The Big Ten announced recently the hiring of a firm to investigate possible candidates for expansion. The scuttlebutt is that the list of candidates contains 15 schools and Notre Dame and Texas are not among them. The best part of the PAC-10 and Big Ten exploring expansion is playing the “what if” game. That’s why the magic number for every conference should be 14. The NCAA could take major steps to growing support nationally by creating five 14-team super conferences for their FBS teams.
The path to getting there would involve distributing the 9 Big East teams, 4 powers from the WAC/Mountain West (BYU, Boise State, TCU, and Utah) and Notre Dame across the remaining 5 conferences (Big 10, Pac 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC). Below are some suggested changes to reach this alignment:
- PAC 10 adds BYU, Utah, Boise State, and Colorado (Strengthens football and adds Salt Lake and Denver TV markets)
- Big Ten adds Pitt, WVU, and either Syracuse or UCONN (Adds several Penn State rivalries and New York or Boston TV market)
- ACC adds Rutgers and either Syracuse or UCONN (Strengthens basketball and adds New York TV market)
- SEC adds Louisville and South Florida (Adds natural rivalry for Kentucky and Tampa market)
- Big 12 loses Colorado and adds TCU, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame (Strengthens football and national TV with Notre Dame).
In the end, we’d have conferences with broader geographic reach and a December Championship Week that would be unparalleled in sports. The non-BCS powers would be in the equation for the BCS championship. This would also lead to 5 sustainable conference TV networks that will demand more money for access.
I know there is a better chance of pigs flying then drastic conference realignments, but that’s why the “what if” game is so fun. There's also so much money involved and TV contracts all coming to an end at different times, that big changes can all come suddenly without warning. Witness what happened with the ACC when they stole 3 teams from the Big East in a sudden and clumsy fashion 6 years ago.
Conference realignment can be a domino reaction, and one set of moves generally leads to more, and 6 years ago, the Big East immediate began robbing teams from other smaller conferences to repair the damage done by the ACC. Generally when this type of colossal change is underway, you want to be on the front end of it driving change, not the back end reacting and making up for it.
What would your perfect conference alignment be? Let us know.
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The Big Ten should not invite Pitt !! Other than adding the 12th school needed to hold a conference championship, including Pitt gets the conference nothing as far as TV market expansion. Hey, when PSU wanted to join the Big East during the 80s, Pitt wouldn’t allow it, so now, the favor should be returned. The Big Ten should invite Rutgers, Missouri, or Syracuse. Anyone but Pitt !!
that is progressive thinking PaJo. Get your facts straight, Penn State never wanted to join the Big East back in the 80’s. Joe Paterno wanted to start and all sport Eastern conference and Pitt decided to stay with the Big East to start their football conference, which Pitt was a member for basketball only at the time. Joe has held it against Pitt since then because the Pitt decision started the demise of Paterno’s plan. He has since taken a stand to only offer 2 for 1 home games if Pitt wants to restart the football rivalry. It’s amazing the power of one man robbing a great tradition from 100,000’s of people. And PSU is stuck with the forced rivalry with Michigan State. While Paterno uses the excuse that Tim Curley and Fran Ganter make those decisions (they don’t do anything without the old man’s blessing) and that they have to appease fans that want the team to play near Philly and other schools like Alabama, Notre Dame, and Nebraska to the schedule. Meanwhile, we are forced to belive that Michigan State is our rival because we are land grant schools? Are you kidding me? FYI, Ohio State and Michigan do not view PSU as their rival. Not even their 2nd biggest rivals in the Big Ten.
This article, by Andy Staples, shows what I believe to be the best allignment solution yet!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/02/16/conference-realignment/index.html
If there’s one thing I do want the Feds to fix, it’s College football.
This plan would make me very happy indeed.
First of all, conference expansion doesn’t work like this. The conferences don’t work in concert with each other so that the national picture makes better sense to the observer. It’s not a matter of this conference could take these two teams, then this conference can take these, that conference gets these–and it all works out beautifully… Conferences work independently, for their own self interest. And that means for the best financial deal.
As for your choices… The Big Ten is composed of very strong research universities. This is true of EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL. West Virginia would not qualify in either measure–academically or in research. And even if it did qualify, do you think the wealthiest conference in college sports would aim to expand into–of all places–the West Virginia market? You almost couldn’t think of a less lucrative market to expand into. Maybe Wyoming or North Dakota would be worse markets. And do you think the primary motivation is to get a rival for Penn State? The motivation is cash in the way of TV viewers.
While Pitt qualifies academically, a new candidate has to offer the ability for a new TV audience for the BTN to get access to. That means a large school in a new, untapped market. Pitt’s market is already covered by Penn State. So Pitt doesn’t do anything for the Big Ten in terms of earnings.
Personally, I don’t think Syracuse in upstate NY captures much in the way of the New York market. Also, while a good school, Syracuse is smaller than a typical Big Ten school, it’s private, and it does just a tiny fraction of research of Big Ten schools. It’s also not a football power these days, and that’s the sport that earns the biggest money. It’s not an ideal fit.
I also don’t think UConn captures the Boston market–and the academics are not a slam dunk either. And again, they’re not a football powerhouse.
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