Connecticut Newspaper Take on possible Big Ten Expansion

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

The regular New Haven Register columnist pretty much aligns with what's already been stated on this board. 
_________________________________________________________________________
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/05/12/sports/112_solomon051210.txt

SOLOMON: The Big picture is about to change in college sports
Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010

By Dave Solomon, Register Sports Columnist

From every indication and response, Monday’s radio report that Rutgers had been offered a place in the Big Ten, along with Notre Dame, Missouri and Nebraska, is premature, if not totally fabricated.

But there’s tension in the air in big-time college athletics as we’ve not seen it before, so spines shiver around the country at every mention of Big Ten expansion and its inevitable repercussions.

Some of the shrewdest administrators in college athletics sit helpless and numb in major conference offices like Providence and Dallas and Greensboro, N.C., awaiting some clarity ... and its fallout.

Most of everything we know at this point is speculation, but in virtually every scenario – depending on whether one, two or three Big East teams join the Big Ten – there is major collateral damage for the league. And as money drives Big Ten realignment toward a new college order over the next several weeks and months, the Big East is powerless to stop Rutgers and Syracuse and Pitt from grabbing a far greater chunk of the pie.

Put yourself in the shoes of Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti and president Richard McCormick. The Big Ten now generates roughly $22 million — mostly in TV money — for each member institution, compared to the $7 million that each member of the Big East inherits.

Does Rutgers jump at the chance to align with a superior football league and triple the money in millions, or stay in an eight-team football conference that is boxed in by economics and reality?

The Big East was founded more than three decades ago on these very same tenets of big

money and greener pastures.

If Rutgers does go to the Big Ten, which seems to be the smart money, it devalues the Big East football property even further. The next Big East TV contract would reflect an even greater disparity in revenue than currently exists.

The Big East could, in theory, take the hit of Rutgers and replace it with a Central Florida, as an example. But it could never withstand the loss of Rutgers and Syracuse or Pitt, let alone all of them.

Losing Rutgers in basketball would have very minimal impact, but whatever the Big Ten chooses to do, it’s being generated in large part by football money from its lucrative Big Ten Network. What they’re seeing is an untapped New York market with Rutgers and Syracuse driving millions of dollars in added revenue per school.

If you think the Atlantic Coast Conference raid on the Big East in 2003 was apocalyptic, just wait until the Big Ten adds multiple teams from the Big East, and perhaps one or two from the Big 12 as well.

Why would UConn, or West Virginia or Louisville want to stay in a league that almost certainly would lose its BCS affiliation and significant conference bowl tie-ins – assuming these schools even have a chance to go elsewhere?

It would be ideal if the Big East could act in a pro-active manner and fortify itself against Big Ten expansion, but the truth is, it’s powerless to stop the Big Ten from reworking college alignments across the country. There’s no BCS-level football institution that would jump to the Big East and, frankly, how appetizing do Central Florida, East Carolina and Memphis sound as prospective fill-ins?

As mentioned here two months ago, every member of the Big Ten belongs to the Association of American Universities, an association of 62 leading research universities in the U.S. and Canada. Rutgers, Pitt and Syracuse are members. Because UConn is not, we think it’s not a serious candidate to join the discussion of the Big Ten expansion.

But if you’re UConn AD Jeff Hathaway and president Michael Hogan, would you then not try to endear yourself with the ACC – the conference that was once vilified for its covert raid? ACC schools take in approximately $11 million from TV revenue, a 60 percent bump over the Big East.

For argument sake, if UConn, and/or Pitt/West Virginia went to the ACC in the corresponding domino fallout from Big Ten expansion, not only is the Big East football league a memory, but it’s a completely different basketball league as ell – one dominated by non-football institutions like Georgetown, St. John’s, Marquette and Seton Hall.

There’s no end to the speculation and permutations from Big Ten expansion. In the Big 12, they’re not only hoping to keep Nebraska and Missouri from skipping over to the Big Ten, the SEC would love to steal Texas and the Pac-10 is said to have its eye on Colorado.

But no one potentially stands to lose as much as the Big East ... and its remaining institutions. So schools like UConn try to position and brace themselves as best they can for the repercussions.

As we said, there’s tension in the air in big-time athletics like we’ve not seen before. And people are understandably jumpy.

Dave Solomon, the Register sports columnist, can be reached at dsolomon@newhavenregister.com.

[brewcity77]

A good article that addresses many of the fears, though sadly doesn't offer much in terms of solutions. From what I remember, the Big Ten is still on their 12-18 month timetable for expansion. With that in mind, I really think the Big East should get themselves on an expansion timetable of their own with two goals.

First, talk to ESPN and get the plans for a network in motion. ESPN East, or whatever they want to call it, use the resources ESPN has, give them priority on marquee football and basketball games, and start broadcasting what you can. Soccer, Lacrosse, women's basketball, softball, golf, baseball, tennis, swimming, track and field, whatever it takes to fill up the schedule. Even if it's not a 24-hour network, they can fill in 3-5 hours in the wee hours with infomercials, hell, even Comedy Central still does that. It doesn't have to be a finished product, but it has to be in the works, slated to debut in probably no more than a year, I'd say ideally by January 2011 to capitalize on the basketball season, which is currently our bread and butter.

Second, we have to be proactive in expansion. Right now, everyone is on pins and needles waiting to see what the Big Ten does. I say screw what the Big Ten does. If you can get a network up and running that offers more in revenue than the ACC right now, we become a more attractive prospect. Lock current Big East teams into the conference. First, Notre Dame either joins full bore or they get kicked out. Their football could put the conference over the top, but as they are the most rumored team to leave, I say force their hand, as it could save us the pain of losing anyone else if the Big Ten would decide to stop at 12. With a definitive answer from Notre Dame and a promise of greater revenue from the network, we can focus on teams outside the Big East. The obvious necessity is to get the football schools up to 12 for a conference championship game. With Notre Dame, that means adding 4 schools. Without Notre Dame, that means adding five, four of which play football. Everyone says UCF because they’re an easy target, but they should only be a fall back option. Instead, we focus on teams from the ACC. While we won't be able to match what the Big Ten offers in terms of revenue, we can get closer if we split the money pot into two piles. I'm going to assume we will have 19 members, 12 of which are football schools. To entice football schools, we offer them a bigger piece of the pot. For example, maybe we can offer the football schools $13 million a year, and offer non-football schools $9 million a year. It wouldn't be as lucrative as the Big Ten, but it would be the second most lucrative offer going for football schools, and it would still be a step up in terms of the payday for non-football schools.

So who do we get? Instead of UCF, how about offering Miami or Florida State? While both could be targets for an SEC expansion, both would make sense as rivals for USF, would enhance our football  profile greatly, and aren’t that bad at basketball. I also think bringing Boston College back makes sense. They play 31 varsity sports, so would provide plenty of programming, bring the huge Boston market, and if they saw the ACC as a sinking ship, may well jump back. Beyond that, there’s plenty of targets. In a perfect world, I think we would only get one of Miami or FSU, with the other going to the SEC. But we can still try to bring Virginia Tech back, another team with a good football program. How about North Carolina or Duke? Not great in terms of football, but both would be a huge draw in terms of basketball. Maryland, NC State, Virginia, all of them would be potential targets if we looked more likely to survive than the ACC is. And all of them are a lot more attractive than the likes of UCF, Memphis, and East Carolina.

The simple truth is that the landscape will change. And I think generally, it's accepted that the Big Ten and SEC will both survive. But not everyone east of the Mississippi will get into one of those two conferences. If we can offer an immediate promise of $13-15 million to football schools now, that may be more appealing than the "what if" of the Big Ten. If they only add 1-3 schools, not everyone will go. At most, Notre Dame, Rutgers, maybe Pitt or Syracuse. But what if they look to state schools like Nebraska and Missouri? Tell our current members if you want in on the new deal, you sign up now and if you want to leave, the team must give three years notice (instead of the two given now) and forfeit half of their Big East network earnings during those three years. Between the SEC and Big Ten, I think the maximum expansion you will see is 9 teams. If Boston College, North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse don't know for certain that they will be amongst those nine, it might make a lot more sense to go with a proactive winner.

Quite simply, it's act now or die. I hope that Tagliabue is taking this approach, because if not, we may be back in a Great Midwest type conference before you know it.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Actually, coincidentally, UConn's President, Michael Hogan, just got hired yesterday at President of the University of Illinois system.  So if UConn is on the Big Ten expansion radar, they may have a much more powerful ally in the process now.

[ChicosBailBonds]

But but Hayward said it would be not big deal if Rutgers left.   

It's all about the dominoes. 

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I see ESPN - Big East as an idea continually thrown around.  For a tie-in to the concept, and a little historical triva, ESPN was actually founded so the Hartford Whalers would have their own TV broadcast outlet.  ESPN has the outreach and the fact it's still located in Connecticut it would be a good candidate to be a homer for UConn and the Big East.   

There's two other sport's networks in Connecticut, both in Stamford that may be interested in expanding?  Versus - Maybe looking to expand beyond the NHL & the Tour de France
YES - OK it's regional, but it involves the Yankees

I'm just thinking out loud..............