It's a great move for them, I think this would pretty much lock Schiano up for life as well. I've seen stuff that Nebraska is denying they have been in discussions and it looks like talk of them is dying down. I would be 100% shocked in Notre Dame manned up and joined a conference.
RU's been drooling about this for a while, it's their dream scenario. One question Vins, if they had to wait the 27 months then wouldn't they be in line for the 2012 season anyway?
That's what I thought, too. NCAA conference changes are made official on July 1 of each year. It is that date that you have to count 27 months back from, not the "start of play" of any particular sport. So with the 27 month exit agreement that Big East teams have, that would mean that April 1, 2010 would have been the deadline for any Big East team to be able to leave for another conference for the 2012-2013 school year.
It's such a big jump for them, I've never been a big fan of the Big 10 but growing up in Jersey the thought of Rutgers being in the Big 10 will certainly help their programs. It's actually a good move for the Big 10 from a basketball perspective beause it opens recruiting up to places they weren't getting kids from. Having Detroit, NYC and Chicago to snag kids from should help them tremendously.
There is a rumor circulating around Vegas that the AD's of the MWC meet in June and immediately following the meeting Boise St, Fresno St and possibly Houston or SMU will be invited to join the MWC. Hopefully this helps in keeping TCU, Utah and BYU in the MWC and more importantly gets us to AQ status.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany met with reporters this morning. This is per ESPN Big Ten twitter. Delany: "If you think there will be any earth-shattering announcements on June 6, I don't think you'll get them." June 6 presidents' meeting Delany: "We're taking our time." Delany says he hopes the expansion study doesn't take longer than 18 months. Said it could wrap up in 11 months, but not any time soon. Delany: Changing population demographics (to the south) and the Big Ten Network are the two main factors driving expansion. Delany: "Nobody would apply without knowing they would be welcome to apply. We're not interested in embarrassing ourselves." Delany says a head's up to conferences would be before a public announcement but not way before a public announcement. Delany on presidents' meeting: "There will be no vote. That’s not in our time frame.” Expansion will "no doubt" be discussed, no decisions. Delany says this decision is about institutions finding the best fit for themselves, not about conferences. "Institutions compete."
That's all bs... we all know that they're going to expand, it's only a question of to how many and with who.
What do think this means? Demographics to the south? Could easily mean they're pushing hard for Texas. I think they know Notre Dame is out, so they want more time to try to convince Texas.
Heard a rumor today during my show meeting: Big East is offering a final ultimatum to ND. Fully join, or GTFO. Basically, and Tom Dienhart has said something similar already, the Big East is trying to avoid a complete raid by the Big Ten so they came up with the following solution. Tell ND they have to be an allsport in the Big East, or get out. But if they go to the Big Ten, the Big Ten can't touch any other Big East schools. Period. The Big East can afford losing ND if/when they expand. The Big Ten would be 100% content with ND, Texas, and Nebraska. RU, Cuse, and Pitt are all nice secondary choices, but lets face it, a Big Ten with OSU, Michigan, ND, Texas, PSU instantly becomes a powerhouse conference. It makes sense to me, what options does the Big East really have? 1) Try to survive an outright raid from the Big 10. The Big 10 may take as many as 3 Big East teams, and those are going to be the 3 with the biggest market value. There will be no stopping them and these schools will jump in a heart beat. As easily the weakest BCS conference in the nation fiscally, can the league survive this? 2) Lose ND or gain an all sport ND by making a deal with the Big 10. Push out ND with the ultimatum and don't touch the rest of the Big East, which the Big 10 would gladly agree to. If on the tiny chance ND decides they prefer the Big East, the Big East is better off. IMO, The likely outcome is ND opts out, and Big East remains intact with the loss of ND but with the rest of it's member schools in the fold as full and equal partners. They survive, expand, and the conference becomes better off in the long run. Big East has NO other options... make a move, or get crushed.
I can't see the BE trying to force ND to do anything. The Irish hold the cards and will tell them to get lost if done so. The Big East is done as a conference in a few weeks, it'll still be around as a basketball conference with the non football schools but The Big 10 is going to raid and there's nothing they can do about this.
If the Big East forces ND out, are they going to go 100% independent? Maybe, or they join the Big Ten... and if they do that, the Big Ten can't touch the rest of the Big East. Only losers in that scenario may be Rutgers Pitt and Cuse. No way is the Big Ten going to 16 schools. I refuse to believe that.
Why? The Big East has 16 teams, it's not hard to see another conference expand to 16. Why is ND joining the ACC out of the question? They went after them the last time so it's not exactly out of the question to see them try to get ND again.
16 teams in basketball is different than 16 teams in football... In basketball, you can play each other. In football, some teams in conference won't see each other for years.
So? This happens with 12 teams too. With 16 if you split the divisions up like in the NFL you can play every team at least once every 3 years vs. 2 years in a 12 team format. If you get 18 you could set up a pre-1994 MLB with one division playing a team in the other only in the championship game.
The issue with ND is the fact that they have their own TV contract with NBC, they don't have to share the revenue with anybody. In the Big 10 they'd have to share everything they bring in with Northwestern and Iowa as well as give up their TV contract with NBC. Don't forget the role of NBC in this either, they have nothing for the most part and ND is their cash cow in the Fall outside of SNF, there is no way NBC will allow them to walk away from their contract. What benefit to them would that serve? They won't make more money that way. Throw in the fact that they could play anybody they want. They would likely have to end series and rivalries with USC, Stanford and Navy. I can't imagine them playing USC every year and then a brutal Big 10 schedule on top of it.
ND has no incentive to leave unless either the Big East sends it a mandate to either join for both sports or leave the BE (unlikely) or if the NBC contract runs out or if the BCS makes it harder for them to get in
Considering that there's no way in hell that the Irish would forfeit their football TV deal to save the money they get for BBall in the Big East, I doubt that would move them at all. They could easily just join the A-10 for their other sports, still keep some sort of prestige there with their basketball teams, and stay Indy in the sport that matters most.
Big East needs to be blown up anyways. I wish the smaller catholic basketball schools would man up and form their own conference. St. Johns Seton Hall Georgetown Providence Villanova Sienna Marquette Xavier St. Joes (PA) Mount St. Mary’s (MD) If necessary you could fill it out with places like Fordham, CUA, Loyola (MD), Scranton, Fairfield, Holy Cross.... Pretty good B-Ball conference without any big football teams getting short shrift. With the Big East about to be killed off by the poaching Big 10 and whoever comes in to feed on the scraps I think those schools who have a lot in common would be best served by joining together to look out for their best interests.
I've been saying this for years, that's how the Big East got started and got good to begin with, now it's just a name for the South Floridas of the world. Although I'd put Marist in there myself. :up:
