The Ro*Tel Big Ten O'Meter Update: Quick, Everyone Find A New Conference
by Sean Keeley on Jun 14, 2010 12:40 AM EDT
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PrintWhat a week, huh? Nebraska and Northwestern are in the same conference and so are Colorado and USC, or what's left of USC at least. And they'll be joined soon by The Texas & Oklahoma Conglomerate. And Texas A&M will apparently share a conference with South Carolina.
The Big East remains unscathed for now, but that's just because the Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC are just beginning to devour the Big 12's carcass. Once they've picked it clean, they'll set their sites East and then the carnage should ensue.
Even with all of this new of expansion-madness, I'm going to downgrade the Ro*Tel O'Meter for Syracuse.
Call me crazy but I think the more insane things get, the less it bodes well for SU.
The Big Ten already has an ace in the hole with the Huskers. Assuming they poach Missou along with them, that makes 13 teams. I think we can assume Rutgers is in the mix to make it 14.
At this point I think Notre Dame would have to look long and hard in the mirror and decide once and for all how it wants to spend the next 25 years. The sport is officially changing and the time of the superconferences is rapidly approaching. It was easy to make it as an independent when conferences were 8-10 regional teams spread out across the country. Now? With 14-16 team conferences controlling the sport, the TV contracts and the revenue therein, the days of running the show by yourself are coming to a close. If I were ND, I'd really think about whether or not I want to go it alone from here on out, especially when you keep putting up 6-7-8-win seasons.
So if Notre Dame were to wise up and join, I just don't know if Syracuse fills that final spot. Maybe...you could certainly make the case for them over Pitt, UConn or anyone else. Then again you could make the case for those schools as well.
Ultimately, I keep leaning back towards the ACC. Especially if the SEC now decides to poach the ACC's best teams in an attempt to jump to 14 or 16. Certainly Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State will listen if the SEC comes calling. If that's the case, it would be a no-brainer for the Atlantic Coast to look the Orange's way.
I heard a solid idea today that, if they were smart, SU, UConn, Rutgers and Pitt would team up and demand the ACC take them on as a package deal. Of course, the problem is that everyone is in this for themselves, so each school is more likely to throw the other three off a cliff in order to join a better conference. But who know. If the Big Ten said tomorrow that they were adding Missouri and stopping, the panic on the faces of all those Big East powers would be impossible to ignore.
As for the Big East itself, I've seen a lot of people jump to the defense of the conference lately, saying that their lack of move-making is not a sign of weakness but an inevitable part of the process. And to that I say BULLSHIT. Maybe this move is about football but you're still the No. 1 basketball conference in the nation and one of the strongest overall conferences around. You could have acted like it. Not anymore, of course.
We remain cautious and concerned.
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Join the ACC?
The fact that our basketball program is so overwhelmingly more prominent than football, at least right now and of late, seems to be doing at least a little tugging in its own direction in all of this mess. That is, the orange powers that be don’t seem to be ready to completely disregard the basketball program for the sake of football, and the money. Of course if the Big 10 says would you like our 16th spot?.. then that will change. But if they don’t make that offer, the next option for Syracuse is the ACC. It’s the best case scenario for basketball assuming the collapse of the Big East. Meanwhile, and especially if Texas A&M goes to the SEC, the ACC will eventually be looking to bolster their markets to compete with their regional rival conference, who is dramatically superior in football.
How does everyone think the ACC would react to a deal that included Syracuse, Connecticut, Rutgers or Pitt (whichever the Big 10 would leave behind), and maybe West Virginia? It would give the ACC 16 teams and substantially bolster their basketball league while expanding it’s television market to incorporate New York City, in order to compete with the expanding TV markets of the Big 10 and perhaps SEC? The SEC will be an insane football conference if they tap into Texas markets, and football recruits. I would imagine the ACC would react to this with more than just its B+ football alignment as is.
What do you think?
Hmmm
If Miami and FSU both went to the ACC, I have a hard time believing they would pass South Florida up as a replacement. At their core, they are a southern conference, and also we have gigantic stripper boobs a valuable TV market that would be totally unserved by their league without the Seminoles.
Then again, if all those teams went to the ACC, maybe we all band together and demand to be taken collectively since the 16-team writing would be on the wall.
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If they both went to the SEC. It's really late.
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by Jamie DeVriend on Jun 14, 2010 2:45 AM EDT up reply actions
If this is still all about money
it doesn’t make much sense to add two florida teams to a conference that already has every TV in the state. The SEC is in a bit of a different situation because each school has a side (and all-for-themselves) agreement for third-tier, local distribution, but at the same time the point of expansion is to increase revenue and therefore each schools payout. Adding Miami and FSU will help in some regards to sell the tier one package to ESPN, but you’re also sharing that with two more schools and adding zero markets you don’t already have.
I think this whole thing works out for the Big East, though. The fact that there aren’t any real blockbuster (from a revenue perspective) schools means they just might hold it together, and if things crumble the healthy fb/bb schools seem to fit well with the ACC, which has a much lower average revenue per team and therefore can benefit from programs that the Big Ten might not be able to.
I know about your diabolical plan.
I'm all for the ACC move
As Ive said a million times. There are quite a few schools well within driving distance. So at least I could make a few road games every season.
ACC
One thing positive impact on the ACC that picking up Syracuse, UCONN, Pitt, and/or Rutgers would have would be to make their Boston College acquisition look less moronic. With the addition of Syracuse, Pitt, UCONN, and/or Rutgers, BC would have regional rivals in conference and the ACC would add more fans that could correctly point to Boston on a map.
Further, Mr. Keeley, you need to update your Ro*Tel Meter graphic to include the Nebraska logo.
On the Big Ten issue, I think Syracuse has a long outside shot at BT membership… they should play up the fact that they need a more natural rival for Northwestern. Two, small private schools that can play each other each year and remind us all of how college football once was before the advent of the mega-state school.
Orange you glad it's not football season?
What happens if Texas actually stays in the Big 12?
Seems like that’s a possibility none of us saw coming.
It might mean things actually stand pat moving forward.
Then there is no vacuum to fill or teams to snatch up. If the Pac-10 doesn’t balloon up, maybe the Big 10 is happy with Nebraska and everything just settles down. The Pac-10 can always add Utah to get themselves to 12 for a champ game. Of course, realignment will rear its head again, so unless the BE does more than just sigh in relief (no signs of that yet), we will be playing in a different conference at some point I have to think.
Yeah
On one hand, that probably means Utah to the Pac 10, and that’s it for Big Ten / Pac 10 expansion. The SEC and ACC really aren’t interested in expanding, and it’ll take the Big 12 a little while to catch its breath and decided which MWC schools to add (because they don’t really want to ditch the championship at Jerry’s Palace).
On the other hand, when it looked like the Pac 16 was happening and the Big 16 was not, there was an outside chance we could snag the Big 12 North schools and put together something resembling a stable all-sports conference that would be awesome at basketball.
You know what has gotten lost in all this talk about expansion?
Beef. What will happen to the Beef (‘O’ Brady’s)!?
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