Big Ten Looking Again for 12th Member?

[Rogee]

I agree! Rutgers... REALLY? It seems like kind of a stretch.

I'll admit ignorance, but Rutgers doesn't seem very well known here in the midwest. That would probably play to their advantage -- Rutgers gets national attention, and the Big Ten gets an east coast market.

[gobrewers]

Pac-10 Set to Invite Six from Big 12
By Chip Brown, orangebloods.com

The Big 12 meetings are reaching their climax Thursday and Friday in Kansas City with the presidents and chancellors from the league coming together to discuss pressing issues, including sites for championships. (Look for the Big 12 title game in football to stay at Cowboys Stadium for the next three years.)

But when it comes to possible realignment, the Big 12 meetings may be premature.

Why?

Because it appears the Pac-10, which has its meetings in San Francisco starting this weekend, is prepared to make a bold move and invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado to join its league, according to multiple sources close to the situation. Left out would be Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Missouri.

Full article

I'd say this is a pretty significant development if there is any truth to it. Also you have the Colorado AD saying this report "Has some validity to it" as well as the Washington St AD saying that a "full Pac-10, Big 12 merger is possible". Maybe this is the move that gets the expansion dominoes to fall

[nomarandlee]

If I were a Kansas U. fan I would be miffed. All this realigning and a program as major as Kansas could be left without a chair? That would be odd.

Big 12 blew it by eschewing playoff

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
3 hours, 56 minutes ago

Follow Dan Wetzel on Twitter at @DanWetzel

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe all but killed his own conference on April 30, 2008.

That’s when he decided to team up with the Big Ten and Pac-10 to reject a four-team playoff being pushed by the SEC and ACC. If the Big 12 (and/or the Big East) had supported it, the so-called “Plus One” model likely would’ve happened.

Even that modest playoff would have meant hundreds of millions of additional revenue for college athletics. It would have then allowed for easy expansion for an even more lucrative 16-team postseason. That would have solved all the monetary concerns that have left the Big 12 on the verge of collapse at the hands of its one-time allies, the Big Ten and Pac-10.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany admitted to Congress a 16-team playoff could gross four times what the current Bowl Championship Series does – in other words about $900 million annually.

He opposed it anyway. Beebe and the others never seemed to ask why. They’re finding out now.

Conference expansion is about to forever alter college athletics: destroying traditions, hammering taxpayers and increasing competition. It will leave once-major programs out of the loop, consolidate power and extend the gap between haves and have nots – even within leagues such as the Big Ten.

No one is in a more desperate spot than the Big 12, which this week could see as many as eight league members receive invites to leave.

It’s all because of money. And when it comes to money in college athletics it all comes back to one thing – the leaking oil disaster that is the BCS.

There are two major revenue streams left in college sports – football television contracts and a football postseason. (The men’s basketball tournament is essentially maxed out.)

It’s clear now that Delany used opposition to a football playoff not to preserve some bit of “tradition.” His expansion plans clearly indicate he cares nothing about that. It certainly wasn’t done for the sake of aiding Big Ten football, since a playoff with on-campus home games likely would’ve helped his teams.

The goal was to starve out the Big 12, Big East and even the ACC of the hundreds of millions a playoff would’ve given them and thus turn the future of college sports into a battle of television sets.

Delany couldn’t assure that the Big Ten would’ve done well in a football playoff. Maybe the league would’ve succeeded, maybe not. With 26 percent of the nation’s population, tradition rich clubs and its own cable network though, the Big Ten will always dominate if everything boils down to TV revenue.

It was a genius, cutthroat throat play. He set the terms of the game so he’d win. The Pac-10, led by aggressive new commissioner Larry Scott, is taking advantage also. I’m not blaming Delany here. I may not believe a 16-team Big Ten (or Pac-10) is in the best interest of the league’s current members (or the NCAA as a whole), but it’s not that big of a deal to me. Whatever happens, happens. Besides, it’s not Delany’s fault he’s smarter than the other guys.


Am I being too hard on Beebe? Not even close. He’s been played like a fiddle. In April, while Delany was assuring the other commissioners his league wouldn’t contact schools about expansion without informing them first, Beebe offered this bit of naïvete.

“I expect that Jim, who I have known for many, many years and trust implicitly, [will] do what he said he’s going to do,” Beebe said. “If and when the time comes that they’re going to do anything – and if that includes any of the institutions in the Big 12 – he’ll let me know first.”

This week the Columbus Dispatch printed emails between Delany and Ohio State president Gordon Gee that detailed Gee reaching out to the University of Texas to broach interest about the Big Ten.

So much for Mr. “Trust Implicitly.”

Why Beebe and Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese ever felt safe with Delany is a mystery. The guy is an assassin. He’s always been public about his desire to do whatever he feels is best for the Big Ten (or at least his “legacy”).

Rather than helping him block the Plus One, they should’ve been explaining to their presidents that a full playoff was imperative to survival.

And let’s forget the ridiculous notion that the presidents are vehemently opposed to a playoff. The presidents will do whatever their commissioner says. It’s always been that case and the expansion chaos proves it. Ohio State’s Gee has been an anti-playoff guy in part because of “missed class time,” even if none would be missed under a playoff that takes place during semester break.

Yet now he’s in favor of adding Texas to the Big Ten, meaning he’ll ship all of his athletes all the way to Austin which would cause … missed class time for hundreds of students.

It’s all a pile of garbage. Here’s guessing the schools that could be left behind – which could include Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State, Colorado, Louisville, West Virginia, South Florida and so on – will soon be furious they weren’t told the truth about what they were really opposing. The Plus One wasn’t a postseason plan, it was a lifeline.

Those presidents deserve their own blame, of course. They should’ve learned the truth about the BCS and recognized the need to find revenue outside of just television deals. They should’ve been building their own alliance for a richer and more equitable postseason.

In 2008, the smaller leagues and Notre Dame would’ve almost assuredly gone along. The ACC and SEC were clearly open to discussion. If a 16-team playoff wasn’t possible, at the very least the Plus One was. It’d be a different ballgame right now if just that was in place.

Instead the leagues blindly followed along with a revenue model that has left them susceptible to destruction.



This isn’t the time to deal with all the issues surrounding the BCS or explain how a 16-team playoff works (on the field or in the checkbook). I’ve covered it extensively in the past and helped write a book on the subject – “Death to the BCS,” due out in October. Sorry for the shameless plug, but when I say it takes an entire book to show all the scams and lies that really power the system, I mean it.

Just know this, the BCS offers not a single, real world, tangible benefit to college athletics. Its only defense is that it’s better than the old system, which isn’t saying much.

Financially is where it performs most poorly. The current bowl system/BCS generated $220 million in gross revenue in 2008-09 and just $140 million in profit due to the high cost of keeping most bowl games afloat. If this sounds good, it isn’t.

Delany estimates a playoff could gross $880 million. The more conservative, yet exhaustively researched estimate we used in the book comes in at around $780 million. In each case profits would exceed $700 million, meaning the BCS is costing college athletics over half a billion in annual profit.

Delany was one of the people instrumental in hiring public relations flaks Ari Fleischer and Bill Hancock to spread factually bankrupt propaganda about the system in an effort to create the illusion of a debate – hey, maybe the BCS works! Please. It doesn’t. The current chaos is just the latest proof. The real purpose of the PR campaign was merely to buy time for the Big Ten Network to get fully operational.

The BCS has killed everyone financially. It’s killed them to the point only a dozen or so schools break even each year on athletics. Most athletic departments need student fees or taxpayer funded general university budgets to cover expenses (nearly $900 million combined in 2008-09 according to USA Today).

That includes even Big Ten schools such as Illinois ($4.5 million), Wisconsin ($3.4 million) and Minnesota ($3.4 million). Even a powerhouse such as Ohio State needed to raise ticket prices this year to balance future books.

All while that pile of playoff money sat there, untapped.

Protecting the BCS wasn’t about greed. It wasn’t about determining a real champion. It was about power. Now the Pac-10 and Big Ten have it.

The 16-team playoff was the only route to save the Big 12, Big East and likely the ACC as its now constructed. Under our detailed plan (essentially the NCAA’s model for lower divisions), every time a team plays a game it would receive a share of revenue, in this case $25 million.

Consider the 2008-09 season where Big 12 members Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech all would’ve been selected. If the seeds held, those clubs would’ve combined to play nine playoff games meaning the league would’ve walked with $225 million in revenue. The conference then could’ve written each league school an $18.75 million check just from the playoff. That year the Big Ten would’ve earned just three shares for $75 million, a per team share of $6.8 million.

If that’s happening, do you think Missouri and Nebraska still want out? You think the Big Ten’s TV revenue advantage still matters?

This all goes back to the cost of inaction, the penalty for not dealing with the sport’s most pressing problem.

There should be no reason for these leagues to expand (other than the Big Ten adding one team).

Sixteen-team leagues won’t make life better for anyone. They’ll likely prove to be logistical and philosophical wars. The commissioners have sold the public on the idea that more money is always a good thing – using the fail-proof, if unproven, “it’s good for recruiting” line. Here’s the thing, if all your rivals build a new weight room, then recruits aren’t impressed with a new weight room.

It won’t be better for fans or players or even, in many regards, coaches, who will face greater demands for success. More money only means something to the small group of people (athletic directors, commissioners, coaches) who will see their already huge salaries grow, will be able to charter more private planes and will continue to justify remodeling their already opulent “facilities.”

If you’re a powerhouse in your league, why would you want to change anything? It isn’t getting better for Texas and Oklahoma than the current Big 12, where the two programs have reached five of the last seven BCS title games.

If you’re in the middle of the pack, why would you add more competition in recruiting and a watered-down schedule? If you’re Minnesota or Northwestern and trying to sell tickets, do you want more Rutgers home games and less Ohio State? Or to deal with Nebraska recruiting the Twin Cities or Chicagoland?

They could try though. If Beebe and current Big East commissioner John Marinatto want to display real leadership, they can tell their current members to sit tight and allow them to build a consensus for a real football postseason that will solve all their revenue problems. They need to stand up and declare Armageddon is here and it’s time to get serious. The other leagues and Notre Dame would be all for it. The SEC and ACC would be smart to approve simply as a defense against Big Ten and Pac-10 aggression. Or in the ACC’s case, the inevitable SEC pillaging of its teams.

Go ahead and dare the Big Ten and Pac-10 to not come along. See how long Gordon Gee lasts as Ohio State president when he tells Buckeye fans they will no longer be competing for the national title. In the meantime, send your recruiters to Cleveland and Detroit.

A 16-team playoff could be up and running by 2014 – which would immediately change all the revenue models.

Then Beebe could show that teams such as Nebraska and Texas could make more money while enjoying a clearer road to that thrilling postseason by staying home. He would be able to offer a future that’s brighter than the one offered by the Big Ten or Pac-10.

At the end of the day this has always been about the BCS and billions in revenue it has cost cash-starved college athletics.

Jim Delany just didn’t tell his peers. And they weren’t smart enough to figure it out themselves.

..

[nomarandlee]

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1091537

Pac-10 ready to make moves, Nebraska's decision is key
Chip Brown
Orangebloods.com Columnist


.............CRYSTAL BALL

As these conversations with college officials have piled up, it's become clear that - starting with Nebraska's decision - dominoes could start falling that would lead to four super conferences.

The Pac-10/Big 12, the Big Ten, the SEC and most likely some combination of the ACC and Big East.

(And look for the SEC to reach into the ACC for Virginia Tech and Florida State if the Pac-10 pulls off its coup.)

If four superconferences emerge, you could be looking at the playoff everyone has been waiting for with the conference championship games serving as the quarterfinals.

Everything about college football's postseason as we know it would likely be revamped and revised.

The non-super conference schools would sue to get into these playoffs, but by then the NCAA might have nothing to do with supervising college football.

At that point, the four superconferences could be appointing their own governing body, creating their own rules and breaking away from the NCAA and the rest of college football.

Lawsuits would be filed by those left out, and there'd likely be government hearings into the legality of it all.

But the playoff field of 60 to 64 teams would basically be set at the beginning of every football season with the race to get to the quarterfinals (conference championship games), then the semifinals and national title game.

That's why the stakes have never been higher. It's the Big 12's Cuban Missile Crisis. But the league isn't dead yet.

Stay tuned.

I hope that if these mergers do go through that there lawsuits and these leagues really do get called before congress and be found to be anti-competitive (which they would be). To many good teams and schools would be left on the outside looking if it was left to four mega-conferences even if the appeal of a real playoff was implemented.

[SRG]

This is all we've been talking about down in Oklahoma and Texas. I am excited about the potential that a Pac 16 would offer, especially for the Oklahoma schools. As a lifelong OU guy I can look forward to matchups like an annual OU/USC conference championship game, a matchup between Bob Stoops and younger brother Mike Stoops (Arizona head coach), and other cool potential matchups. I think the general feeling here in OK/TX is that the SEC makes a lot more sense geographically and logistically. We are southern, not west coast. But when you add the TV markets together and the fact that the SEC doesn't seem to know what the hell it's doing and is moving slow and seems more interested in expanding against the east coast, this is a golden opportunity that presents itself as the next best alternative to the Big 12 which is looking less and less likely to exist in a year or so. I think that the Big 12 South merging with the SEC also presents the problem of too many juggernaut programs..in the last two years, the following schools have all been Top 5: OU, Texas, OSU, Texas Tech, LSU, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and even Ole Miss. Let's not forget that Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Auburn have been asleep for a while. That would be a lot of extremely powerful schools butting heads every week and I don't think you can have that kind of firepower in one conference.

[nomarandlee]

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com...n-big-ten.html

Nebraska to leave Big 12 for Big Ten

June 9, 2010 4:59 PM

By Teddy Greenstein

The Big Red will be joining the Big Ten.

A source with knowledge of the expansion talks has confirmed to the Tribune that Nebraska will be invited to apply for Big Ten membership.

The league has not determined, the source said, whether it will remain at 12 schools or expand to 14 or 16.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Sunday that the league "could act and act again" - meaning that expansion could occur in phases.

Act I is set: Nebraska will join the conference of Bo and Woody.

Orangebloods.com is reporting that the announcement will come Friday.

So if it stays as 12 team conference it will be split up into two divisions with..........

West
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern


East -
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan St.
Penn St.
Ohio St.



..

[embora]

This blog mentions the same thing about Nebraska, and has other rumors about other Big 12 teams - speculating Colorado and 5 Big 12 South teams to to the PAC 10, and that Texas and Texas A&M could goes to the Big 10. And that Texas A&M could alternatively go to the SEC. I suppose if you make enough predictions, one will prove to be true.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/96093269.html

[SRG]

Texas aint goin to the Big Ten. Get over it. Not gonna happen.

[El Mariachi]

I am very happy with Nebraska. Perfect fit IMO.

[Coldwake]

I agree, nebraska is a perfect fit. So much so, that when I was younger I used to think Nebraska WAS part of the big ten!

[nomarandlee]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...ten-scheduling

Big Ten must tackle divisions, scheduling
By RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer
7 hours, 2 minutes ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—The Big Ten had neatly drawn up its football schedules for the next three seasons before Nebraska joined the conference.

Now those dates and travel plans have all been tossed to the wind.

When conference officials and member athletic directors meet in late July or early August, they’ll face a thicket of questions in a brave, new world for the Big Ten.

With Nebraska on board as the Big Ten’s 12th member, most likely starting in 2011, what will be the divisions in football? How should the conference schedule be set up? Where will the football championship game be played? Will there be different divisional alignments to balance other sports?

“We’ll meet, talk about divisions, try to figure that piece out and talk about a process for a championship game and a location process,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said Wednesday. “There’ll probably be other opinions in the room.”

No doubt. Some will want the divisions based on geography. Others favor a balance of power.

“I honestly think it will be amenable,” Minnesota AD Joel Maturi said. “We have a great group of AD’s who see the big picture and get along. It may not be easy but that is only because it is difficult and challenging. I really have no strong preference except the hope to continue some of our strong relationships/rivalries.”

Even once a consensus is reached on a divisional setup, there are a multitude of other considerations.

Commissioner Jim Delany acknowledged that just bringing Nebraska into the fold was only the first step.

“Making the integration successful, smooth and quick is the second,” he said in announcing the expansion.

Conference officials and ADs are trying to set up a workable date to meet and discuss the concerns.

For instance, how many games will teams play within and outside of their divisions?

“Really, it’s probably our major focus,” Smith said.

The general assumption is that the Big Ten will follow other conference models, splitting into two six-team divisions, with teams playing each of the other five teams in their division and then three teams in the other division on a rotating basis.

There is also some talk that football teams might eventually play a nine-game Big Ten schedule, five in the division and four out.

Even arriving at names for the divisions could be contentious—North and South? East and West? Bo and Woody? Paterno and Osborne?

No matter how the schedules are drawn up, some schools will likely grumble quietly. The conference will try to preserve old rivalries, but there are no guarantees that all will be played annually. There’s no question that new ones will be created.

“Rivalries grow up over time,” said Nebraska’s AD and the former coach of the football Cornhuskers, Tom Osborne.

Because they are in different conferences now, the enmity between Nebraska and Oklahoma may dim. Perhaps neighboring Iowa will offer a bit of bad blood for the Huskers.

“As time goes forward, because of proximity, because they’re a very fine program, I would imagine it could grow into a rivalry of some kind,” he said. “We’ve only played each other four times in the last 25 years or so, so there isn’t quite the history, but we’re looking forward to playing them, and there will be a lot of interest in those games.”

Detroit, Chicago and Indianapolis have already expressed interest in hosting the Big Ten football championship.

After all of the problems in football have been resolved, the ADs will address what to do with the other 24 Big Ten sports. The divisions set up for football might not work for women’s volleyball or baseball.

“Just because it works for football doesn’t mean it’s going to work that way for everybody else,” Smith said.

And there’s always the possibility the conference could expand to 14, 16 or even more schools, creating a whole new stadium full of questions.

AP Sports Writers Eric Olson in Lincoln, Neb., and Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

..

[jpIllInoIs]

^"Detroit, Chicago and Indianapolis have already expressed interest in hosting the Big Ten football championship."

Once again, Chicago's short sighted capitulation to the private interest of the McCaskey's and the Bears will come back to bite them in the ass. NO way that the Big10 will select Soldier Field with a measly capacity of 62,000 for a Championship game that could sell 110K tickets.

Lets see- No Super Bowl, No College Bowl games- No Big 10 Conf championship- No Olympic games-lost National Historical Place status after reno. And the Bears still suck. But I digress... back to the Big10 discussion.

[nomarandlee]

I still think Chicago could make a compelling case to host a title game. That said you are of course right and Chicago would have been hard to turn down if there was a 70-80k retractable dome along the lake perhaps just south of where McCormick sits (or really anywhere).

It will be interesting to see if they will want to rotate such a game. If they want it indoors at a permanent spot I would say that Indianapolis would be the best option given its more centrally located then Detroit or Minneapolis.

[nomarandlee]

So with Syracuse and Pittsburgh looking like they're going to the ACC who does the Big Ten ending up holding the door open for? To bad because I thought they perhaps made the best logical choices.

Missouri.?
Notre Dame ?
Kansas?
Oklahoma?
Cincinnati?
Texas?
Rutgers?

[GarfieldPark]

Holding the door open for what? To go to 14 teams? or 16? I've heard talk about there ultimately being four "super conferences", each with 16 teams. If the Big Ten wants to add another four teams, the four I'd pick from your list are: Missouri, Kansas, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

[nomarandlee]

I don't think 14 is going to cut it. In fact I wonder if these super conferences will not end up having more like 18 or even 20 teams.

The Big Ten better get moving because even though these new conferences make little geographic sense they are forming quick. If the Big Ten doesn't move quick then I think the Pac-10, ACC, and SEC will quickly surpass it in terms of quality and depth as sports conferences go.

Perhaps they should pull out all stops to try to get Texas and Rutgers to come into the Big Ten. If Oklahoma could also be stopped from going to the Pac-10 that would bring the three prime football schools from the Big Twelve into the fold. An invitation to Kansas would also help out the conferences basketball pedigree.