Forde: If everything is negotiable and every agreement is breakable is the Big Ten really committed to keeping Purdue and Minnesota for the long term?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Forde:

  • As we trend toward survival of the richest and fittest, how secure should the less marketable and successful schools feel within the Big Ten and SEC? If everything is negotiable and every agreement is breakable, is the Big Ten really committed to keeping Purdue and Minnesota for the long term? What about Vanderbilt and the Mississippi schools in the SEC? Watch your backs, Boilermakers and Gophers and Commodores and Rebels and Bulldogs.

Go Gophers!!
 

There are 2 reasons this won’t happen.
1. The real $$ in the Big Ten is in the research partnerships that are worth billions. This is a major difference between the Big Ten and other conferences. There is a reason these decisions are up to university presidents and not athletic directors. It’s about a lot more than sports, especially in the Big Ten.

2. Even if athletics were the primary factor, the “little” guys will stick together because if they start cutting out the smallest house on the block then you really don’t want to be the obvious smallest house on the block. It would require a vote to remove a school. Rutgers, Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern, Purdue, Iowa, or Minnesota would never vote to remove a school. If schools start getting kicked out then one of them could easily end up on the chopping block next. Same story in the SEC with Ole Miss, Arkansas, South Carolina, Miss State, Vanderbilt, and maybe 1 or 2 others.
 

bizzle22 said:
There are 2 reasons this won’t happen.
1. The real $$ in the Big Ten is in the research partnerships that are worth billions. This is a major difference between the Big Ten and other conferences. There is a reason these decisions are up to university presidents and not athletic directors. It’s about a lot more than sports, especially in the Big Ten.

2. Even if athletics were the primary factor, the “little” guys will stick together because if they start cutting out the smallest house on the block then you really don’t want to be the obvious smallest house on the block. It would require a vote to remove a school. Rutgers, Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern, Purdue, Iowa, or Minnesota would never vote to remove a school. If schools start getting kicked out then one of them could easily end up on the chopping block next. Same story in the SEC with Ole Miss, Arkansas, South Carolina, Miss State, Vanderbilt, and maybe 1 or 2 others.
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I agree but why add USC, other than from an athletic perspective it doesn't fit the mold, Washington or Cal Berkeley would be a much better fit while widening market share.

The twin cities are the 15th largest TV market in the US, Gophers aren't going anywhere.
 

It was a one off comment about Minnesota and the point is well taken (it was not an in depth analysis), but I do feel like it ignores that Minnesota has been in contention for the btn west these last few years and the PJ Fleck is a nationally recognizable coach who has bright gameday to campus twice now. I suppose you could argue that schools like Purdue and Minnesota - who do not have as much national brand/booster power as USC and UCLA -are less likely to stay relevant in the NLI era.
 

He just plucked 2 teams. At this point nothing is off the the table, but if they were to cut teams there would be several schools (Nebraska, Rutgers, MD, etc) before we were on the chop.
 


jovs said:
I agree but why add USC, other than from an athletic perspective it doesn't fit the mold, Washington or Cal Berkeley would be a much better fit while widening market share.

The twin cities are the 15th largest TV market in the US, Gophers aren't going anywhere.
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What do you mean by “doesn’t fit the mold”? Outside of being a private institution it has a lot in common with other B1G schools.
 

bizzle22 said:
What do you mean by “doesn’t fit the mold”? Outside of being a private institution it has a lot in common with other B1G schools.
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Large public land grant research universities, with the exception of Northwestern that is what the B1G is, all of the schools added have fit that mold, Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland, and even Nebraska. UCLA fits that mold as would Washington.

USC is a large elite private university, great academics but unlike others in the conference, similiar to Notre Dame but the Irish always had the mid western roots that always seemed to make them a great fit that USC doesn't have.
 
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From a historical perspective, it seems very foreign to me to include two California universities into the Big Ten but I can see how that move can benefit recruiting if that leads establishing a much bigger fanbase on the West Coast. California contains one of the largest reservoirs of elite athletes in the nation and the traditional Big Ten universities could benefit from that.
 

jovs said:
Large public land grant research universities, with the exception of Northwestern that is what the B1G is, all of the schools added have fit that mold, Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland, and even Nebraska. UCLA fits that mold as would Washington.

USC is a large elite private university, great academics but unlike others in the conference, similiar to Notre Dame but the Irish always had the mid western roots that always seemed to make them a great fit that USC doesn't have.
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The research part is what is most important, and being large public and/or a land grant university is often a precursor to having the resources necessary to do that research. But USC has an endowment of over $8B, good for third in the B1G, so resources are not an issue for them. I don’t think geography really matters at this point.

I would bet Washington will be a B1G institution soon, but not sure how fast.
 



BleedGopher said:
Per Forde:

  • As we trend toward survival of the richest and fittest, how secure should the less marketable and successful schools feel within the Big Ten and SEC? If everything is negotiable and every agreement is breakable, is the Big Ten really committed to keeping Purdue and Minnesota for the long term? What about Vanderbilt and the Mississippi schools in the SEC? Watch your backs, Boilermakers and Gophers and Commodores and Rebels and Bulldogs.

Go Gophers!!
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Right on !!!
I WOULD DROP THEM BOTH !!!!
Add Notre Dame,giving them whatever they wanted,along with Kentucky !!!
NORTHWESTEN would follow maybe even be 1st to go !
 
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Minnesota doesn't have to worry at all compared to Purdue, Iowa, and some others. We have a significant TV market, and that's what matters now. Rutgers? Maryland? We all know the only reason they are in the Big Ten is media market, it's not football history and success. I think Washington will be one of the next schools the Big Ten will look at because their school fits the Big Ten model, and they bring the Seattle TV market.
 

Minnesota could be the worst team in the Big Ten year in and year out...and still be safer than some other teams due to the Twin Cities market. The fact that the Gophers have been one of the better teams in the West simply makes the idea that they'd be on the chopping block even more asinine.

NW overlaps with the Illini. Indiana or Purdue could be supplanted by Notre Dame. Iowa and Nebraska should fold all sports teams and play each other in an endless tournament of cornhole.

Anyways.....Pat Forde is a piece of shit and should feel bad for a lousy prediction.
 

If I were Forde, I'd pay closer attention to Rutgers and Maryland in that regard. Both were literally saved financially by joining the Big Ten. I'd live to cut bait with both of them and I'm sure there are plenty of conference reps who feel the same.
 



MRJ said:
If I were Forde, I'd pay closer attention to Rutgers and Maryland in that regard. Both were literally saved financially by joining the Big Ten. I'd live to cut bait with both of them and I'm sure there are plenty of conference reps who feel the same.
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They were brought in for the TV markets. Rutgers in particular. As much as people are looking at the "bottom feeder" teams when speculating about replacements.....there is a business decision behind these moves as much program prestige. Really.....I think it's one of the reasons why both Oregon and Washington....while likely meeting the criteria for what the Big Ten would look to add now that the expansion has hit the west coast....might not happen due to being tied to their 'State' counterparts. Big Ten isn't interested in duplicate market teams....USC/UCLA being an exception due to the massive size of LA.

It'll be really interesting to see what happens with the Pac-12. I'd guess that they'll pick off the top of the Mountain West. Boise and Utah State probably make the most sense. Maybe Fresno or SD State. Really....the Pac-12 is probably in more trouble than the Big 12 at this point.
 

MRJ said:
If I were Forde, I'd pay closer attention to Rutgers and Maryland in that regard. Both were literally saved financially by joining the Big Ten. I'd live to cut bait with both of them and I'm sure there are plenty of conference reps who feel the same.
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Washington State and the University of Washington operate autonomously from each other. WA State has five satellite campuses across the state with the Everett location about 25 miles from UW’s main campus. I don’t think there is an agreement that both schools need to be in the same conference.
 

WAGopher said:
Washington State and the University of Washington operate autonomously from each other. WA State has five satellite campuses across the state with the Everett location about 25 miles from UW’s main campus. I don’t think there is an agreement that both schools need to be in the same conference.
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That would certainly make things easier. Oklahoma broke off from 'State'. Colorado hasn't been in a conference since their 'State' team since the 40's. Maybe I'm overthinking the moves. Just wondering how the politics play into a decision like this. I mean.....especially considering that Oregon and Washington breaking off would irreparably damage the Pac-12.
 

He completely destroyed his point by using completely illogical hypotheticals.

Minnesota has a decent basketball program, a great hockey program, and is one of the largest markets that actually supports the school to any extent (people in Chicago don't give a sh!t about NW, people in NYC don't give a sh!t about Rutgers). Purdue has a decent football program and one of the best basketball programs in the entire league. Ole Miss won 10 games and played in the Sugar Bowl last year.
 

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