Comments on: A Closer Look At Big Ten Expansion

By: nvr1983

nvr1983 — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:44:48 +0000

Jim–
Thanks. You are close, but I do have a map (Google Maps) and according to it the driving distance/time between Austin and Iowa City is 1,006 miles (17 hours and 2 minutes) while the distance/time between Austin and Champaign is 1,004 miles (16 hours and 42 minutes) or if you want the quicker trip it is 1,026 miles (16 hours and 32 minutes). I’m not sure why the distance I have in the post is different so I’ll correct it now. It’s close either way because I didn’t calculate the distance between the dorms and the arena, but I’d give the edge to the Austin-Champaign trip.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:40:18 +0000

Hey! You need to look at a map. Austin Texas is closer to Iowa City, than it is to Champaign Illinois. Iowa would be Texas closest conference competitor.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:23:10 +0000

I echo the earlier comment that you can’t view this solely in athletic terms. The Big Ten views itself as sort of the Ivy League of state research institutions (with Northwestern as the lone exception). It will want Tier I academic schools that also have good Division I athletic programs, provide new markets for the Big Ten TV Network (which the conference owns) and are contiguous to current Big Ten states. Based on those criteria, only three universities qualify: Syracuse, Rutgers and…Maryland. Yes, Maryland is a darkhorse candidate for this, largely because the Big Ten has a significantly larger revenue stream than the ACC does; the allure of Big Ten football and the opportunity to boost College Park as a research institution would easily trump losing basketball games with UNC and Duke. The Big Ten is the only conference Maryland would leave the ACC for (forget those absurd Big East rumors). So expect Syracuse, Rutgers or Maryland to be the 12th school — in fact, the Big Ten could take all three to establish a solid footprint along the eastern seaboard (complementing Penn State).

By: Bill K

Bill K — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:24:35 +0000

ND would be best, but Missouri is the only other school that makes sense. TCU would love to go to the Big 12.

By: nvr1983

nvr1983 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:50:54 +0000

PB–
Distance between Louisville/Cincinnati and Champaign: Were you really whining about 2 miles (235 miles versus 237 miles)? Anyways, you might want to try Google Maps because according to them you are driving the wrong routes.

Students: I tried to only do the undergraduates since some schools have graduate schools in different cities, which makes them a lot less important for attendance. Yes I know that some schools have separate undergraduate campuses too, but I figure they will still support the school and quite frankly that’s more research than I was willing to do at this point.

Football Seats: The 56k seats thing is news to me and the U of L official site (http://www.uoflsports.com/facilities/lou-facilities-papajohns-cardinal-stadium.html). The ability to expand to 80k is nice, but until they say they will and have the funds to do so doesn’t count for much.

I’m not going to touch the petty squabbling about the relative prestige of the two schools (Pitt and Louisville).

By: Pb

Pb — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:08:49 +0000

Another thing is Louisville has over 22,000 students…Not 15,000.

By: Pb

Pb — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:53:27 +0000

corrections

Louisville is closer to Champaign Ill. than Cincy.

Louisville football stadium seats 56,000 now and can be expanded to over 80,000 seats. We do have a season ticket waiting list.

Academica are important. But for the so called people who know everything Mich St. did not become an AAU member until 10 years after they joined the Big 10. Louisville could do that in 10-15 years.

And for the dude that said Louisville is a commuter school but wants Pitt in the confrence…Pitt could qualify as a commute school as well dude. Pitt fans are not the best. they dont travel well and cant even sell their stadium out when they play the so called rival West Virginia.

Anyway, Louisville makes the most sense to me besides Mizzou. The Cards will go to the Big 10 or SEC….mark it down.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:09:03 +0000

Good summary I think the best realistic choice is Pittsburgh followed by Missouri. Notre Dame would be the slam dunk choice but I can’t see them joining because of football.

Louisville, as the other poster said, does not have the academics of a Big Ten institution. Neither does West Virginia.

Saying Rutgers is “mediocre” is really putting it mildly. The football program was the worst in D1 for years until Schiano got there and the basketball team hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1991. I don’t see how they stand any chance.

I think it’ll be Missouri because of the rivalry with Illinois and the location, but I’d take Pittsburgh.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:49:54 +0000

As for TCU, there is a lot of talk around the MWC of Boise State jumping on board this summer, bringing that conference up to 10 teams, in the hopes of eventually gaining full-fledged BCS status… While the second portion of that may be wishful thinking around the MWC’s commissioner’s office, I think the BSU part of the equation will happen.
Does that make it harder for the Big 12 to snag TCU from the MWC? Possibly.

IMO, the correct way for the Big Televen to do this is to get rid of one member, drop back down to ten members and then be able to play a complete round-robin in football and a home-and-home round robin in basketball the way the Pac-10 does, but the addition of a championship game and the money that goes with it certainly trumps being able to have reasonably intelligent conference scheduling…

By: G. Floyd

G. Floyd — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:44:51 +0000

What happens when one of these teams does fly north to the Big 10(11,12)? If a Big 12 team goes, I’m guessing that TCU now becomes part of the Big 12 and everything is fine. If the Big 10 snags someone from the Big East does this start a spiral of more conference realignments that the ACC expansion did?

By: dsdonut

dsdonut — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:35:27 +0000

Good summary, but I think you are off on a couple of things.

Like most fans, you focused on an athletic perspective. As a Big Ten fan, I would like to see the athletic angle given priority, but I think for the Big Ten, the focus will be on academics and $$$$$. The school that gets added will have to bring something to the table. The only realistic candidates from that perspective are Missouri and Rutgers.

Louisville, Cincy, WV have no shot whatsoever. From a purely athletic standpoint they’d be great fits, but the academics won’t work. B10 members have to be top research universities.

From the athletic perspective, Missouri is the way to go. They don’t suck at either football or basketball. Rutgers sucks at both. One thing you missed is that Missouri does have a pretty good rivalry with Illinois. The fan in me wanst Mizzou – assuming ND and Texas aren’t interested. Let’s face it – ND MIGHT be interested, Texas will definitely NOT be interested.

My fear is that the Big Ten is going to go after Rutgers. While I agree that most of NYC doesn’t care about Rutgers, if adding Rutgers gets the Big Ten Network on millions of cable packages in NYC, the Big Ten will make money. Expansion is all about the money. Missouri provides the whole state of Missouri and mainly the StL and KC markets. That’s not NYC, but it wouldn’t hurt. Penn St. already gets BTN into most households in PA, so adding Pitt doesn’t add a new media market.

By: Brett S

Brett S — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:29:38 +0000

Missouri has no real relationship with any Big Ten teams? Maybe you guys have heard of a little thing called the Busch Braggin’ Rights game played annually for the last 20+ years between Missouri and Illinois? No? Ok. Carry on then.

In any case, Illinois already plays Missouri in both football and basketball. I believe Mizzou played Purdue or Indiana in basketball as recently as several years ago as well. Iowa and Illinois both have the potential to develop into nice rivalries, and the Kansas rivalry can remain in both big money sports as a neutral site non-conference game in Kansas City similar to the one Mizzou now plays against the Illini.

By: tallguy

tallguy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:22:05 +0000

Louisville is a no go due to academics…it’s a commuter college, no way the Big 10 presidents allow Louisville in. It’s either Missouri or Pitt or no expansion until ND loses its NBC contract.