Big Ten (11) adding 12th team?

[Birds of B'more]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2950700

Looks like they want to expand their potential TV market to help the new network. Obviously, Notre Dame would be their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice........but that ain't happening. That said, the Big East might get raided once again. Rutgers would be an attractive option, playing in the #1 TV market in the country (albeit one that is more into pro sports), and their football team is on the rise. Oh, and I seem to recall some big stir a while back that would indicate NJSU might have a pretty good women's basketball team.

[TGO]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2950700

Looks like they want to expand their potential TV market to help the new network. Obviously, Notre Dame would be their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice........but that ain't happening. That said, the Big East might get raided once again. Rutgers would be an attractive option, playing in the #1 TV market in the country (albeit one that is more into pro sports), and their football team is on the rise. Oh, and I seem to recall some big stir a while back that would indicate NJSU might have a pretty good women's basketball team.

Rutgers would make some sense. Also Louisville and West Virginia.

[geschinger]

Rutgers would make some sense. Also Louisville and West Virginia.

WVU and Louisville don't give the Big Ten big media markets. The Big Ten should of done this a few years ago, Boston College would of been the perfect school to add.

[TGO]

WVU and Louisville don't give the Big Ten big media markets. The Big Ten should of done this a few years ago, Boston College would of been the perfect school to add.

I don't think they meant big media market in terms of the school they add is in a big media market, but that having the extra team would make the league more interesting/competitive and therefore more watchable nationally.

I was just reading the comments on ESPN and apparently the Big 10 has academic and other standards that Louisville and WVU do not meet anyway. For one they are not AAU members. If they hold to the AAU requirement their choices are basically Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, Rice, Mizzou, and Tulane.

[geschinger]

I don't think they meant big media market in terms of the school they add is in a big media market, but that having the extra team would make the league more interesting/competitive and therefore more watchable nationally.

I was just reading the comments on ESPN and apparently the Big 10 has academic and other standards that Louisville and WVU do not meet anyway. For one they are not AAU members. If they hold to the AAU requirement their choices are basically Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, Rice, Mizzou, and Tulane.

The article did say:

Big Ten officials will likely discuss expanding to 12 schools to accommodate the new Big Ten Network, commissioner Jim Delany said.

The network, which is scheduled to launch Aug. 30, would benefit from an additional big-name university in a large television market, Delany said.

All these super conferences are terrible for college football. It was much better when conferences were sized so that everyone could play everyone else once and determine a true conference champion. Depending on how they do divisions some team(s) are going to get a big advantage over others.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Pitt is probably the best option for them.

Football tradition + major recruiting territory + good-sized media market + geographic region = Ideal.

[geschinger]

Pitt is probably the best option for them.

Football tradition + major recruiting territory + good-sized media market + geographic region = Ideal.

Probably the best fit but doesn't really extend the conferences media footprint.

[PDog]

Pitt is probably the best option for them.

Football tradition + major recruiting territory + good-sized media market + geographic region = Ideal.

As long as Joe-Pa is at Penn State he won't allow it.

[Blue Fielder]

WVU is in the Pittsburgh market and recruits a lot of players in that area so they would get viewership. Also, WVU and Penn State used to be big rivals until Penn State went into the Big Ten (It was a lopsided series but still big rivals).

WVU would probably be happy to stay in the Big East though as they have been pretty dominant in football and have had success in basketball too. Still the prestige and money would be tempting.