Boston College for Big 10 Expansion?

Boston College and ND are rivals insofar as they are catholic schools. ND has bigger rivalries with USC, Michigan, MSU, Purdue and maybe even Navy.

I don't think adding BC either should or will entice ND more than say money, and being the a "conference-less" team would.

If ND is intent on playing service academies, catholic schools, UM, and USC ... let them ... they'll probably be forced to see the light soon enough.

An awful idea. People from Boston, unless you went there, hate BC. Their stadium is an absolute joke - they pipe extra drum music because their band is too soft to reach the other end of the stadium. Their entire fan base is comprised of lame fair weather fans.

And BC would never, ever leave Hockey East.

Just a horrible idea.

I would take them over Rutgers in a heart beat. As far as the Big East teams we are looking at goes me thinks:

1. ND
2. Pitt
3. Cuse
4. UConn
5. Rutgers

I wish West Virginia had any resemblance of academic standards so we could invite them in. I would love to see RR going against them every year.

I like the idea of adding BC, Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, and one other. That could be ND, Missouri, or whoever else. That would make for a very, very big market while adding good football/basketball/academic programs to the conference.

...that this was discussed on the UCONN to Big 10 thread and that's a great place to continue the conversation.

BC was in the Big East until 2005, when they switched to the ACC. It's unlikely that they'd switch again to yet another conference, which would make it three different conference affiliations within a decade. That's something that a Mountain West school might do, but I think the Jesuits who run BC are bit more conservative.

BC was just added in the recent ACC expansion if you remember correctly, there is no way they are going to move this soon again

Seriously, everyone is throwing out the most random schools without even any rational thought.

- Nebraska adds less to the Big Ten Network than even Upstate NY does, much less NYC and has no rivals among any Big 10 members.
- UConn isn't an AAU member, isn't from a contiguous state, has no rivals among even the candidates except for with SU, and is lower-ranked academically than most other candidates.
- Nobody even cares about BC in Boston. BC has not been a net gain for the ACC, there is zero-chance that the Big Ten will make the same mistake.
- Texas isn't going anywhere since the Texas state legislature will never let them leave Texas A&M and Texas Tech behind, and the Big 10 won't add Texas A&M since they won't add anything that Texas doesn't, cutting in half the financial gains Texas brings. That and the Big 12 already does not split revenue equally and Texas brings in the largest share in the conference.

Taking a look at Nebraska, which Brian cited in his post today:

Total population of the State of Nebraska: 1,800,000

Media Markets by household within ~2 hours of Syracuse:
Buffalo: 630,000
Albany: 555,000
Rochester: 392,000
Syracuse: 385,000

Source: http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/us_hh_by_dma.asp

Just those four cities (neglecting any other Upstate NY city like Utica, Binghamton, etc. or even New York City) has 1,960,000 TV households. More than the population of the entire state of Nebraska.

As an apples-to-apples comparison, according to the latest census info I could find, Nebraska has a total of 695,000 households. Hell, just Syracuse has over half the households as compared to the entire state of Nebraska.

Source: www.census.gov/acs/www/Area%20Sheets/Area%20Sheet%20NE.doc

So someone please tell me how Nebraska is a reasonable candidate?

edit: Nebraska is also the lowest rated academic school compared to any of the candidates mentioned, even the non-sensical ones. (ND, Pitt, SU, RU, UConn, BC, KU, UT, TAMU, Mizzou)

I don't see the upside of them joining. I hope they stay in the ACC.

I don't like it. They are good academically, but their sports aren't that good. I would much rather have Pitt, ND, Texas, or Cuse.

One more thing to keep beating the dead horse.

All four cable companies that currently serve Nebraska: Cox, Time Warner, Cable One, and Charter, already carry the Big Ten Network.

That adds $0 in additional TV sets to 60% of the BTN revenue.

For beginners... ...BC is not an AAU member and Massachusetts does not boarder Pennsylvania.

The Big 10 Network is about market size, household subscriptions and double-dipping advertising... ...and that's not about Nebraska. It's about #1 NYC (Rutgers and Syracuse since both are need to keep the ACC out of NYC), it's about solidifying #21 St. Louis and colonizing #32 KC (Missouri), and it's about keeping the ACC out of #23 Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh.) All 4 are AAU (that is very important to current constituency) and all 4 are in states that boarder current member's states. Debate the sixteenth.