Team #13- Pittsburgh

Handsome Pete

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This is going to happen. Delaney set the Big XII into chaos by poaching Nebraska, and he will set the Big East into a tailspin by selecting Pitt. Selecting Pitt will have a ripple effect including, but not limited to the following:

1) the ACC will immediately move to poach the Big East, making a grab for West Virginia;

2) the grab will not work and the SEC will immediately move to poach the ACC, taking West Virginia, VA Tech, North Carolina, and Miami; and

3) MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Big East will eject Notre Dame for fear that team #14 will be UConn or Syracuse. The Big East has no interest in carrying Notre Dame in non-football sports at the expense of its breadwinners in basketball;

4) Notre Dame will be forced to join the Big Ten as team #14 and the third supercoference will be set. As I've predicted all along, there will be a true power troika between the Pac-16, Big Ten and SEC.
 

After that Delaney will try to implode the MIAC by taking Bethel.
 

After that Delaney will try to implode the MIAC by taking Bethel.

You are right, I left something out. Conference expansion is being driven by one factor and that is the fact the only untapped economic resource in all of college sports is a football playoff. Everything else is completely monetized, which is why basketball is taking second seat right now. Pittsburgh is the only true Big East football power and that is what will send the Big East into a tailspin. Once Pitt is gone, they will be solely basketball oriented and unable to afford the loss of Syracuse or UConn.
 

The average amount of money distributed to Big Ten teams would go down if Pitt was added as the 13th team.
The amount is currently about 20 million, the Nebraska addition will raise it significantly. Pittsburgh would add less than 20 million dollars to the big ten pie. Adding less to the pie then you are taking means you do not get in. Most projections have Pitt adding about 30-35 million in value to the conference....but that is if it was the 12th team (and thus included 15-20 million for a title game). As the 13th team, they add somewhere in the 10-20 million range.

If the Big Ten takes a 13th team, there is a 0% chance it is Pittsburgh.

More attractive options than Pittsburgh for Big Ten expansion include, but are not limited to, Big East: Rutgers, Syracuse, UCONN
Big Twelve: Missouri, Texas (probably not an option), Kansas (probably doesn't have the academics) ACC: Maryland, Boston College
SEC: Vanderbilt

Assuming Kansas is not on the list, Pitt is, at best, the 9th choice of the Big Ten.
 



Why oh why does Rutgers keep coming up (it will not deliver NYC to BTN)? Even UConn? Syracuse? If anything is apparent and known, football is driving this entire process. Raiding the Big East has to make some sort of independent sense beyond a strategy to force ND into the B10. From the football standpoint, who in the Big East makes sense? Pitt is the only true football power in the Big East. Syracuse might have brand recognition.

I think the Big 10 is first waiting out Tx. Got to believe that if they want in, they're in. However, I don't believe Neb would have been so eager if they believed Tx was coming in. I agree that the end game is ND. If the Big 10 wanted Mizzou, they'd have them by now. They might be a consolation prize with one Big East team to round out 14 if ND doesn't work out.

Big 10 appears to have no interest in Kansas. If the Pac 10 doesn't want them, why would we? Although I would like to see a couple of games in basketball per year. But again, Football is the driving force.
 

This is going to happen. Delaney set the Big XII into chaos by poaching Nebraska, and he will set the Big East into a tailspin by selecting Pitt. Selecting Pitt will have a ripple effect including, but not limited to the following:

1) the ACC will immediately move to poach the Big East, making a grab for West Virginia;

2) the grab will not work and the SEC will immediately move to poach the ACC, taking West Virginia, VA Tech, North Carolina, and Miami; and

3) MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Big East will eject Notre Dame for fear that team #14 will be UConn or Syracuse. The Big East has no interest in carrying Notre Dame in non-football sports at the expense of its breadwinners in basketball;

4) Notre Dame will be forced to join the Big Ten as team #14 and the third supercoference will be set. As I've predicted all along, there will be a true power troika between the Pac-16, Big Ten and SEC.

And your mom will ask you to move back in. You are nuts...
 

The ACC will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever take West Virginia. Never.

The ACC is chalk full of highly regarded academic institutions. In fact, the US News & World Report College Rankings says the average ranking of an ACC school is greater than any other conference. West Virginia isn't even ranked. It has possibly the poorest academic reputation of any BCS school. The Presidents of Duke, UNC, UVa, Wake, BC, and GT would never allow it to happen.

If the ACC poaches the Big East, it'll be for Rutgers, Syracuse, or UConn and that's where the list ends. WV, Louisville, Cincy, and South Florida will never become an ACC member.
 

money drives NCAA football, they will take who brings in the most cash, academics is an afterthought
 



One other thing...unless the ACC folds like what's happenning to the Big 12, UNC isn't going anywhere. They have a good FB program but it's basketball program makes the decisions. Last I checked, the ACC will survive, meaning UNC is staying.

I predict there will be some shuffling of ACC teams with someone like Miami and/or Clemson leaving for the SEC while the ACC grabs Syracuse and/or UConn (amoung some other minor shuffling possible). This would weaken the ACC as a football conference but it would then find a great niche as the premier basketball conference. One of the great things about basketball is how it can drive a network like the BTN. If the ACC forms its own version of it, it will dominate the entire east coast during the winter given my model.
 

money drives NCAA football, they will take who brings in the most cash, academics is an afterthought

That's the SEC mindset. Not that of the ACC or the BT. There's a balance that exists in those conferences. Academic profile ABSOLUTELY matters. The ACC schools l listed in a previous post all have admission standards well above the minimum set by the NCAA. Why would they all of a sudden want to compete against West Virginia with the likes of Noel Devine, Chris Henry, and Pacman Jones? If academics wasn't a component, those ACC schools would let in any and all qualifiers for the sake of winning and we all know winning increases revenue.

When thinking what school could move into the ACC, ask yourself if that school would be considered a candidate for the BT. If the answer is no, then it's a no for the ACC as well.
 

The average amount of money distributed to Big Ten teams would go down if Pitt was added as the 13th team.
The amount is currently about 20 million, the Nebraska addition will raise it significantly. Pittsburgh would add less than 20 million dollars to the big ten pie. Adding less to the pie then you are taking means you do not get in. Most projections have Pitt adding about 30-35 million in value to the conference....but that is if it was the 12th team (and thus included 15-20 million for a title game). As the 13th team, they add somewhere in the 10-20 million range.

If the Big Ten takes a 13th team, there is a 0% chance it is Pittsburgh.

More attractive options than Pittsburgh for Big Ten expansion include, but are not limited to, Big East: Rutgers, Syracuse, UCONN
Big Twelve: Missouri, Texas (probably not an option), Kansas (probably doesn't have the academics) ACC: Maryland, Boston College
SEC: Vanderbilt

Assuming Kansas is not on the list, Pitt is, at best, the 9th choice of the Big Ten.


I guess my point is that the end game is Notre Dame to the Big Ten. Delaney is trying to figure out how to force that to happen. I agree with Pewterschmidt too that there is a 0% change that West Virginia winds up in the ACC. My point was that the ACC would immediately start trying to poach Big East teams to keep its membership whent he SEC starts raiding for Clemson, UNC, VA Tech, Miami, Ga Tech, etc. The ACC may well go after Rutgers, UConn or Syracuse (the latter probably also not being sufficient academically for the ACC).
 

I guess my point is that the end game is Notre Dame to the Big Ten. Delaney is trying to figure out how to force that to happen. I agree with Pewterschmidt too that there is a 0% change that West Virginia winds up in the ACC. My point was that the ACC would immediately start trying to poach Big East teams to keep its membership whent he SEC starts raiding for Clemson, UNC, VA Tech, Miami, Ga Tech, etc. The ACC may well go after Rutgers, UConn or Syracuse (the latter probably also not being sufficient academically for the ACC).

I think this perceived notion of a drive to 14 or 16 teams is a false premise. At this point, The Big Ten has the luxury to sit back and gather some evidence of revenue production that will result from the addition of Nebraska and await to see how the networks, particularly the contract with Notre Dame, work out in the expansion era. Money will be the only force to humble ND and The Big Ten can add them without ever getting a 14th team if it does not make sense revenue production-wise. Keep in mind that ND was likely given the first choice to join The Big Ten even recently before Nebraska and was considering same as long as a committment to stop expansion at them if they agreed; It is clear that their chief concern is the money. The top two teams each year will play for The Big Ten Championship; no divisions needed.
 






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