WOW: ESPN reports that Maryland, Rutgers in serious talks to join Big Ten

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It's not just an ESPN story anymore. There are a lot of people who don't want this to happen. Some people who don't care one way or another. Anybody outside of Penn State and Big Ten fans relocated "back East" who are excited about it? Basketball fans in particular are finding out that by laundering the vast majority of their revenue through the NCAA their sport is irrelevant in these discussions. The country as a whole seems to care about College Football year round or at least from August to January. They care about College Basketball in March.

Wonder what Elmore said about tradition when Boston College, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced they were joining the ACC?

“I'm concerned about the buyout and what implications it might have,” former Maryland basketball star and current ESPN college basketball analyst Len Elmore said Saturday after news of the Big Ten talks broke.

Elmore, also a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a watchdog group, said: “Everything must change, but the ACC has been about tradition. Just to walk away from that for the money...”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...e-big-ten-conference-20121117,0,3451967.story

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2012/11/politi_moving_to_the_big_ten_i.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...a8cde4-3104-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_story.html
 



Yes. Very excited. Getting East Coast teams is great for the B1G.
 

Mick Turition said:
thanks for that, Nostrodumas. But who knows? <B>They actually crawl English soccer scores (soccer scores$%$#^$%$!) across the bottom of the screen when I'm watching NFL football on free television.</B> Never thought that would happen. Dying doesn't seem so bad after all.
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the horror, the horror
 



Posted this on another thread, but just wanted to put it here too. Call the main phone number, press 8 at the beep, then dial the first few letters of Delany's name. It will connect you to his secretary's voicemail. I encourage all Big Ten fans to let Jim Delany know how you feel about the possible addition of Rutgers and Maryland. I, for one, am not happy about it and think it is a monumental mistake.

Big Ten Conference

James E. Delany
Commissioner

1500 West Higgins Road
Park Ridge, IL 60068-6300
(847) 696-1010

Fax numbers:
Admin. (847) 696-1150
Comm. (847) 696-1110
 

Source: Maryland to vote Monday on B1G

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Maryland's regents will vote Monday morning whether to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference as a new member, a source tells ESPN.com. Under Armour founder and top Maryland booster Kevin Plank is "100 percent" supportive of the school joining the Big Ten, a regent has told ESPN.com.

Here's the news story.
If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East will then follow suit, a source said. The Rutgers announcement could be as early as Tuesday, sources said. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.

There is not a consensus among Maryland athletic department officials, a source said. The school is leaning toward the move but there is still time for the school to decide to stay in the ACC, according to the source.

Maryland president Wallace Loh has been handling the conversation with Big Ten officials, a source said.

One stumbling block for Maryland could be finances. Maryland's athletic department has recently dropped sports because of budget issues, and the ACC recently raised its exit fee to $50 million. ....

A source told ESPN that the Big Ten has been itchy about further expansion since Notre Dame made its official move to the ACC two months ago in all sports other than football. The source said the Big Ten can justify Maryland and then possibly Rutgers since they are all contiguous states to the Big Ten footprint.

We'll obviously have much, much more as this story develops. Monday is potentially another huge day in Big Ten history.
 

Let me guess you voted for Obama too? We have become a nation of whiners...Jim Delany could CARE LESS what you think

AhliBobwa said:
Posted this on another thread, but just wanted to put it here too. Call the main phone number, press 8 at the beep, then dial the first few letters of Delany's name. It will connect you to his secretary's voicemail. I encourage all Big Ten fans to let Jim Delany know how you feel about the possible addition of Rutgers and Maryland. I, for one, am not happy about it and think it is a monumental mistake.

Big Ten Conference

James E. Delany
Commissioner

1500 West Higgins Road
Park Ridge, IL 60068-6300
(847) 696-1010

Fax numbers:
Admin. (847) 696-1150
Comm. (847) 696-1110
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This could be just the news we need to finally scare Ball State and Western Kentucky into joining the B10. They are officially on notice that we won't wait for them forever.
 

I'm bummed about Rutgers, I can live with Maryland.

Both undoubtedly have potential to be very good football programs, but haven't put any sustained success together. Rutgers really has no excuse not to be good at football considering they are in New Jersey though. Delaney is betting big that a cash and interest infusion will boost these programs to new heights, otherwise this move will look poor in the future.

Penn State and Nebraska were sure things, neither of these two are better than 50/50.
 

Gopherprof said:
We'll still play Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, and Northwestern every year.

If we swap a few games with Purdue for games with Rutgers, I can't say I really care at all if the end result is more money for our department.

The overreaction that people have to these types of things is always baffling. You'd think we were being sent down to the MAC. And, frankly, it's a bit hypocritical to complain about "diluting" the league when we've contributed almost nothing to it in 40 years.
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I said it before, I'm not complaining about diluting the competition level and being naive about where our program has stood for the years 1972-1998 and 2007-2011, but I'll bite anyway... While I agree MN has not been a top program int he past 50 years, we absolutely add to the conference in terms of history. History of national championships (6, 7 if you want to count the latest Billingleytonworth one). History in the longest running FCS rivalry with Wisconsin. History in the oldest (and best) trophy game. History in 2 other great rivalries/trophies with Iowa/Wisconsin. We have been on the national spotlight in more recent years, being a 4th quarter meltdown from a Rose Bowl in 2003 and having national award winners in Carter, Eslinger, Setterstrom, and Spaeth. But ok, I'll give you that our program doesn't necessarily move the national needle any more than Maryland or Rutgers have in the past many years and as a Gopher fan it would seem a bit hypocritical.

But it does dilute the relevance of the league to our fans and to the teams playing each other. Ok, you say we still get to play Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, and Northwestern every year (I guess I don't know for sure how a 14 team league would be divided, do YOU? I can't guarantee yearly matchups with those teams). But ok. Yeah, maybe you don't care about Purdue any more than Maryland. How about Ohio State? Penn State? Illinois? Across the board I would rather play ANY of those teams on a given year than Maryland or Rutgers. And my dad and wife are both FROM Maryland so I feel like I'm in the minority of people with any sort of connection to that school. This is the diluting I'm talking about - diluting how often we play teams we've cared about in the past. Diluting the shared culture of Big Ten football being very midwestern - the style of the schools, the people, the campuses, etc. Diluting the ability of team's fans to travel to away games and experience Big Ten football on the road. Diluting the experience of the teams - with 14 and 2 divisions a player can and will go 4 years without playing a team from the other division on their home field.

Furthermore, it's been shown that the DC and NYC markets really don't tune in the college football. Those that do are transplants from schools and already make a point to watch. It may get a little more revenue, but I just don't see how much or how it's worth it.

I'm also glad to see that we as fans are willing to give up what makes college football special to pay the coaches an extra $500,000 a year and have some more money to afford LCD ribbons at facilities to be advertised at in new exciting ways. I'd rather play Ohio State and Penn State every year than Rutgers and Maryland who I don't (and probably never will) give a crap about. Nebraska seemed like a calculated add to the conference that was a good fit of history, geography, natural rivalry (with Iowa), history with current member programs (MN, others), and national fan presence. I can't say any of those about Rutgers or Maryland (with the exception of a 33 game history between PSU and Maryland and 24 between PSU and Rutgers, which says to me we've already got a decent chunk of the east coast market through PSU).
 





Iceland12 said:
CNNSI take on the money involved.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ig-ten-expansion-tv-money/index.html?mobile=n
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Interesting read. Thanks.

From the column:

According to a television executive familiar with the Northeast corridor, the move could ultimately be worth as much as $200 million annually for the Big Ten in cable subscription fees. This is a Pollyannaish figure that's unlikely to ever materialize, but it shows the scope of the potential value. The interesting part, considering the current cable climate, is that the potential move also comes with considerable risk.

There are an estimated 15 million available households in the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. markets. If the Big Ten Network got on basic cable in all those places, which is an enormous long shot, the per-household figure by the time Rutgers and Maryland joined the league would project in the neighborhood of $1.25 per month. That would equate to about $200 million per year.

Go Gophers!!
 

RailBaronYarr said:
Furthermore, it's been shown that the DC and NYC markets really don't tune in the college football. Those that do are transplants from schools and already make a point to watch. It may get a little more revenue, but I just don't see how much or how it's worth it.
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Doesn't matter if they "don't tune in" the B1G will be able to negotiate their way onto basic cable in these massive markets. Fox owns BTN and YES, and you better believe that Fox will strong arm every cable provider in the tri-state area if they have to so BTN is on the basic package. You tell New Yorkers they can't watch the Yankees without paying for Iowa vs Purdue? Guess what, they'll buy it.
 

Here's my realignment prediction

Wisconsin & Illinois to the Legends, with Maryland & Rutgers to the Leaders.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Here's my realignment prediction

Wisconsin & Illinois to the Legends, with Maryland & Rutgers to the Leaders.
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Either that or Illinois and they split the Indiana schools would be my guess. I kind of have a feeling they want to keep Wisconsin in the Leaders but I don't have anything to back it up.
 



patrick08 said:
I think you will see the SEC star to creep more north and more west. This seems to be the new thing. Regional conferences mean nothing anymore. In five years the 6 BCS conferences will be down to four.
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Conferences may be expanding, but most are still in the same geographic region. ACC schools are all still along the Atlantic coast. PAC-12 is still in contiguous states. Same with the SEC. And even with these additions, so is the B1G. These conferences all remain regional, even though said regions are expanding. The Big XII and Big East are the only power conferences not contained in the same geographic region.
 

westcoastgopher11 said:
Either that or Illinois and they split the Indiana schools would be my guess. I kind of have a feeling they want to keep Wisconsin in the Leaders but I don't have anything to back it up.
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That would definitely keep some balance if Maryland and Rutgers both end up in the Leaders. If they moved Wisconsin, OSU would just walk into the championship game every year.
 

From what I've seen in cursory looks online, Maryland fans are chomping at the bit to get into the conference. Their board is meeting this morning and I expect we'll hear some news this afternoon. The times, they are a changin'
 

Maryland's chancellor could have the final say, regardless of what the Regents do: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...r-to-joining-big-ten-20121118,0,3071485.story

It wasn't immediately certain whether a regents vote is necessary for Maryland to proceed, or if Chancellor William E. (Brit) Kirwan can make the decision on his own.

There was some sentiment on the board that the decision would be made by a vote of the regents. But others -- including powerful proponents of moving forward with the Big Ten -- believe the decision is Kirwan’s own.

A similar disagreement played out one year ago when Maryland made the decision to name the Comcast Center court for former basketball coach Gary Williams. Regents debated the matter in private session. But it was Kirwan who ultimately had the final say.

This latest disagreement added another layer of intrigue to what is likely to be a lively regents debate.

Maryland hopes to obtain the regents’ endorsement even if the vote amounts to a non-binding show of support.

Either way, Maryland is hoping to obtain the regents' endorsement. The proposal seemed to be gaining momentum Sunday, even as the plan — which took many Maryland supporters and others associated with the ACC by surprise — was the subject of passionate debate on dozens of fan sites.
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Gopher07 said:
From what I've seen in cursory looks online, Maryland fans are chomping at the bit to get into the conference. Their board is meeting this morning and I expect we'll hear some news this afternoon. The times, they are a changin'
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The Rutgers fans are in rabid in their desire to joining the Big Ten too, Hard to tell if they're more excited to join the Conference itself or give the finger to Pittsburgh, Syracuse and B.C. :cool:

They're also very defensive in regard to most Big Ten Fans hoping they don't.
 






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