If the Big Ten calls, Nebraska will listen

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Yep, agreed. Plus Nebraska brings little in terms of men's basketball, the other breadwinner sport. Academically too, they would be the outlier in the conference (#96 US News ranking .. next closest is #71, Iowa).

It would be amazing to travel there for football games, but looking at the bigger picture, I'm not sure it's who the Big Ten wants (and probably why there hasn't been any contact).
 

Honyocker said:
While the Huskers have an enviable, long athletic tradition, especially in football, they are in a small market. This move would be about the money and small markets don't bring the big bucks. Pittsburgh, Mizzou or Rutgers would be better financially. Texas would be enormous.
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They have a pretty large national following however and many of the fans in those markets would be asking for the Big Ten network from their cable providers imo. Their alumni groups across the country pay to have many games broadcast on radio stations outside of Nebraska. If you look at the Forbes rankings for this past year, Nebraska was the 4th most valuable football program in the country so they can definitely bring in the revenue to the conference. They are terrible in men's basketball right now but are committed to getting better as they are expected to vote on and approve a new basketball arena, practice facility, and hockey arena as well in the next few weeks. In the other sports, they are very competitive in baseball, wrestling, volleyball, and women's basketball. Mizzou brings you St. Louis and KC at the most and the big ten already has the St. Louis market atleast partially with Illinois and Mizzou at best splits the KC market with Kansas.
 


As far as football goes, Nebraska is a homerun as far as I'm concerned. However, husker hoops doesn't excite me. And I'm sure demographics and academics don't excite the Presidents and Regents of the conference.

Its good that that option is out there though. Thanks Coach Osborne.
 

GopherGod said:
They are terrible in men's basketball right now but are committed to getting better as they are expected to vote on and approve a new basketball arena, practice facility, and hockey arena as well in the next few weeks.
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Can you give more info on the Nebraska hockey arena?? Or is that an arena for UNO's Mavericks?
 

MrGopher said:
Can you give more info on the Nebraska hockey arena?? Or is that an arena for UNO's Mavericks?
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The last I heard the arena part of it would be part of the basketball facility, so a rink could be used in the arena, but would also have a seperate ice center attached to it with two full sheets of ice. This was a request of the former state auditor who donated 7 million towards the facility and he is also a minority owner of the Phoenix Coyotes. This would not be for UNO as they already play at the Qwest Center in Omaha which is a very nice facility and only a few years old.
 

MrGopher said:
As far as football goes, Nebraska is a homerun as far as I'm concerned. However, husker hoops doesn't excite me. And I'm sure demographics and academics don't excite the Presidents and Regents of the conference.

Its good that that option is out there though. Thanks Coach Osborne.
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As a Nebraska alum and fan, I would be excited to see this. They would bring a lot with the football program and could potentially open up some markets further south where the Big Ten does not have a great presence right now. Omaha and Lincoln are not huge markets but combine for around 1.1 million in population when you add the surrounding areas, and this move would also get the Big Ten a larger presence in Kansas City and Denver, and as was mentioned, Nebraska has a strong national following. They also have very strong programs in baseball and women's volleyball that would be nice additions to the Big Ten.

As a Big Ten fan, however, I don't think Nebraska is a great "fit" for the Big Ten. The University itself would be by far the smallest in the Big Ten outside of Northwestern, and it seems that Nebraska does not have the worldwide reputation that the other Big Ten schools have. I would be fine with this addition but I think there are much better "fits" out there.

As the excellent article that was posted here a while back said, you need to think like a University president and not a fan. I question whether Nebraska could bring enough to the table in terms of added revenue to justify the addition. However, if the Big Ten has larger, longer-term goals of eventually expanding into Texas, this could be an initial step in the right direction.
 



Honyocker said:
While the Huskers have an enviable, long athletic tradition, especially in football, they are in a small market. This move would be about the money and small markets don't bring the big bucks. Pittsburgh, Mizzou or Rutgers would be better financially. Texas would be enormous.
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PSU already delivers Pitt's TV market. Not sure how the other financials fall into place, but based only on TV markets neither Pitt or Nebraska are really impressive when it comes to TV viewers (unless Nebraska is able to deliver via their national following).
 

Why stop at Nebraska?

Show how strong the Big 10 is and take down the entire Big 12. I mean it - make the Big 12 slither on towards to the SEC or the PAC-10 if you are Colorado. Ask the following teams from the Big 12 to our Dance: Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska. The above would be contigent on creating a Super Conference by strong arming Notre Dame to join and make it a 16 team league.

Plains Division

Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Illinois
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas
Kansas State

Lakes Division

Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana

For scheduling purposes in football you would play the 7 other teams in your division plus 2 teams from the other division on a rotating 2 year basis. Seven divisional conference games per year, 2 intra-conference games and 3 non-conference would make up a 12 game regular season. Bummer is that if you are a Minnesota fan you would only travel to an Ann Arbor, State College, etc.... once every 8 years. All main rivalries stay intact.

Yes the above scenario would reverberate around college athletics and would cause a massive domino effect. The key, unfortunately, is twisting the tit of Notre Dame.
 


I can't imagine that Minnesota or Wisconsin would agree not to be in the Lakes division. Wisconsin has Lake Michigan and Minnesota has Lake Superior, and is of course the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
 



R squared, semantics

Plains = West Division

Lakes = East

The naming thing is overrated. Looks how well it works for ACC in football. Try to quickly rattle of the Coastal Division. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? At least anyone with an basic knowledge of US geography could envision the West and East divisions of this super conference.

I've pretty much given the Big 10 a blue print to perfection. Now they just have to pay off Notre Dame. Holy Mary Mother of Jesus, pray for us!
 

Oh, and another thing

may as well continue to be football-centric but have the conference championship game at rotating site to appease both sides of the fence. One year in Indianapolis and the next in St. Louis. Or if the Vikings get their new Taj Mahal throw in Detroit and Minneapolis and rotate on an every 4 year basis.
 

I'm all for Nebraska prior to any eastern school. However, Nebraska, Missouri, and Pitt would be a nice move.

One thing people fail to realize too, is that once in the Big Ten -- standards would change. Football is successful, but other sports could step up, not to mention academic standards.
 

I would imagine the Big Ten would be wanting Nebraska to vote on some academic improvements instead of the just sports.
 

Five teams seems like too many. Sixteen teams seems like a regional association rather than a conference. I predict that by the time such an organization celebrates its tenth anniversary, people will be complaining about lost ties, a lack of "closeness" amongst members and the inability to either develop or maintain meaningful rivalries. One additional team could cause problems that demand tough solutions. Five could tear down the meathouse. Big gamble. Too big a gamble for 99% (my estimate) of professional administrators.
 

maxwellsmart said:
Five teams seems like too many. Sixteen teams seems like a regional association rather than a conference. I predict that by the time such an organization celebrates its tenth anniversary, people will be complaining about lost ties, a lack of "closeness" amongst members and the inability to either develop or maintain meaningful rivalries. One additional team could cause problems that demand tough solutions. Five could tear down the meathouse. Big gamble. Too big a gamble for 99% (my estimate) of professional administrators.
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Other thing to consider is whether the 5 teams added (or 3 teams if you're talking a 14 team league) generate enough new TV revenue to cover their entrance. If they don't create enough dough to make sure that everyone's slice of the pie doesn't get smaller then the B10 won't go through with it.
 

GoAUpher said:
Other thing to consider is whether the 5 teams added (or 3 teams if you're talking a 14 team league) generate enough new TV revenue to cover their entrance. If they don't create enough dough to make sure that everyone's slice of the pie doesn't get smaller then the B10 won't go through with it.
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Getting ND itself would cover whomever else enters the league. But I agree that any combination of Big 12 schools may have a difficult time contributing enough to make expansion feasible.
 

Notre Dame has their own network, they are not going to share that with anyone. Personally, I have been to a few Nebraska games and if we can get that kind of enthusiasm in the conference, I am all for it. That entire state shuts down to go to games and watch them on the tube.
 

Inigo Montoya said:
Getting ND itself would cover whomever else enters the league. But I agree that any combination of Big 12 schools may have a difficult time contributing enough to make expansion feasible.
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The bolded is not in any way realistic. Notre Dame's current TV deal with NBC is worth $10 million per year. Even if their worth is larger when part of the Big Ten it is not even close to enough to cover themselves and 4 other schools (or even 2 other schools if you look at a 14 team league). To make sure that each school still gets the current $22 million per year, the additional 5 schools have to create at least and additional $112 million dollars in TV money each year. How do I get that number?
- Current B10 TV revenue = $242 million per year
- Divide that by 16 schools = just over $15 million per year
- That's a difference of approximately $7 million per year per school.
- $7 million x 16 schools = $112 million dollars

That means that the new 5 schools would have to come up with an amount that is just over 46% of the current B10 deal (which includes the TV markets of 11 schools over 8 states remember). I'm not sure you could get this much out of 5 new schools even if 2 of them were Texas and Notre Dame. But you certainly won't get it if the 5 schools are Notre Dame, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska.
 

doesn't minnesota lead the all-time series against nebraska in football? if i am not mistaken minnesota and nebraska used to play each other all the time back in the day.

bring 'em in. let's open up that all-time lead a bit more. :)
 

The Ghost of Bierman said:
doesn't minnesota lead the all-time series against nebraska in football? if i am not mistaken minnesota and nebraska used to play each other all the time back in the day. bring 'em in. let's open up that all-time lead a bit more. :)
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Minnesota leads 29-20-2.
 

GoAUpher, beg to differ but I have a different take

GoAUpher said:
The bolded is not in any way realistic. Notre Dame's current TV deal with NBC is worth $10 million per year. Even if their worth is larger when part of the Big Ten it is not even close to enough to cover themselves and 4 other schools (or even 2 other schools if you look at a 14 team league). To make sure that each school still gets the current $22 million per year, the additional 5 schools have to create at least and additional $112 million dollars in TV money each year. How do I get that number?
- Current B10 TV revenue = $242 million per year
- Divide that by 16 schools = just over $15 million per year
- That's a difference of approximately $7 million per year per school.
- $7 million x 16 schools = $112 million dollars

That means that the new 5 schools would have to come up with an amount that is just over 46% of the current B10 deal (which includes the TV markets of 11 schools over 8 states remember). I'm not sure you could get this much out of 5 new schools even if 2 of them were Texas and Notre Dame. But you certainly won't get it if the 5 schools are Notre Dame, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska.
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I like how you quantitatively try to reason that ND + pick your 4 Big 12 schools would not add enough revenue by citing the current contract of NBC / Notre Dame. Your reason being that if Notre Dame itself is only pulling down $10 million per year with NBC and Northwestern, for example, is raking in $22 million due to the Big 10 contract how can the addition of a Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri + Notre Dame not further dilute the existing Big 10 teams revenue streams? The reason: The Roman Catholic Church.


Nearly a quarter of the US population defines itself as Roman Catholic. If the Church itself connects with any one university it would be Notre Dame. There are a hell of a lot of Catholics that would pay the nominal fee asked their cable provider in order to pick up Notre Dame football games on the Big 10 Network. Right now those same people get their milk for free. There are enough Catholics spread throughout the US that identify with Notre Dame football that every single cable operator will eventually need to pay the Big 10 Networks fees to carry the network. That is how getting Notre Dame would pay for itself plus any 4 other schools. In addition to every Catholic college football fan that isn't in the TV footprint of the Big 10 Network you add typical rabid Nebraska fan clamboring to see their team on each Saturday or the fervor that is Kansas basketball and the Big 10 Network can ask a premium on the cable operators.
 

Inigo Montoya said:
I like how you quantitatively try to reason that ND + pick your 4 Big 12 schools would not add enough revenue by citing the current contract of NBC / Notre Dame. Your reason being that if Notre Dame itself is only pulling down $10 million per year with NBC and Northwestern, for example, is raking in $22 million due to the Big 10 contract how can the addition of a Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri + Notre Dame not further dilute the existing Big 10 teams revenue streams? The reason: The Roman Catholic Church.


Nearly a quarter of the US population defines itself as Roman Catholic. If the Church itself connects with any one university it would be Notre Dame. There are a hell of a lot of Catholics that would pay the nominal fee asked their cable provider in order to pick up Notre Dame football games on the Big 10 Network. Right now those same people get their milk for free. There are enough Catholics spread throughout the US that identify with Notre Dame football that every single cable operator will eventually need to pay the Big 10 Networks fees to carry the network. That is how getting Notre Dame would pay for itself plus any 4 other schools. In addition to every Catholic college football fan that isn't in the TV footprint of the Big 10 Network you add typical rabid Nebraska fan clamboring to see their team on each Saturday or the fervor that is Kansas basketball and the Big 10 Network can ask a premium on the cable operators.
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I hope you're not serious.
 

There are a vast number of Catholic colleges out there. Notre Dame's support has little to do with being a Catholic college, and everything to do with its reputation for being good at football.
 

I now pull for the success of all Mid Western football teams, this includes South Bend except when a Mid Western team plays against the U.
 

RodentRampage said:
There are a vast number of Catholic colleges out there. Notre Dame's support has little to do with being a Catholic college, and everything to do with its reputation for being good at football.
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Reputation maybe, reality no. Fact is Notre Dame is the New York Yankees of college football. People will watch to see them fail. It was my source of schadenfreude after watching the Gophers last fall.

R-squared, your wrote that Notre Dame support has little to do with being a Catholic university. Really? Out of all the people that are wearing a BYU clothing right now, how many are non-Mormons? I would fathom to guess that Notre Dame has very little in the way of non-Catholic fans. Religious affililiation has a lot to do with who supports what team. A fine example is soccer in Ireland or Scotland.
 

RodentRampage said:
There are a vast number of Catholic colleges out there. Notre Dame's support has little to do with being a Catholic college, and everything to do with its reputation for being good at football.
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In some cases, you're right. But I think Notre Dame does have a solid following just for the fact it is a Catholic school. I know a family from upstate New York that are huge Notre Dame fans, and a big reason is because they are Catholic.

Their winning tradition probably has more to do with it, but being Catholic does play a big role.
 

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