Adding a team

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mnboiler

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Every year people talk about adding one more team to the Big 10. So I thought I would get this board's reaction to the idea. I have listed all the school that meet 2 requirements(1 offical & 1 unoffical) The first, and offically, being the school must be located within a state that already touches a state that has a Big 10 school. For example UCLA could not join the Big 10. Secondly, and unoffically, the school must me a member of the AAU or Association of American Universities. The AAU is the highest group a school could join.

Note that Notre Dame is not included but could get in the AAU if they applied, I would guess. And, yes I know there are a few IVY League schools in the list but they meet the guidelines I set forth.

So make your case for the school that is the best fit.

Iowa State
Missouri
Nebraska
Rutgers
Maryland
Pitt
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Cornell
Princeton
Syracuse
Penn
 

i think it would be a big twelve team. I have heard a lot of big twelve schools arent to pleased with some stuff that has gone on. Sources=0. I know its not likely this would happen but if it would i would prefer a big twelve team, not being iowa state. this thread is prolly pointless tho
 

gopheraschells said:
i think it would be a big twelve team. I have heard a lot of big twelve schools arent to pleased with some stuff that has gone on. Sources=0. I know its not likely this would happen but if it would i would prefer a big twelve team, not being iowa state. this thread is prolly pointless tho
Click to expand...

I know the odds of anything actully coming out of this thread are about squat but it will be good to have a well thought out thread and not to mention fun.
 

My preferences:

1. Nebraska
2. Mizzou
3. Pitt
4. Iowa State

Absolute "NO" to the rest. Going east of Pittsburgh/Happy Valley is stretching the conference way too far. We are a midwest conf...not an east coast conf. That's why Nebraska, Mizzou and ISU would be ok.

My preference is to keep it at 11 though and play a round-robin. Fat chance of that happening I suppose.
 

For money and television reasons, the conference will lean east. I think that is wrong. I don't want to play rutgers or Pitt, they mean nothing to me!
If the conference were to add a school, most people say Notre Dame is the best fit, and it is: prestigious academically, athletically, is a huge money maker, tons of history, and it does not have a football conference to abandon, and could easily be accommodated in the rest of its sports. Most importantly, it fits geographically with the conference and shares history with all just about all of the teams in the big10. The public/private distinction is worth abandoning if the monetary/attention spikes like most people think it would. This is all assuming ND wants to join... they have a good deal with their nbc tv contract.

Don't leave out a school like louisville, though. More than respectable in football and basketball (the two that really, really matter in terms of money). Not horrible academically either.

Us in the western part of the conference would naturally rather have a big12 school come over. Missouri, Nebraska and iowa state will be the top ones suggested by most people in minnesota and iowa.

If an eastern team is chosen, let it be Pitt or let it be nothing. (Honestly, if i had my way, i would send penn st packing to the big east and we would just have 10 teams, but there are many many reasons why i am not in charge of these decisions, and its probably a good thing! :))
 


mnboiler said:
Every year people talk about adding one more team to the Big 10. So I thought I would get this board's reaction to the idea. I have listed all the school that meet 2 requirements(1 offical & 1 unoffical) The first, and offically, being the school must be located within a state that already touches a state that has a Big 10 school. For example UCLA could not join the Big 10. Secondly, and unoffically, the school must me a member of the AAU or Association of American Universities. The AAU is the highest group a school could join.

Note that Notre Dame is not included but could get in the AAU if they applied, I would guess. And, yes I know there are a few IVY League schools in the list but they meet the guidelines I set forth.

So make your case for the school that is the best fit.

Iowa State
Missouri
Nebraska
Rutgers
Maryland
Pitt
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Cornell
Princeton
Syracuse
Penn
Click to expand...

my top three would be as follows:

1.) Notre Dame (they already field a decent D1 hockey program which is a good thing if you are part of the Big Ten conference)

2.) Syracuse (considering their location in upstate NY they would also be a logical candidate to add a D1 hockey team if we ever decide to go with a Big Ten Hockey Conference (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State)

3.) Missouri (the gophers used to play Missouri a fair amount in football back in the day, so there is already some history there which is good)
 

I'm not in favor of expanding geographically to the east, maybe south a bit would be fine. Not real excited about big instate rivalries, like Iowa State iowa, as I think while being fun to talk about, not possible. To me there has only ever been one possible and logical addition and that would be ND. But mostly I'd like to chop one and go back to 10 teams.
 

Liklihood of being at, or moving to D1-AA is more important than the "bordering state rule," which can easily be over-ruled. Also, some are missing from the list above. Here is my top 6 in order:

1. Missouri
2. Syracuse
3. Rutgers
4. Pitt
5. Buffalo
6. Nebraska

I think Boston College, Notre Dame and U-Conn should be considered if they can meet the requirements of the AAU. I don't think it is automatic that they could get in at all. But Notre Dame brings in enough money to make whatever changes they need to to get into the AAU. Lately, ND has talked about becoming a research institution, which is pretty much what the AAU is all about.
 

To me Rutgers is the only viable choice. They have the academic standards of the Big Ten and can also bring the Big Ten Network to another major metropolitan area.
 




mnboiler said:
Iowa State
Missouri
Nebraska
Rutgers
Maryland
Pitt
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Cornell
Princeton
Syracuse
Penn
Click to expand...

LMAO, Carnegie Mellon? Why don't we just invite Chicago back into the mix if we're going after a D3 school? And if you're going to start adding AAU D3 schools in bordering states, you're also forgetting Washington U in St. Louis and Case Western in Cleveland.
 

SoMplsHawkI said:
To me Rutgers is the only viable choice. They have the academic standards of the Big Ten and can also bring the Big Ten Network to another major metropolitan area.
Click to expand...

Missouri also accomplished this with KC and STL
 

Pitt.

In the past, I heard Rutgers was a frontrunner because of the desire to add the NYC metro area to the BTN's viewership. That would make me earp, quite frankly.
 




Ummmm - Check Yourself

PlayHosea said:
Just dump Northwestern and get back to ten teams.
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Northwestern is a great member of the Big Ten. Academically - tops. Athletically . . .

They have been to a Rose Bowl in the past 15 years, and in our last 10 tete-a-tete against the Wildcats we are only 4-6.

They were also really good in the past (Parseghian era), and are seated in Chicago.

:rolleyes:
 

I really like our geographic location. penn state seemed a bit too east for me. I'd prefer a Missouri school over NY. In fact I'd rather have one of our emerging neighbors to the west over a NY school.
 

Schnoodler said:
In fact I'd rather have one of our emerging neighbors to the west over a NY school.
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I'm sure you're just stating you preference here. The Big Ten is never going to look to the Dakotas to expand. For every one of you that considers Happy Valley too far away, there is someone in Columbus or State College that thinks Minnesota is too far West.

They are never going to agree to travel to Fargo, Grand Forks, Vermillion or Brookings.
 

I agree, I'm just saying the B10 is a midwest conference. I'm not excited by the eastward addition of Penn State and certainly not a NY school. i'll deal with whatever comes, but I like the regionality of conferences.
 

gopheraschells said:
I have heard a lot of big twelve schools arent to pleased with some stuff that has gone on. Sources=0.
Click to expand...

I remember that people in Texas wanted in on the Big Ten or Pac Ten back when the SWAC broke-up. And Texas has to be pissed right now.
 

Goldmember said:
Missouri also accomplished this with KC and STL
Click to expand...

Except the Tri-States has about 10 million people as opposed to what 4 - 5 MM in KC & StL?
I also wonder if Mizzou is up to it academically and if the MO legislature would be willing to spend the money to get them there.
 

Goldmember said:
I remember that people in Texas wanted in on the Big Ten or Pac Ten back when the SWAC broke-up. And Texas has to be pissed right now.
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yeah thats actually what I was referring to. After the debacle this year in the big twelve i heard some rumblings about texas, again i dont know where i heard that from. Now that would be a sweet pick up, doesn't make a lick of sense geographically though (or many other reasoning for that matter).
 

They key is academics. Of the few teams that fit regionally, how many are top 100 research universities?

I am not sure what ranking I saw, but every big 10 team was in the top 75 of it. A school like Mizzou would be a great addition, but I do not think the Big 10 will decrease academic/research standards just to add a team. (I am not familiar with the prestige of Mizzou)
 

Just on Geography, Westerly Schools are a better fit...

I think Missouri is the best fit, academically, athletically and also geographically. It also opens up the state to BigTen Network exposure.

The BigTen would likely split into two divisions for football. The Illinois and Indiana schools foul up an easy split. If you bring in a school east of Indiana, you have to split up Northwestern/Illinois or Indiana/Purdue to create geographic divisions. Even Notre Dame causes a problem if you want them to be in the same division as the Indiana schools (and still play Michigan and MSU every year). In most 12 team conferences, you play your “division opponents” every season and rotate in three of the six in the other division.

Bring in, let’s say, Missouri, and the split is so:

West
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Missouri
Northwestern
Wisconsin

East
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue

Even Iowa State and Nebraska work in that scenario. The Gophers would see the “East” teams at home once every four years, which is pretty typical now in the current rotation.

Out east, only Rutgers really fits the BigTen mold, as the “State school of New Jersey”. Also it opens things up for the BigTen network out east. If you add Syracuse, Pitt, or Rutgers, it does add a split problem. One of the Indiana schools (likely Purdue) would have to go west, or both Indiana schools go west and the U of Illinois goes east. That’s an odd split either way.

The only other solution would be to create two divisions that are “rivalry based,” and not “geography-based”. You would be hard pressed to come up with that without splitting up the Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan schools.
 

gopheraschells said:
yeah thats actually what I was referring to. After the debacle this year in the big twelve i heard some rumblings about texas, again i dont know where i heard that from. Now that would be a sweet pick up, doesn't make a lick of sense geographically though (or many other reasoning for that matter).
Click to expand...

Texas may have been upset that they did not get an opportunity to play in the Big 12 championship but to my recollection I did not hear any talk or rumors of them every even considering a move from the Big 12. They have the most influence in the conference and the loudest voice so they would gain nothing by leaving the conference.
 

I think Pitt is the perfect choice--the Big East is in constant flux and they seem a bit of an odd ball in that conference. Rutgers would also be a good fit, except they are much too far away. Missouri would be ok, and is probably the most realistic choice. I don't want to deal with the drama that is Notre Dame.

1. Pitt
2. Rutgers
3. Missouri
 

Goldmember said:
I remember that people in Texas wanted in on the Big Ten or Pac Ten back when the SWAC broke-up. And Texas has to be pissed right now.
Click to expand...

Based on what I've heard, Texas was just about a done deal to join the B10, except for one little problem. This was right after Penn State had been admitted into the league, and Texas wouldn't come north unless the Ten brought A&M along. No A&M, no dice.

You can forget about any of the Kansas-Missouri-Nebraska triangle coming to the Big Ten. Lest you forget, those three have been playing each other just as long as we've been playing Iowa and Wisconsin. No one is advocating one of us be a replacement in the Big 12 North if/when someone leaves (cough cough Colorado to the PX).
 

Another "unofficial" rule that I've always heard was that states that once permitted slavery or seceded from the union would not be candidates for inclusion in the Big Ten. I don't know if that's true or not. If so, that would disqualify teams from Kansas and Kentucky as they were both slave states.

My preference would be to stay as is. If we were to add a team, the only two I would really embrace would be:
Miami (Ohio) - one of the original "public ivys" and the "cradle of coaching"
Notre Dame
maybe Pitt or Syracuse or Rutgers
 

Assuming Notre Dame never joins, then I think there are two really good possibilities, in this order:

1) Rutgers - fits the Big Ten academic model perfectly; land grant state-run research institution; member of the AAU, huge alumni base; would be willing to leave Big East; brings in the No. 1 TV market in the nation (30 miles from NYC/NJ); also adds the No. 4 TV market in nation (65 miles from Philadelphia); with BTN that means HUGE monthly revenue if they add those cable markets and that is a HUGE aspect of this

2) Nebraska - great fit geographically (particularly if the plan is to have East/West divisions); nice fit academically; land grant state-run research institution; member of the AAU; not sure they'd want to leave the Big 12; doesn't add much TV wise; BUT it would change the landscape of college football if they joined the league; imagine Nebraska-Michigan or Nebraska-Penn State or Nebraska-Minnesota or Nebraska-Ohio State or Nebraska-Iowa, etc. it adds a marquee game to the league EVERY week regardless of whom Nebraska is playing; despite its recent shortcomings, Nebraska is still a "national name brand" in college football and they would add even more clout to an already powerful league

Other items - Mizzou will not leave the Big 12 and its rivalry with Kansas; Iowa State adds NOTHING to the table and will not be an option; Pitt could be the third pick if the other two don't pan out; Texas would be a great pick, but they won't come north without the other TX schools; Maryland will not leave the heart of ACC country; Syracuse could be a 4th option, but doubtful the Big Ten will add them just for the sake of adding a team
 

The Big Ten is a Chicago-centric conference. Always has been, always will be. It's headquartered there (Park Ridge) and its founding occurred at a meeting there. I think the distance from Chicago is an important consideration in any discussion, to keep it geographically sane.

For a litany of reasons, Notre Dame makes the most sense. Nonetheless, it will never happen unless they are forced to join a conference, as they enjoy some cushy privileges under the BCS system. Because of the archaic and inherently unfair advantages they enjoy, they would lose everything and gain nothing from a move to the Big Ten.

Geographically, the schools that make the most sense are Nebraska and Missouri. They enjoy historical connections to many of the Big Ten schools, and are decent academic programs. This is where my heart lies.

My head, however, points to Rutgers. It is the site of the first collegiate football game ever played, taps into the #1 TV/ad market in the country, and is a program on the rise under Greg Schiano. Aside from all that, it is a prestigious academic institution, ranking anywhere from the 20s to the 60s depending on the source one consults. It makes little geographic sense, but considering we've already gone as far as Happy Valley, a few miles further east to New Brunswick wouldn't be very painful.

Actually, my favored option would be to just kick Penn St. to the Big East and return to a true Big Ten, but since that won't happen, I hereby nominate Rutgers.
 

tjgopher said:
Assuming Notre Dame never joins, then I think there are two really good possibilities, in this order:

1) Rutgers - fits the Big Ten academic model perfectly; land grant state-run research institution; member of the AAU, huge alumni base; would be willing to leave Big East; brings in the No. 1 TV market in the nation (30 miles from NYC/NJ); also adds the No. 4 TV market in nation (65 miles from Philadelphia); with BTN that means HUGE monthly revenue if they add those cable markets and that is a HUGE aspect of this

2) Nebraska - great fit geographically (particularly if the plan is to have East/West divisions); nice fit academically; land grant state-run research institution; member of the AAU; not sure they'd want to leave the Big 12; doesn't add much TV wise; BUT it would change the landscape of college football if they joined the league; imagine Nebraska-Michigan or Nebraska-Penn State or Nebraska-Minnesota or Nebraska-Ohio State or Nebraska-Iowa, etc. it adds a marquee game to the league EVERY week regardless of whom Nebraska is playing; despite its recent shortcomings, Nebraska is still a "national name brand" in college football and they would add even more clout to an already powerful league

Other items - Mizzou will not leave the Big 12 and its rivalry with Kansas; Iowa State adds NOTHING to the table and will not be an option; Pitt could be the third pick if the other two don't pan out; Texas would be a great pick, but they won't come north without the other TX schools; Maryland will not leave the heart of ACC country; Syracuse could be a 4th option, but doubtful the Big Ten will add them just for the sake of adding a team
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Nebraska would never leave the Big 12 in a million years. They are one of the old Big 8 members and they would never leave those rivalries. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the Big Ten as it is a conference built in the heart of the rust basin whose economies and cities are dying in places like Michigan, Ohio, and parts of Indiana and needs to transition away from a manufacturing based economy to compete with the growth seen in other areas of the country right now.
 

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