like this:
- 8-team conference: (1,2) Cal & Stanford, (3-7) the 5 D1 UC schools, all of which are also AAU members (UCSB, UC-San Diego, UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside, UC-Davis), plus (8) Hawaii.
- There's no Cal State schools, which the UCs see as below them.
- Hawaii isn't an AAU member but they have their academic niches and have athletic history in the Big West with the 5 new UCs.
- They could theoretically go to 10/12, picking off some WCC members for basketball strength. Say Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and Pepperdine (or LMU). That would be 5 NorCal schools, 5 SoCal schools, plus Gonzaga & Hawaii.
Some comments about ND have been posted. It’s pretty simple to me … similar to what others have shared.
Add Stanford, Cal, Oregon, and Washington.
Tell ND if they want to play a B1G team - including USC or Stanford - they must join the conference.
Time to play a bit of hardball..
Maybe go to 21 with 3 divisions of 7?
PAC - USC, UCLA, California, Stan, Oregon, Wash, ND?
Great Plains - Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue.
Great Lakes - Michigan, MSU, OSU, PSU, Maryland, Rutgers, NW.
Top ranked division winner gets a bye straight to championship game, other 2 division winners duke it out.
For what it's worth, it makes sense for the B1G to be looking at these teams. Of the teams that are "available" (ie, not in SEC or Big12 or in the process of joining them), the top five in terms of TV viewers are: Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon, Florida State, and Washington. Four of which just happen to be the teams the B1G is rumored to be looking at.
There are some curious numbers in there.
Why did Tennessee's TV viewership explode in 2021, when they went 7-6, only to plummet the next year when they were better?
MSU had a million more viewers to watch its 5-7 2022 team than its 11-2 team the year before?
Why did Auburn and Oklahoma have such low viewership in 2021?
I had swapped 2021 and 2022 labels -- should be fixed shortly. Doesn't affect the average of course. BTW, the data comes from Zach Miller, links:
Did Tennessee play a game against naked cheerleaders in 2021?
This is all so incredibly stupid. Can't wait for the commercial/content ratio to be 70/30.
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
You all are straight up assholes. Barstool reported this same news two days ago and you banned it from the boards.
Not the same news slick. The barstool news was fsu and Clemson and not Cal and Stanford.
Settle down. Barstool was banned a long time ago for valid reasons.