Expansion RUMOR (from georgia tech sites): TV networks pushing ND, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Rutgers to B1G?
http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2012/3/5/2846545/monday-afternoon-rumo…
"The first big one concerns conference realignment. Yes, that again. But this time it hits a little closer to home. There's a rumor being reported by Kelly Quinlan of JacketsOnline.com that comes from a couple contacts he has who work for a certain company with four-letter name (it doesn't start with F, either). This rumor states that the ACC is pushing pretty hard to get Notre Dame and Rutgers to join the conference, which would make the conference round out at 16 after the addition of Pitt and Syracuse. However, they're saying that this scenario does not have as much weight in likelihood as the next rumor: one that involves Tech leaving the ACC. (obligatory).
You read that right, there's a rumor with a little more smoke than the other one mentioned that involves said four-letter TV network pushing on the Big Ten (or so) to add Notre Dame, Rutgers, Maryland, and Georgia Tech by the year 2016."
First of all, just no. "From the Rumble Seat" is not a quality news source.
Secondly, even if this were somehow true, the whole point of the BTN was so we didn't have to pay a lick of attention to ESPN anymore.
THIRDLY, 16 team conference? No.
Finally, GT and Rutgers would not likely get CIC acceptance.
GT is pretty well thought of acadmically, I'd be surprised if they were turned down.
That being said, UGA dominates the state of GA. GT is probably third behind Alabama.
would be much more likely to reject ND. GT would currently be the median for the CIC in terms of research dollars, Maryland would be eigth, Rutgers would be second to last, ND last.
Fourthly, fucking Maryland? Not a chance
to Good Council alive and well, no?
Anyway, please no on the expansion, 12 is enough. Let the other conferences dilute themselves.
14 teams would be too much, although I could barely deal with that I guess if I have to.
Well, they did only lose to Temple by 31 last year...
They'd need to be in the division with Ohio and Penn State for "competitive balance" of course.
Fifthly, the article was posted by a kid under the username Lilbrooey700.
Because I'd rather watch, or buy tickets, for any combination of those teams over more Creampuff U., or South Creampuff U.
Baltimore/DC is the 4th largest tv market in the country, represents some of the best basketball recruiting in the country, some good football recruiting and kinda rival with penn state. In the last decade in basketball Maryland is third in the ACC in wins behind duke and UNC. They add a hell of a lot more than rutgers including better academics.
I wouldn't want to seem to give any credence to this rumor, but as far as your third point goes, I've been expecting an eventual 16-team conference ever since the new conference logo was unveiled.
But what do I know? My step-father is only a charter Victors Club member and season ticket holder for 47 years. He's only in the top 5% in giving to the University... and he believes that the conference and the logo are aiming at a 16 team membership. But hey, he probably doesn't know as much as a 22 year old who lives in AA.
Oh how I wish negs counted...
230... and still making haters hate.
How have I missed this guy before? Dude. I really hope you're under the age of 13. For your own sake. Come on, man. E-bragging about your dad? Not a good look, even if your dad is Superman and a.) Superman turned out to be real, b.) had a child that no one knew about, and c.) that child was now 11 years old and a raging brat.
If you're interested in seeing me, Mgrowold (to a lesser extent) and WatersDemos go out of character, plus some gems from this poster, check out this thread:
How did I miss this? That got a little bit heated, I salute you.
You might want to choose a different thread to direct people to. I don't really have a dog in the fight, and you seem to be a well respected poster, but the mgoblog-banner thread was a lot of you demanding the other user be banned because he said a lot of things that you disagreed with. It seemed like a good example of the one thing I dislike about this board at times. I admittedly haven't had the hsitory with this poster that you seem to have, and I am sure there is more behind your apparent hatred, but I would like to see us reserve such vitriol for users who spew hatred, vulgarity, or threats, not just opinions about the worth of non-revenue sports.
You are something else. Don't ever change.
How does your dad feel about Ty Isaac?
Jeebus.
Aside from your douchiness, I really fail to see how being a donor to UofM and a season ticket holder would give you any more insight to what the B1G is going to do 4 years from now. The B1G itself probably isn't even thinking about this yet.
The gift for one of the higher donation tiers is a pair of truth-seeing glasses.
I bet my dad could beat up your dad. Just sayin'...
1. From the Rumble Seat is GT's SBN blog and is generally decent. Regardless, they clearly labeled this as a rumor, so there's no need to complain about it.
2. The BTN is a supplementary source of income for the conference. The Tier 1 rights held by ESPN still bring in far more revenue than the BTN. Besides, the Big Ten Conference would want this from a financial and academic perspective. All of the universities under discussion are strong academically and expand the BTN footprint.
3. I don't want a 16 team conference, but there are ample reasons that the actors who actually make these decisions would.
4. GT and Rutgers are both AAU universities (as is Maryland) and would easily get CIC acceptance.
Why wouldnt they, Nebraska got in, and those 2 schools are better than Nebraska. Also, would add 3 new states to the research lobby.
GT, Maryland, and Rutgers are all AAU members. None of them are slouches academically.
They don't bring much in terms of the revenue generating sports (which I realize may well not be much of a factor vs. tv reach)...but still, they just don't.
I can tell you now that nobody outside Maryland gives a rat's ass about them coming to Ann Arbor for any reason.
They bring premire media markets to the B1G, and expand its footprint into long sought after growth areas of the country.
Not saying that its going to, or even should, happen, but it is has some merit beyond just a wild internet rumor.
If you would have clicked the link before commenting on it, you would have seen that the rumor is from the Georgia Tech Rivals site, not that I know them to be more credible than their SB Nation blog.
So now people on a sports blog are insulting another sports blog for not being a quality news source? Ironical.
why would we want 4 mediocre football teams?
Similar to the SEC's strategy. Increase your recruiting reaches to major cities without increasing the difficulty on your schedule
At least one is better than mediocre....Georgia Tech.
They can run the triple option to 7-9 win seasons until the apocalpyse for all I care but I'd consider them mediocare just because they will never be elite but probably never bad...thus, mediocre
Not that I agree with adding these teams, but one of the schools is a ratings powerhouse.
need any more teams. We gave ND three chances over the years to come on board. Now that we have Neb, ND can rot in independance-ville.
MD and GT? Does that make sense? Rutgers? Maybe, to balance out the Woody Division. But ND to the Bo Division? No way.
"is a (declining) ratings powerhouse." ND still IS a ratings powerhouse, but a quickly diminishing power unless they do SOMETHING impressive in the next few years. Remember, they're potentially losing an entire generation of new fans. ND's fame was built on 1. Discrimination against Catholics=bonding time (which has pretty much evaporated) 2. Their national schedule which allowed people all over the country to see the team (cable TV now allows Californians to watch Bowling Green every Thursday night) 3. A winning tradition, combined with likable personalities (of which there has been a severe dearth).
Give them a few years, and they'll be good. Able to compete for the B1G? That, I don't think is likely.
Not to make your life difficult, but... is that just a gut feeling or do you have evidence? Their trajectory is trending.... quite downwards.
Wait wait, how are both of us trolling? The two stances we are debating over are diametrically opposing positions, one of us is the troll and the other is the noble knight.
I'm the Knight.
Big10. Your unnecessary expansion. Woof.
From Delaney's standpoint, we get...ND (nationwide), GT (Atlanta, decent), Maryland (good, but only during basketball season) and Rutgers (the part of NJ that will ever watch).
Sounds like a terrible deal for the Big Ten.
You really think its a bad deal? You get Atlanta, DC and Baltimore and possibly NYC/NJ market. ND is the home run but they are so full of themselves, they will never join the B1G, maybe the ACC.
They have to be the big dog. I dont want Maryland and Rutgers in the conf, but i wouldnt be surprised if this happened.
I don't know about Atlanta, but you definitely don't get DC, Baltimore, or NYC. All of those cities are more NFL related as well as two of them (DC and NYC) are extremely diverse with their fanhood (Maryland isn't even half the market). I doubt any of those schools, besides Notre Dame, get any better TV ratings than Minnesota or Purdue.
Well for the TV packages, Rutgers is on regular cable programming in NYC and that is alot of eyeballs. B1G just wants to get on the local network. Not saying there would be alot of new viewers, but it would be on the basic package system. I am not sure about DC, Balty, or ATL. But I would think its the same.
Even in NYC, many people dont watch Rutgers, but outside the city, i think there is a alot more that do. IF you have MD vs Mich, i am sure that would draw more interest in the DMV and Balty area.
This will open us to 3 different markets and ND would be national. As I said, i dont think ND would go for it. If they join a conf, my humble opinion is that they try the ACC. They would broker a deal to run that conf basically. its not always about money with ND, they want the power to control things. Something that would never happen in the B1G.
I'll take the NYC in your name to mean that you know about the NY/NJ market a little bit but... who exactly is watching Rutgers? I mean, I don't think I've ever SEEN anyone wearing Rutgers gear besides a televised Rutgers sporting event, I don't know what town Rutgers is in (I think there might be in Rutgers, NJ... maybe?), their mascot is the Scarlet Knight (or is it Knights?), do they have a basketball team? I consider myself a pretty well rounded sports fan and I can't think of any reason I should care about Rutgers sports-wise or know anything about their teams or the school in general.
If you told me Rutgers was just a government conspiracy and that the school really didn't exist...
I might believe you.
Rutgers does get some viewers when they are good, better question is would you watch if they are playing ND, Mich, or OSU. or even PSU. If it was on reg cable, i am sure casual football lovers would watch.
Remember, Rutgers and Maryland aren't responsible for delivering NYC, DC, and Baltimore on their own. They, along with the rest of the Big Ten (including ND, if this goes through), would be trying to add these markets. Thus you'd have Rutgers, Maryland, ND, PSU, Michigan, and others with major presences in the NYC, DC, and Baltimore markets trying to get the BTN onto basic cable.