Nebraska willing to listen if Big Ten calls

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Nebraska Fans

The Husker fans would go crazy if this happened. They despise the Big Ten and consider it a very weak conference. Believe me, I put up with a lot of crap being a Minnesota/Big Ten fan.
 

I'm getting the feeling that the Big Ten will move to 14 teams rather than just adding one.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
The Husker fans would go crazy if this happened. They despise the Big Ten and consider it a very weak conference. Believe me, I put up with a lot of crap being a Minnesota/Big Ten fan.
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Lincoln gopher...the Husker fans I've met are already crazy, I love 'em. If they despise the Big Ten, then maybe that would make for lots of good rivalries. Finally, I put up with a lot of crap all the time, so hang in there, it ain't so bad.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
The Husker fans would go crazy if this happened. They despise the Big Ten and consider it a very weak conference. Believe me, I put up with a lot of crap being a Minnesota/Big Ten fan.
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It is a game of poker right now. The problem Nebraska has is that if Mizzou goes to the Big Ten and Colorado bolts to the Pac 12, then they are either stuck with being the forgotten team in the north of the Big XII - OR - they would be forced to form their own league with Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and probably some Mountain West schools (Air Force, Wyoming, BYU, Colorado State, etc.).

So if your three options are potentially 1) joining the Big Ten and earn much more revenue, 2) being second fiddle in a Texas-heavy Big XII with less revenue, or 3) being a part of a potential new "Great Plains Conference" with the likes of Wyoming and Air Force and who knows about revenue --- then choice is obvious...you join the Big Ten.

Nebby's problem is trying to beat Missouri to the punch. If Mizzou leaves for the Big Ten that triggers a lot of potential problems for Nebraska. If Nebraska beats them to the punch, then at least they're in a big power conference with tons of TV revenue. Nebraska could gamble and say the Big Ten will go for Notre Dame, Pitt or Rutgers and the Big XII stays in tact. But, that's a gamble. No doubt Osbourne is preparing his fans for the possibility of joining the Big Ten just in case.

I've said this before, but Nebraska joining the Big Ten would change the landscape of college football (although meaningless addition in basketball). ABC/ESPN/BTN would be salivating at the possible matchups:

Nebraska-Ohio State
Nebraska-Penn State
Nebraska-Michigan
Nebraska-Minnesota
Nebraska-Iowa
Nebraska-Wisconsin

ALL of those matchups bring a national interest. Nebraska is a namebrand in college football. The Big Ten will have to decide if adding that national namebrand is better than adding TV sets and the millions of $$$ that come with that (Rutgers, Missouri).
 


Osborne was pretty upset with how Texas molded the Big XII to work in their favor at its inception. It is no coincidence that he retired two seasons after the Big XII began.
 


201...I agree with your 1st 3, but I would prefer Nebraska to Syracuse. But "I know nutting!"
 

NateDawgUM said:
Osborne was pretty upset with how Texas molded the Big XII to work in their favor at its inception. It is no coincidence that he retired two seasons after the Big XII began.
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I think this is a big part of Osborne's listening to other offers. It comes up fairly often in discussion here in Nebraska. Osborne did not want the Big 12 to happen because Texas has and will run the confernce.
 



Section201 said:
ABT ==> Anyone But Texas


In order, my top 4:

1. ND
2. MO
3. Iowa State
4. Syracuse
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Just curious, what makes ISU attractive to you? They bring nothing to the Big Ten. No additional TV sets, mediocre teams and facilities, small fan base, no national interest whatsoever. Of all the teams mentioned, they are the school with ZERO chance of being added to the Big Ten.
 

tjg

tjgopher said:
Just curious, what makes ISU attractive to you? They bring nothing to the Big Ten. No additional TV sets, mediocre teams and facilities, small fan base, no national interest whatsoever. Of all the teams mentioned, they are the school with ZERO chance of being added to the Big Ten.
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Simply the geography and the possible wins the Gophers might get out of it! I also think it could help to hurt the Hawkeye recruiting, maybe.

I agree with your reasoning but I don't give a hoot about the tv's, etc.

:)
 

Doc

Dr.Don said:
201...I agree with your 1st 3, but I would prefer Nebraska to Syracuse. But "I know nutting!"
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I have friends from Nebraska and I just don't think I could bear having to play them in football every year.

:(
 

Nebraska brings some cache to the football's national appeal, but it adds very few TV sets. Adding several million subscribers/month for the BTN is more important then adding a few million bucks to the ESPN/ABC deal. Missouri is a much better choice, IMO. Not to mention, the Big 10 is one of the few conferences that is generally balanced between being a football and basketball conference (the Pac 10 is the other.) Missouri is generally decent in both sports. Nebraska just tilts us towards being a football-heavy conference like everyone else outside the ACC and Big East.
 



tjgopher said:
It is a game of poker right now. The problem Nebraska has is that if Mizzou goes to the Big Ten and Colorado bolts to the Pac 12, then they are either stuck with being the forgotten team in the north of the Big XII - OR - they would be forced to form their own league with Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and probably some Mountain West schools (Air Force, Wyoming, BYU, Colorado State, etc.).

So if your three options are potentially 1) joining the Big Ten and earn much more revenue, 2) being second fiddle in a Texas-heavy Big XII with less revenue, or 3) being a part of a potential new "Great Plains Conference" with the likes of Wyoming and Air Force and who knows about revenue --- then choice is obvious...you join the Big Ten.

Nebby's problem is trying to beat Missouri to the punch. If Mizzou leaves for the Big Ten that triggers a lot of potential problems for Nebraska. If Nebraska beats them to the punch, then at least they're in a big power conference with tons of TV revenue. Nebraska could gamble and say the Big Ten will go for Notre Dame, Pitt or Rutgers and the Big XII stays in tact. But, that's a gamble. No doubt Osbourne is preparing his fans for the possibility of joining the Big Ten just in case.

I've said this before, but Nebraska joining the Big Ten would change the landscape of college football (although meaningless addition in basketball). ABC/ESPN/BTN would be salivating at the possible matchups:

Nebraska-Ohio State
Nebraska-Penn State
Nebraska-Michigan
Nebraska-Minnesota
Nebraska-Iowa
Nebraska-Wisconsin

ALL of those matchups bring a national interest. Nebraska is a namebrand in college football. The Big Ten will have to decide if adding that national namebrand is better than adding TV sets and the millions of $$$ that come with that (Rutgers, Missouri).
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 

I hope the line is disconnected....

Big 10 should take Rutgers. NYC media market. Enough said.
 

Rutgers

Notre Dame is the most logical choice. Rutgers is second and Texas is third. Forget about Iowa State, Syracuse, Cincy, Louisville, etc. - those schools are not in the same academic class as the Big Ten. Missouri is a fit for the Big Ten. Nebraska is a stretch(not so hot academically).
 

AngryGopher said:
Big 10 should take Rutgers. NYC media market. Enough said.
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Some time ago, there was a link to a detailed analysis of potential conference additions. Really the only thing going for Rutgers is the potential NYC market. However, the analysis noted that NYC is not really a "college" town and there was great doubt as to whether Rutgers would be able to add many new televisions to BTN viewership. In that realm, it was noted that Syracuse would be more likely to add any NY coverage, but not all that much.
 

tjgopher said:
It is a game of poker right now. The problem Nebraska has is that if Mizzou goes to the Big Ten and Colorado bolts to the Pac 12, then they are either stuck with being the forgotten team in the north of the Big XII - OR - they would be forced to form their own league with Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and probably some Mountain West schools (Air Force, Wyoming, BYU, Colorado State, etc.).

So if your three options are potentially 1) joining the Big Ten and earn much more revenue, 2) being second fiddle in a Texas-heavy Big XII with less revenue, or 3) being a part of a potential new "Great Plains Conference" with the likes of Wyoming and Air Force and who knows about revenue --- then choice is obvious...you join the Big Ten.

Nebby's problem is trying to beat Missouri to the punch. If Mizzou leaves for the Big Ten that triggers a lot of potential problems for Nebraska. If Nebraska beats them to the punch, then at least they're in a big power conference with tons of TV revenue. Nebraska could gamble and say the Big Ten will go for Notre Dame, Pitt or Rutgers and the Big XII stays in tact. But, that's a gamble. No doubt Osbourne is preparing his fans for the possibility of joining the Big Ten just in case.

I've said this before, but Nebraska joining the Big Ten would change the landscape of college football (although meaningless addition in basketball). ABC/ESPN/BTN would be salivating at the possible matchups:

Nebraska-Ohio State
Nebraska-Penn State
Nebraska-Michigan
Nebraska-Minnesota
Nebraska-Iowa
Nebraska-Wisconsin

ALL of those matchups bring a national interest. Nebraska is a namebrand in college football. The Big Ten will have to decide if adding that national namebrand is better than adding TV sets and the millions of $$$ that come with that (Rutgers, Missouri).
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How does MN-Neb bring a national interest? I can see OSU, Michigan, and MSU, maybe even Iowa, but MN-NEB? Sounds like a game for 11am on ESPNU
 

gopherbadgerman said:
How does MN-Neb bring a national interest? I can see OSU, Michigan, and MSU, maybe even Iowa, but MN-NEB? Sounds like a game for 11am on ESPNU
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I'm saying in relative terms, it is much more interesting than a potential Minnesota-Rutgers or Minnesota-Missouri or Minnesota-Pitt (now those really sound like ESPNU games). Or for that matter, an Ohio State-Nebraska game is much more interesting than an Ohio State-Rutgers game. A Penn State-Nebraska game will have much more interest than a Penn State-Missouri game. A Nebraska-Iowa game is more appealing than an Iowa-Pitt game. A Wisconsin-Nebraska game is better than a Wisconsin-Syracuse game.

In other words, if the Big Ten is indeed adding, then Nebraska brings a better namebrand. That's all I'm saying. Again, the Big Ten has to choose whether that namebrand brings more intrinsic value than the money that a Rutgers could bring in via TV subscribers in NYC/NJ.
 

I'm getting the feeling that the Big Ten will move to 14 teams rather than just adding one.
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I've been saying this from the start. The Big Ten is not going to change simply for the sake of changing, and for some piddily conference championship football game. If they're going to change, they're going to do it with style. I could see Pittsburgh, Nebraska, and a Missouri/Rutgers/Notre Dame addition; however, I've said from teh very beginning I thought it was going to be a larger addition than just one team.
 

alltimetwinsfan said:
I've been saying this from the start. The Big Ten is not going to change simply for the sake of changing, and for some piddily conference championship football game. If they're going to change, they're going to do it with style. I could see Pittsburgh, Nebraska, and a Missouri/Rutgers/Notre Dame addition; however, I've said from teh very beginning I thought it was going to be a larger addition than just one team.
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The problem with adding multiple teams in a total revenue sharing league is that you now have to share the revenue with three more teams. So, for member institutions to agree to it, you're talking about those three schools needing to add an addition $60-70 million to the total pool to make it work (roughly $20-22 million per team is the payout right now). I'm not sure that's possible.

I could see Notre Dame and possibly Rutgers adding value, but I don't think the league will simply add just to add teams. It has to make monetary sense to go to 14 teams. Adding Pitt will not accomplish that. They don't bring enough revenue to justify their existence in the league. Many of the Missouri articles say it would be a break-even (at best) proposition for the Big Ten. Nebraska probably the same. Rutgers could bring in cable subscribers (assuming NYC market adds BTN) and that would generate big dough.

There's a reason the Big Ten has resisted adding a 12th team (other than an invite to ND in the early 1990s). They don't want another school taking a piece of the pie.
 

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