What?!! B1G rumored to be adding 4 teams

[Spartanmack]

this week Clemson, Oregon, Florida State and Washington...

I give up.

 

[byco42]

Not to name drop, but Ron Mason told me that the B1G could expand to 20 teams over time. This was on New Years' Eve 2015. He had then mentioned that Texas and Florida were under consideration, but never Louisville, claiming that it "did not meet the standards of the Big Ten."

 

[Michchamp]

One of the things Walter Byers (former NCAA president) predicted in the 80's was that there wouldn't be stability until the 65 or so schools that took football seriously (in terms of the money they spent) made their own league.

if the NCAA wasn't so spineless, they'd provide some sort of guidance for this, and keep things like the Big Ten Network from happening.

 

[Michchamp]

I thought there was some sort of academic ties between the Big Ten schools as well, and adding Nebraska was an issue because they weren't a member of some college research league all the others were.

UChicago I think retained membership, even though they dropped D-1 sports in the 50's.

Does that ring a bell? I remember a Notre Dame alum telling me their faculty was always highly in favor of joining the Big Ten for these academic reasons, even if the school leadership and athletic dept were happy with the money their independent status brought

 

[Michchamp]

I can't imagine FSU or Clemson are up to snuff academically. Washington and Oregon maybe.

 

[Spartanmack]

It's the Association of American Universities (that includes McGill and University of Toronto for some reason). Nebraska was the first non-AAU school to join the B1G. FSU and Clemson are not, Oregon and Washington are...

I remember Sbee making a big deal about it when RU and MD joined. If that's a driving factor there are about 50 more schools that could be added to the conference.

 

[Michchamp]

I don't think the conference is really even in the driver's seat on this anymore.

I was going to start a thread on it, but didn't yet. The Big Ten Network is now majority owned by Fox, and they're dictating conference scheduling more and more. Delaney and those idiots (Kevin Warren was a COMPLETE idiot) created a monster.

 

[Spartanmack]

Not to name drop, but Ron Mason told me that the B1G could expand to 20 teams over time. This was on New Years' Eve 2015. He had then mentioned that Texas and Florida were under consideration, but never Louisville, claiming that it "did not meet the standards of the Big Ten."

Who the f*$% is Ron Mason?

 

[tinselwolverine]

Who the f*$% is Ron Mason?

I think he was the hockey coach at MSU for a long time. He died about a year after the conversation that byco is referring to.

Neither Canadian no US authorities have linked the events to each other.

I?m not so sure.

 

[Spartanmack]

I think he was the hockey coach at MSU for a long time. He died about a year after the conversation that byco is referring to.

Neither Canadian no US authorities have linked the events to each other.

I?m not so sure.

I know who he is and I suspect you knew that I knew. I said that because im not a huge fan. As AD he passed over one of the Millers (I forget which one - there have been so many at MSU) to hire his pal Rick Comley. Miller was qualified, former player, wanted the job and had the support of former players and people around the program. A lot of people, myself included thought that the Comley hire was cronyism and to protect his own legacy. Despite having won a title in ?07 (with inherited players), Comley sucked and quickly drove the program into the dumpster.

 

[tinselwolverine]

I know who he is and I suspect you knew that I knew. I said that because im not a huge fan. As AD he passed over one of the Millers (I forget which one - there have been so many at MSU) to hire his pal Rick Comley. Miller was qualified, former player, wanted the job and had the support of former players and people around the program. A lot of people, myself included thought that the Comley hire was cronyism and to protect his own legacy. Despite having won a title in ?07 (with inherited players), Comley sucked and quickly drove the program into the dumpster.

Not only did I know you knew that I knew, I knew you would know that I knew you knew.

 

[byco42]

I know who he is and I suspect you knew that I knew. I said that because im not a huge fan. As AD he passed over one of the Millers (I forget which one - there have been so many at MSU) to hire his pal Rick Comley. Miller was qualified, former player, wanted the job and had the support of former players and people around the program. A lot of people, myself included thought that the Comley hire was cronyism and to protect his own legacy. Despite having won a title in ?07 (with inherited players), Comley sucked and quickly drove the program into the dumpster.

Comley is one of 5 college coaches with 700 wins. So there's that. There's no way to determine how the undetermined Miller would have compared instead. I do remember the raised eyebrows over the hiring. The bigger shock was the guy who replaced Comley. He was the editor for Michigan Hockey magazine when I was writing for Hockey Weekly. Their revenue was all ad-based and ours was a combination of ads and subs. HW was the far superior publication and Anastos knew it, so his modus operandi was to put us out of business. He failed.

 

[Spartanmack]

Comley is one of 5 college coaches with 700 wins. So there's that. There's no way to determine how the undetermined Miller would have compared instead. I do remember the raised eyebrows over the hiring. The bigger shock was the guy who replaced Comley. He was the editor for Michigan Hockey magazine when I was writing for Hockey Weekly. Their revenue was all ad-based and ours was a combination of ads and subs. HW was the far superior publication and Anastos knew it, so his modus operandi was to put us out of business. He failed.

As I recall it, Miller was younger, had deep roots with the program and support from pretty much everyone except Mason. Comley was on the tail end of his career and sliding at the time. He did win the NC in his 5th year at MSU so it wasn't with inherited players as I said in my previous post - credit where credit is due.

Anastos was a bit of an odd hire as well but he was commissioner of the CCHA for a decade+, played 4 years at MSU thru '87and was an assistant coach for the Spartans in the early 90s. Didn't take him long to prove he wasn't up to the job though.

 

[Michchamp]

CBSsports reporting the Big Ten's targets are Washington, Oregon, Stanford and Cal. Link.

This batch makes sense... more local west coast games in a "Pacific Division" of the Big Ten.

I still get the sense that this all comes crashing down sooner than later... things get their biggest before a collapse

 

[byco42]

CBSsports reporting the Big Ten's targets are Washington, Oregon, Stanford and Cal. Link.

This batch makes sense... more local west coast games in a "Pacific Division" of the Big Ten.

I still get the sense that this all comes crashing down sooner than later... things get their biggest before a collapse

Can't wait for those epic Oregon-Rutgers gridiron clashes in New Jersey every five years. I'll be riveted. And Washington-Maryland. These rivalries will rejuvenate college football.

 

[Michchamp]

Can't wait for those epic Oregon-Rutgers gridiron clashes in New Jersey every five years. I'll be riveted. And Washington-Maryland. These rivalries will rejuvenate college football.

it doesn't matter if you think that would be a good game, it only matters what some coked up corporate executive at Fox decides suits his purposes at that moment, probably with no forethought, planning or insight into college football whatsoever.

 

[Spartanmack]

CBSsports reporting the Big Ten's targets are Washington, Oregon, Stanford and Cal. Link.

This batch makes sense... more local west coast games in a "Pacific Division" of the Big Ten.

I still get the sense that this all comes crashing down sooner than later... things get their biggest before a collapse

It does make more sense but I still don't want it - I still don't consider Penn State a B1G team.

If it is those 4 teams, it seems the logical next step will be to scoop up 4 to 6 more out west (probably from the remains of the inevitable implosion of what's left of the PAC12 and wherever else) to have a somewhat geographic balance of 24-26 teams. Why not?

That would make things a lot easier if the whole thing eventually just falls apart - they can split into 2 new conferences, one in the east and one in the west. I wonder what they would name them...

 

[Spartanmack]

Obviously, this is just another big money grab - as I understand it, the B1G network gets 10x the revenue per subscriber if there is a B1G program in a particular market.

Doesn't the PAC 12 have it's own network? If so, it doesn't seem to have been as successful at growing, let alone keeping the PAC 12 together as the B1G network has. USC fans are notoriously fair weather, UCLA fans probably are as well. Does the B1G network think that will change or are they banking on B1G "expats" living out west to fork over their money?

Sports channels generally come in packages as opposed to "a la carte." I don't see cable and streaming companies happily paying 10x to the B1G network for LA - or Eugene, the Bay Area, Tempe, etc. just because it's bundled w/ ESPN 8 and FS1 if people aren't watching it.

 

[SpartyNash]

I don?t want to sound like a crotchety old man but this shit is really hurting my interest in college sports (which CFB and CBB were always 1 and 2 to me for favorite sports). I was a very little kid (like 1-5 years old or so) when all the realignments occurred in the 90s, so I have no memory of PSU being independent or the SWC/Big 8. However, a lot of those changes made sense to me. An 18 team league? 4 schools thousands of miles away that we share a conference with? I get the almighty dollar bill drives everything but cant we have some level of common sense?

 

[tomdalton22]

I don?t want to sound like a crotchety old man but this shit is really hurting my interest in college sports (which CFB and CBB were always 1 and 2 to me for favorite sports). I was a very little kid (like 1-5 years old or so) when all the realignments occurred in the 90s, so I have no memory of PSU being independent or the SWC/Big 8. However, a lot of those changes made sense to me. An 18 team league? 4 schools thousands of miles away that we share a conference with? I get the almighty dollar bill drives everything but cant we have some level of common sense?

it really doesn't bother me. My biggest problem is the out of conference schedules. I think that the power 5 conferences (soon to be 4) should only face each other. Let the group of 5 start their own division and have their own national title. Power 5 would have 2 out of conference games and the rest in conference. It would be a much better product.