Big 10 (11) to expand, Missouri willing to listen
 

Could be a pretty big shakeup as far as college conferences are concerned. I'm guessing Big 10 is tired of waiting for Notre Dame to see the light and is now willing to try to pick up someone like Mizzou or Pitt.

I know East Carolina is probably looking to leave Conference USA now that they have some power under them. Not sure what conference they want, this is DH's arena since he's the alum.

Interesting.

I can see Pittsburgh as memeber of the big ten. Mizzou will remain with the Big 12.

You're missing the big draw of joining the Big 10 - the Big 10's academic reputation is sterling, and joining would practically guarantee membership into the Association of American Universities (assuming the school is a "research university"), which is a relatively big draw for a school like Mizzou, while Pitt only makes sense as a "friend" for PSU (who hates Pitt).

Besides this, the Big 12 (and, actually, the Big East) have abysmal TV contracts and VERY awkward BCS/Bowl distribution pacts - essentially, the Big 12's distribution policy serves to keep Texas and OU fat and happy, while the Big 10 essentially splits it evenly. Even the crappiest Big 10 teams finish well in the black for the football season, via the Big Ten Network and bowl payouts.

Really, only three things make sense for Big 10 expansion:

1 - A Mizzou/Nebraska-type traditional Midwest school - ISU makes no sense because they suck at everything and bring no alumni base. The B12 then adds Colorado State or TCU and everybody's happy, at least until the Pac10 takes Utah and BYU and everything goes to hell.

2 - An NYC-area school (Rutgers or Syracuse) to open the market to BTN - this is kind of a long shot, since both programs are kind of weak overall right now.

3 - Notre Dame (who will likely need to wait until after their NBC deal expires, and will require strong changes to the BCS bylaws).

I'd rank them in approximately that order. Shitty academic schools like Cincinnati won't even be acknowledged - the university presidents make the decision, and keeping the academic reputation will be 1a in the process (money will obviously be 1b).

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say the Big Ten's academic reputation is "sterling." However, the Big Ten tends to be a bit delusionally self-absorbed, and there is no way they will let in a school deemed unworthy of their academic "status." In that regard, I would agree that schools like Cincy have no chance, especially considering their rival would be the golden child of the Big Ten- OSU (and OSU would have a shit fit if they let Cincy in.....not being the best football team in OH? WHAT?!). I think it will end up being Pitt; they have the academics, the student and alumni support, and they are much more within the region of the Big Ten than Missouri.

Not quite sure what you mean by this part. Pitt's already a member of the AofAU and is a pretty high level research university. Pitt's academics fit in quite well.

As a Pitt season ticket holder for both football and basketball, I have mixed feelings on joining the Big 10 (or whatever they'd end up calling it, since right now there's 11 teams and this would be a 12th). I think for football, it would be an upgrade for Pitt and I'd take it in a heartbeat. Having a commish from a basketball only school (Providence) has seemingly hurt Big East football. Big East football has been suffering since the VT/BC/Miami defection. For basketball though, the Big 10 would be a downgrade from the Big East. And we'd miss the NYC market for recruiting purposes (and we usually play and draw quite well when playing at MSG). I personally dislike way things are run in the Big East, particularly the via towards football vs. basketball. Not so much a problem with the basketball, moreso the football.

ND will never give up its independence (aka cash cow) willingly. Mizzou seems like it is desperate to join. Rutgers and Syracuse are seen as bringing in a NY market, but that's a much more pro-oriented than college market. Syracuse basketball is consistently pretty good, but both of their football programs aren't great.

Cincy's has recent success, but they have a teeny tiny stadium and their football program is really just getting going - they just moved up to the Big East several years ago. Basketball wise, they're great.

It'll be interesting.

Screw you hippy. Fucking Hawkeye Homer.

It'll be a few years before this even happens. If anything, the rumblings from Mizzou (and honestly, Iowa State and Nebraska should also make rumblings) should prove to the moronic Big XII commish Beebe that the north schools aren't going to stand to be Texas' bitch much longer. Maybe work in a better tv deal while they're at it.

I don't ever want Iowa State to consider the Big 10 because, not only would we have to deal with fucking Iowa all the time, we'd have to deal with all the other pretentious schools in that conference. I know, money and TV exposure should trump that, but I don't like the idea of whoring out my alma mater. And, yes, I know it's a moot point because it'll probably never happen anyway.

Yeah - I meant that there's no draw to joining the AAU for Pitt (since they're one of the 60 already) like there is with Mizzou . . . didn't mean to denigrate Pitt academics or anything. Pitt leaving would collapse the Big East, so there would have to be a big pull for it to happen.

I probably should have expounded a bit - Pitt's a tough case, since it doesn't open up any new markets for the conference, and they have bad blood with PSU over scheduling issues (and general fanbase issues - from what I know, PSU was douchey in the whole thing). It would give PSU a "natural" rival and reduce their travel costs, but so would Cuse/Rutgers, with added tangential benefit for the conference.

Pitt would be a great choice on a wholly competitive level and I'd probably prefer them to everyone but Mizzou, but it doesn't seem to work out with what the University presidents will want.

Yeah, originally I put that a LOT more diplomatically, then decided to go whole-hog in case you were still around reading. Obviously ISU's secondary (non-revenue) sports are very solid, so they'd be a good addition there, but the alumni/donation base and lack of additional markets kills their chances.

This is the important thing - the B12N has been neutered by the UT/ATM/OU axis of evil, and basically the whole North should threaten to leave and form a superconference if it'll help their leverage. Seriously, the B12 bowl distribution alone is disgusting enough that the North teams should actively want to leave.

Seriously, will they take Boise State University because they are obviously being discriminated against by the BCS and we're all just losers in the WAC who ruin their strength of schedule. Not like BSU has the academic caliber for the Big 10 (11) anyway...

Yeah I'm bitter about the BSU coach getting WAC coach of the year for doing what he was expected to do while Robb Akey wins more games this season than in the past three years dealing with other coaches recruits and got a bid to the Humanitarian Bowl.

Do you mean about the Pitt/Penn State game being no longer? I thought it was the conference in general who was douchey about them fitting it in the schedule, not PSU specifically. I don't know, everyone thought the world would come to an end when that game went away but it didn't.

Oh no. It's is PSU/JoePa, specifically. Zero to do with the conferences. Supposedly the only condition he would do it in would be 2 home games for PSU and 1 home game for Pitt.

Big Ten evaluating expansion to 12 teams
By RICK GANO
AP Sports Writer
7:06 p.m. CST, December 15, 2009

Exert on Mizzou to Big Eleven

University of Missouri spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken said the school hasn't been contacted by the Big Ten.

"Should there be an official inquiry or invitation, we would evaluate it based on what is in the best interest of MU, athletically and academically," she said in an e-mail.

Don Walsworth, a major donor to Missouri's sports programs who was a member of the board that governs the university until earlier this year, said that, aside from a Big Ten television contract that allows more revenue sharing than the Big 12 deal, it makes little sense for Missouri to jump conferences.

The school's position in the geographic middle of the conference allows easy, relatively inexpensive travel, Walsworth said. Leaving behind rivals such as Kansas and big-time opponents like Texas would upset fans.

"I think that they would be a little bit miffed if we had to start those traditions over again," Walsworth said. "I like to play Oklahoma, I like to play Texas."

The closest thing Missouri has to a Big Ten rival is Illinois, which the Tigers play every year in football and basketball.

But the schools have said their annual football game in St. Louis will end after 2010, and many fans from both schools - Walsworth among them - say the rivalry doesn't amount to much.

Charlotte just announced a unanimous decision by their Trustees to start football in 2013. Hmmm maybe the Big Eleven should just wait for this to happen and add them at this time. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if there is a connection.

Seriously - How about West Virginia?

Their academics are not even close to up to snuff.