Quote:
Originally Posted by sigtau305
I can see Pittsburgh as memeber of the big ten. Mizzou will remain with the Big 12.
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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).
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