Yes, in this instance I would consider 31 spots marginal. Academics are a consideration here, but you're kidding yourself if you think they're anywhere near the top of the list. What media markets it brings in is #1. Fit geographically and within rivalaries for athletics (that's what this is about) is #2. Missouri fits better then anyone on these two requirements except ND. Academics only become a factor if the school under consideration is well below the standards of the rest of the conference, or when splitting hairs between two otherwise equal candidates. Missouri is not WAY below the academic standards of the rest of the conference. For one example, they have an excellent journalism program. It's not as good as Northwestern, but it would easily be the 2nd best in the conference.
Speculation of Missouri to the Big 10 growing
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Yes, in this instance I would consider 31 spots marginal. Academics are a consideration here, but you're kidding yourself if you think they're anywhere near the top of the list. What media markets it brings in is #1. Fit geographically and within rivalaries for athletics (that's what this is about) is #2. Missouri fits better then anyone on these two requirements except ND. Academics only become a factor if the school under consideration is well below the standards of the rest of the conference, or when splitting hairs between two otherwise equal candidates. Missouri is not WAY below the academic standards of the rest of the conference. For one example, they have an excellent journalism program. It's not as good as Northwestern, but it would easily be the 2nd best in the conference.
hyaluronic
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Funny, they are actually #71... for master's universities in the midwest.
Good point. They'd never fit in with the gigantic cultural meccas like Iowa City, East Lansing, West Lafayette, Bloomington et al.
Zeppelin Gopher
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I take it you've never been to West Lafayette?
I spent about 8 years calling on customers in the Columbia area and I think it's a pretty good town. Nice downtown area, some good bars, excellent medical (4 good sized hospitals), low cost of living but a lot of money in the area.
Population is about 100,000 which is bigger than Duluth (not saying Duluth is a cultural metropolis but just comparing size), have good athletic facilites and you could do a lot worse in life than spending a couple hours at a basketball game watching the "Missouri Golden Girls". (think that's what they call them. 90 minutes from both KC and St. Louis.
I'd welcome them and think they'd be good choice. Not interested in going further east for a 12th team.
As I think Magpie first said, it would make for easy east/west alignment with us, Wisky, Iowa. MO, NW and ILL in west. Don't really care about OSU, PSU and Mich is same division. They have to compete against 10 other teams now to win a title. With 12 team split, they only have to beat 5 other teams to get a share. You want a title - just win baby.
I know some of you on here care about the academic side, but I really don't. Someone has to bring up the rear in a conference and they could raise their ranking with some upgrades if they so desired. In other respects, MO fits perfectly as a large, land grant, state university in the Midwest.
Thanks,
ps - would raise the quality and profile of baseball in the Big 10.
Population is about 100,000 which is bigger than Duluth (not saying Duluth is a cultural metropolis but just comparing size), have good athletic facilites and you could do a lot worse in life than spending a couple hours at a basketball game watching the "Missouri Golden Girls". (think that's what they call them. 90 minutes from both KC and St. Louis.
I'd welcome them and think they'd be good choice. Not interested in going further east for a 12th team.
As I think Magpie first said, it would make for easy east/west alignment with us, Wisky, Iowa. MO, NW and ILL in west. Don't really care about OSU, PSU and Mich is same division. They have to compete against 10 other teams now to win a title. With 12 team split, they only have to beat 5 other teams to get a share. You want a title - just win baby.
I know some of you on here care about the academic side, but I really don't. Someone has to bring up the rear in a conference and they could raise their ranking with some upgrades if they so desired. In other respects, MO fits perfectly as a large, land grant, state university in the Midwest.
Thanks,
ps - would raise the quality and profile of baseball in the Big 10.
Mizzou would be the best fit in my opinion as well. Just look at a map. It is fairly close to Iowa City and Champagne, and within a roadtrip from Northwestern, Madison and the U. (many many Twins fans make the drive to KC every summer). And I think bringing in the St Louis and KC markets would be much more benificial then bringing in the Pittsburgh market. And lets just stop with the Rutgers talk. Not a natural fit at all. That is just a huge travel burden for all the non-revenue sports and it just doesnt seem to fit the identity of the Big Ten. I am not really sure what that is, but they dont seem to fit.
dpodoll68
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I strongly disagree. If you are being a pragmatist, then you are exactly right. But I guarantee that the Big Ten does not care about practicalities, and the foremost thing on their minds will be the dollar signs flashing before their eyes.
From a football standpoint, Missouri would be much better. They are very close to the historical Big Ten footprint, and already have a great rivalry with Illinois. But, as already mentioned, they are not a very sound academic institution, and will they really bring in much of the St. Louis and Kansas City markets? I don't pretend to be a great St. Louis/Kansas City mind, but from everything I read, I gather that St. Louis is first and foremost a baseball town, while Kansas City is largely obsessed with all things Jayhawk. Will they gather in some new fans to the Big Ten? Of course, but I think the Kansas City market, at least, is already quite saturated in the college market, while St. Louis is geared primarily toward pro sports. All of this is without mentioning the fact that Missouri is a founding institution of the Big 12 (in its various iterations), and has been a member for 102 years. That's not something you just rip off like a Band-Aid.
One of my close friends lives in New Brunswick, very close to the Rutgers campus, and I can promise you that NYC was enraptured when they had their great run 3 years ago. There are plenty of colleges in NYC, but they are all basketball schools, and Rutgers is the closest thing they have to big-time college football (New Brunswick is only 35 miles from Manhattan). They have only been in the Big Least since 1991 after decades of being an independent, so that's not a huge issue. They played in the first college football game ever. And they are on par academically with the U, Purdue, Michigan St., Indiana, etc. But the biggest thing is the penetration into NYC. Having even a fraction of those 16 million pairs of eyeballs tuned in every week would be like a wet dream for the Big Ten.
Notre Dame's profile blows both of them away. But since that almost certainly won't happen, we need to consider other candidates. Speaking practically, Missouri would be better from a geographic and competitive standpoint. But for what the Big Ten wants to achieve with expansion, Rutgers is a better candidate.
Word
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Have you been to Columbia? It's a nice town and has a very nice campus. I'd love to go on road trips there and it's only a 9-10 hour drive.
I have been to Lincoln, Columbia, Ann Arbor, West Lafeyette, Madison, Iowa City, Ames, Tempe and more. Columbia would be a great Big Ten city to visit. As I would put it in front of Madison, Lincoln, West Lafeyette to start... and possibly Ann Arbor, but have only been there for a short time. Ames is a nice city as well, but adding Iowa State would be worse than subtracting Northwestern.
Missouri basically ensures basic cable/satellite distribution for the St. Louis and KC markets. With the BTN that's all that really matters. 5 years ago it would have been a question of how much money the local affiliates would bid for the rights to the games, etc. That is no longer the issue.
In that sense, Rutgers would be a coup if it could ensure the same thing in NYC, but I'm not convinced of that it would. Penn State already gives the BTN some penetration into that market and I'm not sure Rutgers would increase it in a substantial way. The most popular college football team in NYC is ND. Penn State is #2. Yes, Rutgers was popular in NYC a few years ago when they had thier undefeated run. George Mason was popular in Washington when they made the Final Four. Neither really stuck. The NYC cable companies held out on YES for years, they're not going to be scared of not having Rutgers football. Rutgers is relatively weak in the other sports (they're not really great in football) and it would be a financial travel burden for the non-revenue sports. It's not a good fit on the whole.
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I'd love to see a poll where a majority of casual big ten fans actually place Rutgers in New Jersey instead of in New York. To me, that's one reason Rutgers feels odd. Because somehow I just can't envision a Big Ten conference that has a team in Jersey. 
I grew up in Iowa as a Hawkeye fan and have many friends and relatives in Minnesota and Wisc. I went to law school at Mizzou and have lived in Columbia for most of the last 17 years. I think MU is the logical school for expansion. From an athletic stand point, MU would be right in the middle of teams in overall athletic success. Right now they are pretty good in both of the revenue sports and have good baseball and wrestling teams. While I tease my wife about being a southerner Missouri is now a very midwestern state. Columbia is quite similar to Iowa City and Madison (maybe not quite as cool I admit). MU would completely solidify the Big 10 hold on St. Louis (where MU grads dominate) and open up the KC market for the Big 10 (although KC is more KU oriented). From a geographic standpoint it creates a natural east/west split but could make sense in a north/south split.
In regards to academics, I really think many of you are overstating the divide based on the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Honestly, the difference between a top 50 school and a top 100 is pretty miniscule. If you look at average ACT scores they are going to be pretty similar. Missouri fits in with the Big 10 in that it is a major research institution. MU like most of the Big 10 schools has most of the professional schools (med, law, vet). The Journalism school battles Northwestern for best in the nation every year. As has been mentioned, they have the largest research reactor in the country. Overall, MU is just simply more like Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota than the other schools being mentioned.
In regards to academics, I really think many of you are overstating the divide based on the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Honestly, the difference between a top 50 school and a top 100 is pretty miniscule. If you look at average ACT scores they are going to be pretty similar. Missouri fits in with the Big 10 in that it is a major research institution. MU like most of the Big 10 schools has most of the professional schools (med, law, vet). The Journalism school battles Northwestern for best in the nation every year. As has been mentioned, they have the largest research reactor in the country. Overall, MU is just simply more like Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota than the other schools being mentioned.
GoAUpher
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Research is also the primary "academic" concern anyway. Undergrad rankings will not be the primary factor considered IMO. What is Bruininks always talking about when it comes to improving the U's academic rankings? Research/grad programs. And from what folks are saying it seems like Missouri might be a good fit in that way.
fuzz on the kiwi
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A better solution would be for Penn State to leave the big ten and join the big east. The big ten would actually have ten teams. Penn State would travel less and have closer proximity to natural rival games with Pitt, West Virginia, and maybe Cinci who could remain a power. UConn is on the rise and Rutgers is doing well. Syracuse finished last in the league and lost to Minnesota in OT and beat Northwestern. So for Penn St it would be a step up improving their National Championship hopes by the better competition in the Big East.
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That makes no sense for PSU though IMO. They are primarily a FB power and the Big East is pretty widely agreed upon as one of the 2 weakest BCS conferences. They'd lose money on the deal as the Big East revenue sharing is completely inferior to the Big Ten's and their list of bowl games in non-BCS years is weak, weak, weak. As for National Title hopes...you don't sustain an athletic department's budget on hopes and dreams. You do it with cash. Cash the Big East can not provide them.
Iceland12
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That would be a terrible idea. The Big 10 added PSU for a reason, to gain exposure in East Coast media markets like Philly, Pittsburgh and NYC and they did. They would be foolish to now give that up. That horse is out of the barn. I'm not advocating that they do, but IF they were going to 'contract' (an ugly word to Minnesota sports fans) the only logical choices would be Northwestern or Michigan State. Northwestern adds nothing that they wouldn't already have with Illinois except academic standing. Michigan State adds nothing they wouldn't already have with Michigan, but has been the strongest basketball program over the last 15 years. Contraction back to 10 teams is simply not going to happen, however.
GoAUpher
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GoAUPpher: Take a look; he's yet to post anything that's made any sense.
Yea, but it was quick/easy enough to knock down. =)
Brew_recruit
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GoAUPpher: Take a look; he's yet to post anything that's made any sense.
what iceland is trying to say is that all his posts do not reprsesnt the same opinion as iceland.
highwayman
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+100 With the caveat that the Lil' Brown Jug game is played every year. It's the oldest and coolest Trophy in college football.
Also, think of how much this would benefit Minnesota. The Gophers would have a realistic shot at winning the Big Ten West almost every single year. This is the plan!
It's not played every year now. What's the difference?