Conference Realignment

[thefish7]

Heard something on The Score today around 6 PM while I was driving home from work that the Big Ten has announced that they're shortening their look into expansion from "12-18 months to investigate" to "would like to have offers out to schools before July 1." \

I was able to find something on ESPN's rumor mill, noting that Notre Dame is the top target... But haven't found anything else to corroborate what I heard on The Score. Anyone else hear this on the radio? Or anything else "new" like this for that matter?

[SFP]

Rumor has it that the Big X has worked out a deal with Notre Dame and that is why the are speeding through this. The other rumor is that they are also in talks with Texas and Missouri. They want to get to 16 but will be satisfied with 14 for the time being.

[amckillip]

Rumor has it that the Big X has worked out a deal with Notre Dame and that is why the are speeding through this. The other rumor is that they are also in talks with Texas and Missouri. They want to get to 16 but will be satisfied with 14 for the time being.

If that happened it would be unbelievable and make them the TOP conference IMO. Texas and ND are HUGE gets, Mizzou though I see as second tier both athletically and academically, but I don't know where else they'd go if they really want to get to 16. Cincy? Not any better. Maybe the could convince Vandy to jump ship? Even then that's not enough... Interesting stuff to say the least.

[Fetz86]

Syracuse, BC, Maryland, ND, Pitt I think is there dream.

[TheAsianSensation]

If they go Texas, they'll almost certainly go with A&M too and at least have a travel partner scenario set up.

[Duane82]

Just heard on espn radio something about UCONN joining the big 10. Does anyone know the truth behind this?

[Dallas Brave]

If they go Texas, they'll almost certainly go with A&M too and at least have a travel partner scenario set up.

Texas doesn't look at A&M with any rivalry. I think UT would much rather bring Oklahoma along.

A&M has fallen so far behind UT that A&M's primary in-state rival is beginning to be Texas Tech.

[Bravesfan]

All I can say is how messed up things are going to get once all this realignment starts! Everything has been fine, so why mess up a good thing?

[tornado]

In 10 years, this is how college basketball will look...

--The CCS (can't use BCS since we don't play bowls, but we do play for a championship)--
This will include four BIG conferences of 16-20 teams that'll encompass all of the current BCS leagues and maybe a few others, but very few...
These guys will only rarely schedule anyone from the "NCAA" and they won't allow any non-CCS school to play for their championship that will get the big $$ from TV networks..
Each of the four leagues will have their own year-end tourney, then those four winners will be "The Final Four".
Ultimately the CCS will even change their rules so that the college athletes at this level can receive benefits and BE PAID openly (instead of under the table with the risk of getting slapped like USC......thus assuring that 100% of all the best players will go CCS and not NCAA, and no CCS school will ever again lose a recruiting battle for even a single low level recruit...ever again!


--Then what will continue to be called NCAA, but will be the other 175 non-BCS schools divvied up into 20 or so conferences.....
These guys will still play like always but with no marquee names or BCS members left, the TV revenue will be way down, and a championship in the NCAA D-I will be only a bit more meaningful than a D-II title.
The NCAA will by now have resorted to begging and grovelling and getting a few little tidbits form the CCS like maybe a few tourneys and some TV revenue...but not much......
These kids will still play hard and be a true testament to what amateur sports is all about, and it'll be fun to watch them....but.......
This will effectively complete full cycle the changes that started when NCAA decided back in the 1970's to eliminate the University and College divisions of basketball and make them all D-I and D-II...and try to get them all to play as one Association of schools.
It was a nice try but greed and big time money talks........

[TheAsianSensation]

All I can say is how messed up things are going to get once all this realignment starts! Everything has been fine, so why mess up a good thing?

According to the power conferences, everything is not fine.



Oh, and tornado is correct. Once the ball is rolling, the "CCS" will realize they might as well go all the way.

[houstontxbrave]

Texas doesn't look at A&M with any rivalry. I think UT would much rather bring Oklahoma along.

A&M has fallen so far behind UT that A&M's primary in-state rival is beginning to be Texas Tech.

DB, I moved here to Houston about 5 years ago so maybe I am not intune to the "rivalries", but it sure seems to me when the UT/A&M football games comes along every Tday or there about the intensity and rivalry is as big as any game in the country. They might not HATE each other they certainly do not love each other.

TT I suppose that was true 2 years ago but TT has not proven any staying power to be considered a legit rival and a rival to replace A&M.

OU is a huge football rival and yes it is today probably bigger then what A&M brings.

I though believe any legit conference realignment that involves UT will certainly involve A&M and Oklahoma is going to do something also.

Anyway the next 12 - 24 months are going to be very interesting.

[SFP]

Guys let's not forget about the Pac 10 which will also go out and pick up a few schools once the games begin. If i"m a betting man I'd have to believe that Utah and BYU will be moving over and Colorado is the other school that has been mentioned a few times. That will then have them fighting for UT, I bet and two other schools. If not UT then probably the two OK schools and Nebraska. I then expect the Big 10 to go after KU along with UT pretty hard. That will leave KSU and the other Texas schools in limbo.

All in all it will get messy quick and I expect that there will be a few schools holding a football program without the benefit of playing in a big time conference.

[squirrelgotdead]

Guys let's not forget about the Pac 10 which will also go out and pick up a few schools once the games begin. If i"m a betting man I'd have to believe that Utah and BYU will be moving over and Colorado is the other school that has been mentioned a few times. That will then have them fighting for UT, I bet and two other schools. If not UT then probably the two OK schools and Nebraska. I then expect the Big 10 to go after KU along with UT pretty hard. That will leave KSU and the other Texas schools in limbo.

All in all it will get messy quick and I expect that there will be a few schools holding a football program without the benefit of playing in a big time conference.

You're right SFP. But the B10 is the die-casting. Big 10 goes to 16, Pac-10 next, with SEC and ACC fighting over leftovers.

Big East will be done, at least as a power conference. Same for the BXII.

That's if everything goes predictably.

Nothing is preventing schools from meeting outside of their conferences and doing their own thing either. If Northwestern and Iowa for instance are preventing the Big Ten from bringing someone else in. . .who's to say Michigan and Ohio State won't go their own way?

[houstontxbrave]

You're right SFP. But the B10 is the die-casting. Big 10 goes to 16, Pac-10 next, with SEC and ACC fighting over leftovers.

Big East will be done, at least as a power conference. Same for the BXII.

That's if everything goes predictably.

Nothing is preventing schools from meeting outside of their conferences and doing their own thing either. If Northwestern and Iowa for instance are preventing the Big Ten from bringing someone else in. . .who's to say Michigan and Ohio State won't go their own way?

Right now what keeps Michigan and Ohio State in line with Northwestern and Iowa is TV revenue.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-0420-big-ten-chicago--20100419,0,3111131.story

"For all of the Big Ten's woes in BCS games from 2007 to '09, the conference stands with the SEC atop the food chain, doling out an estimated $22 million per year per school in TV revenue."

Things are going way to well for Iowa or Northwestern to rock the Big Ten boat. But neither Michigan or OSU have the ability to generate that amount of money on their own in a separate conference... YET.

[squirrelgotdead]

I probably didn't explain that well enough. I wouldn't anticipate those schools actively trying to block an addition or move.

But only one time in the modern era has a team been kicked out of a league-Temple from the Big East for lack of competitiveness in football.

The Big Ten would never exclude Northwestern or Iowa from expansion.

But rather what I'm saying is those two schools are potentially taking the place of say Florida, UCLA and/or USC from joining the league.

What I was trying to imply is say, Ohio State and Michigan meet with Florida, Texas, USC, etc and consider their own options independent of whatever their respective league might want to do.