my surprise pick for 12th team

[tjgopher]

Okay, since everybody's doing it, I'll throw my surprise pick in here.

University of Toronto

Yep, I know a strange choice, but think about it. It fits the Big Ten academic model perfectly since it is a member of the AAU, is a major public research insitution, has tons of grad schools, and is very well respected. It has 55,000 students and is the largest university in Canada. Geographically, it is a little closer than PSU, although still a long ways away. It is closer than Rutgers, Syracuse or UConn. And, they already have an athletic department that includes the major sports (obviously, they'd need an upgrade and this would take some transition). Plus, they have the best sports team nickname ever - "The Varsity Blues."

To heck with opening up the New York City market with Rutgers. That's only one city. Let's open the Big Ten up to an ENTIRE COUNTRY. Think about it. If the Big Ten Network gets clearance throughout Canada at $.50-$1 per subscriber??? HUGE $$$$.

The Big Ten Goes Global!

 

[Saskatchewan Gopher]

Man, their football team is awful, dreadfully awful. Even Michigan could beat them. But on the academics front, top notch.

I can't remember which school, Simon Fraser or U of British Columbia, got permission to award athletic scholarships so that they may eventually enter the NCAA, if not already. It would be in basketball to start but maybe expand from there. They, I think it's SFU, already play many US college teams in bball.

 

[i'm batman]

they're not in the NCAA. i don't know if they would be allowed to join or not, it seems that it would then be the interNCAA

 

[KoolAid]

Post of the year

 

[dpodoll68]

they're not in the NCAA. i don't know if they would be allowed to join or not, it seems that it would then be the interNCAA

There is already a Canadian college, Simon Fraser, that has been accepted into NCAA (DII) and will be a full member as of the 2012-13 athletic season.

 

[tjgopher]

Post of the year

Hey, I said they were my "surprise" pick of the year, not the "bona fide contender for expansion" pick of the year. I know it will never happen. Just fodder for discussion

 

[GoAUpher]

There is already a Canadian college, Simon Fraser, that has been accepted into NCAA (DII) and will be a full member as of the 2012-13 athletic season.

I think you highlight the main issue with a non-NCAA school here (ignoring academics/athletic quality/TV markets). The Big Ten isn't going to wait around for a school to go through it's certification period.

 

[denguegopher]

Okay, since everybody's doing it, I'll throw my surprise pick in here.

University of Toronto

Yep, I know a strange choice, but think about it. It fits the Big Ten academic model perfectly since it is a member of the AAU, is a major public research insitution, has tons of grad schools, and is very well respected.

I like this creative suggestion! But they only have one grad school (The School of Graduate Studies) which I'm sure is an administrative unit and not an academic one.

 

[tjgopher]

I like this creative suggestion! But they only have one grad school (The School of Graduate Studies) which I'm sure is an administrative unit and not an academic one.

Yeah, I should have said they have a ton of graduate programs. I didn't literally mean schools. Clearly, you can get a high-quality and well-respected post-graduate degree in a lot of areas of study from there.

 

[maxwellsmart]

For the sake of discussion I'll take this Toronto proposal seriously. The problem, at least to me, would be cultural, not a matter of organization or regulations. Canadian sports addicts are primarily hockey fans. Football playoffs end there about the middle of November. After that, it's hockey season, which bears little or no resemblance to hockey season in the U.S. The Canadian hockey fan is involved with the sport on many levels. I have seen small late October / early November crowds for the Sask. Roughriders on the same day teams playing in the W drew to capacity. There is no reason to believe that Canadians will adopt college football as a popular form of sports entertainment. Beyond that, everything about a newly formed Toronto B10 football team will need to be manufactured, from a suitable venue right down to a couple of artificial rivalries. It's a huge gamble at best.

 

[alltimetwinsfan]

I actually considered this possibility for a while too while thinking about all of this, but decided in the end that there would simply be too many hurdles to overcome for all of this to work. You'd essentially be trying to teach an old dog new tricks, especially in football and basketball. Further, you'd have to deal with major issues with visas and passports for every player that would play in the Big Ten. In the end, I think it's an interesting idea, but not one they'll consider, simply due to the other possible options.