Look at what this tool on the Illinois board posted...

[Go Gophs eh?]

BTW, he did not specify where he got his info, which leads me to believe this post is 100% USDA bulls#&@. Apparently Illinois is the 3rd best academic school in the conference as well.




I saw this topic on the IU board a little bit ago. You know how the Big XII lost Colorado and Nebraska (obviously, this wasn't their decision)? If the Big Ten had to lose two teams, which do you think they'd drop?

NOTE: This is not asking you who you'd want to lose as a fan, but rather who it would make the most sense for the Conference to drop.

Given this information...

MEDIA MARKETS
Illinois - Chicago, St. Louis
Indiana - Indianapolis
Iowa - No big ones (kind of Des Moines)
Michigan - Detroit
Michigan State - Detroit
Minnesota - Minneapolis
Nebraska - No big ones (kind of Omaha)
Northwestern - Chicago
Ohio State - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus
Penn State - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Purdue - Indianapolis
Wisconsin - Milwaukee

ATHLETIC REVENUE
2. Ohio State
4. Michigan
5. Wisconsin
6. Penn State
15. Iowa
16. Michigan State
20. Nebraska
29. Minnesota
30. Purdue
35. Illinois
38. Indiana
59. Northwestern

ACADEMICS
12. Northwestern
27. Michigan
39. Illinois
39. Wisconsin
47. Penn State
53. Ohio State
61. Purdue
61. Minnesota
71. Indiana
71. Michigan State
71. Iowa
96. Nebraska

Obviously there is more than that, but I think if I were to eliminate two schools, they'd have to be Purdue and Minnesota. Tough call on Minnesota, though, as we'd then be out of Minneapolis. On second thought, I might just send back that application from Nebraska.

Thoughts?

 

[mapleleaffan5]

Theres absolutely no reason to drop any schools, the conference makes the most TV revenue of any of conference. 12 schools lets the big ten have a conference title game, which gives the conference even more money, Isn't that what college sports is all about? Let them say whatever they want, nobody is getting dropped from the big ten in the foreseeable future.

 

[Go Gophs eh?]

Theres absolutely no reason to drop any schools, the conference makes the most TV revenue of any of conference. 12 schools lets the big ten have a conference title game, which gives the conference even more money, Isn't that what college sports is all about? Let them say whatever they want, nobody is getting dropped from the big ten in the foreseeable future.

well obviosly no one is getting dropped, its just the fact that they see us as irrelevant and a mediocre academic establishment compared to theres which is rediculous. A guy below him commented and i quote, "I'd boot Minnesota & Northwestern.

Minny is completely irrelevant in just about everything"

Well, lets me start with this..... Minnnesota football 6 natl ships, ofcourse those were awhile ago so heres todays team= bowl appearance with brand new stadium, IU, did they even make a bowl game?
Minny bball as we know= tourney, Illinois=NIT
Minny baseball=NCAA tourney, Illinois, do they have a baseball team?
the irrelevant one here is by far illinois, as if they are some kind of intellectuals compared to our schools academic acheivments.

 

[MN1nAZ]

Wha? Indiana is lower in Academics and Revenue than both MN & Purdue and shares the Indianapolis market with Purdue.

 

[97alumni]

Why is this even a post? Minnesota is a founding member of the Big Ten - we are not going anywhere.

 

[underground629]

What random person made up those rankings?

 

[MinnesotaBoiler99]

Obviously there is more than that, but I think if I were to eliminate two schools, they'd have to be Purdue and Minnesota.

Purdue? Yeah right!

Purdue has won more Big Ten Basketball Championships than anyone else and also has an all-time overall winning record against every other Big Ten school. Obviously, no other team can claim that.

Football is another story but they've played in plenty of NYD bowls the past 10-15 including a Big Ten title.

 

[ski-u-mah]

Purdue? Yeah right!

Purdue has won more Big Ten Basketball Championships than anyone else and also has an all-time overall winning record against every other Big Ten school. Obviously, no other team can claim that.

Football is another story but they've played in plenty of NYD bowls the past 10-15 including a Big Ten title.

Not ripping on Purdue here at all, but it was pointed out to me once, that Purdue has never won a National Championship in any sport ever (not just major sports). That's suprising.

 

[MinnesotaBoiler99]

Not ripping on Purdue here at all, but it was pointed out to me once, that Purdue has never won a National Championship in any sport ever (not just major sports). That's suprising.

Incorrect.

1932 Men's Basketball
1999 Women's Basketball (I should remember since I was a student at the time)
2010 Women's Golf

Not an impressive list, I'll give you that.

 

[ski-u-mah]

Incorrect.

1932 Men's Basketball
1999 Women's Basketball (I should remember since I was a student at the time)
2010 Women's Golf

Not an impressive list, I'll give you that.

Well I heard from an Indiana guy, so I'm not suprised.

1932 basketball didn't count (in his eyes) because it was a Helm's and not NT (we have some too)

1999 womens basketball would centainly count, as would 2010 golf, although that hadn't happened at the time. Maybe he was qualifying it as Men's sports, but I didn't remember him qualifying it as such.

 

[MinnesotaBoiler99]

Well I heard from an Indiana guy, so I'm not suprised.

1932 basketball didn't count (in his eyes) because it was a Helm's and not NT (we have some too)

1999 womens basketball would centainly count, as would 2010 golf, although that hadn't happened at the time. Maybe he was qualifying it as Men's sports, but I didn't remember him qualifying it as such.

Ah, I should've figured an IU guy was behind this. They love rubbing it in Purdue fan's faces, especially debating the 1932 b-ball title. IU basketball is soon to be like Gopher football where all of those beloved NC's were so long ago that nobody cares anymore.

Oh, and IU sucks!

 

[MinneMike]

Haha

lumps Chicago and St. Louis (distance of 300 miles) but no
St Paul + Minneapolis

 

[chi-town gopher]

I would never advocate dropping the University of Illinois from the Big Ten, but the idea that they bring Chicago as a media market is crazy. Purdue is closer to the city, and there are tons of grads from every Big Ten school located throughout the metro area. There is no Chicago team, but you could make just as good of a case for Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern (not really), Michigan, and Ohio State.

My point is that losing Illinois would not lead to any change in the Big Ten conference/network's presence in Chicago. And until recently, it was difficult to even get the Big Ten network in St. Louis.

 

[NateDawgUM]

Hmmm, in the midst of Big Ten expansion, somebody decides to write a contraction post. Probably not the brightest bulb.

That said, we should try to win a legit conference title in football or basketball in my lifetime to get off these lists.

I'm 28, btw.

 

[Rotundo]

Hmmm, in the midst of Big Ten expansion, somebody decides to write a contraction post. Probably not the brightest bulb.

That said, we should try to win a legit conference title in football or basketball in my lifetime to get off these lists.

I'm 28, btw.

Yes. even one legit top 3 finish in football or basketball some time in the next 10 years years would be great.

 

[Go Gophs eh?]

Yes. even one legit top 3 finish in football or basketball some time in the next 10 years years would be great.

football, i dont see that happening in 10 years, especially w/ bewster as coach, basketball in 10 years, thats a little more plausible.

 

[howeda7]

Haha

lumps Chicago and St. Louis (distance of 300 miles) but no
St Paul + Minneapolis

In fairness he was referring to media markets. MSP is one market. No other markets in Minnesota are worth mentioning (not in top 100.)

That said, Illinois does not bring the St. Louis market in any signficant way. To suggest they do is laughable. One reason I think Mizzou would have been a much better choice is they would have gotten the BTN firmly into the St. Louis and KC markets.

 

[RodentRampage]

If Minnesota were dropped from the Big Ten, then as soon as the Big Ten looked for expansion, one of the first candidates would be... Minnesota! Minnesota is a significant market that any conference would be eager to have. It's all just empty smack talk anyway, it's exceedingly difficult to boot a team out of the conference. The U is a fine school, those numbers could be easily boosted if the U wanted to be more exclusive and smaller. This would require expanding the state universities of course.

 

[RodentRampage]

football, i dont see that happening in 10 years, especially w/ bewster as coach, basketball in 10 years, thats a little more plausible.

10 years is an awfully long time. If you can't imagine that, that seems more like a failure of imagination. I can easily imagine any Big Ten school having one top three finishes in the next 10 years.

 

[tjgopher]

Illinois does not bring the St. Louis market in any signficant way. To suggest they do is laughable.

It isn't that laughable. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a full-time beat reporter covering Illini football and basketball. There is something written on the Illini almost daily during the season that appears in the paper. The TV and Radio stations cover Illinois, too. If Illinois basketball is playing a game, there are highlights of that game on the local St. Louis 10 o'clock TV news that night. The sports radio stations in St. Louis regularly have Zook, Weber and Illini players on their shows as guests. I agree that Illinois is not a monster factor in a city that has three pro sports teams, but they do get some recognition and there is some commitment to covering them. And, when the Illini teams are really good (i.e. 2005 Final Four, 2008 Rose Bowl) then St. Louis jumps on the bandwagon pretty good. Lots of Illini alums living in STL and there are about 700,000 people in suburban St. Louis who literally live in Illinois (which makes it the 2nd largest population center in the state of Illinois behind Chicago).

One reason I think Mizzou would have been a much better choice is they would have gotten the BTN firmly into the St. Louis and KC markets.

BTN is already cleared on the expanded basic plan in St. Louis. St. Louis is considered in the Big Ten footprint by the BTN (without Mizzou). Kansas City is a different story.

 

[howeda7]

It isn't that laughable. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a full-time beat reporter covering Illini football and basketball. There is something written on the Illini almost daily during the season that appears in the paper. The TV and Radio stations cover Illinois, too. If Illinois basketball is playing a game, there are highlights of that game on the local St. Louis 10 o'clock TV news that night. The sports radio stations in St. Louis regularly have Zook, Weber and Illini players on their shows as guests. I agree that Illinois is not a monster factor in a city that has three pro sports teams, but they do get some recognition and there is some commitment to covering them. And, when the Illini teams are really good (i.e. 2005 Final Four, 2008 Rose Bowl) then St. Louis jumps on the bandwagon pretty good. Lots of Illini alums living in STL and there are about 700,000 people in suburban St. Louis who literally live in Illinois (which makes it the 2nd largest population center in the state of Illinois behind Chicago).



BTN is already cleared on the expanded basic plan in St. Louis. St. Louis is considered in the Big Ten footprint by the BTN (without Mizzou). Kansas City is a different story.

They may have been largely cleared in St. Louis, which as you note is partially in Illinois anyway. But most of the big providers agreed to automatically clear it in every state in the footprint. Missouri would have added a lot more net homes then Nebraska overall and was a better all-around fit, IMO. Nebraska proves this move was 100% about football.