Bad Bad Bad News... 6 Big 12 Teams Potentially to Pac Ten

[bhawk326]

Snowcraig, if it was just about academics I think Iowa State would be a top tier candidate for expansion. Unfortunately, on the athletic side (expanding the Big Ten Network, already an Iowa team in the league, etc.) ISU doesn't have the cache to be a heavily considered candidate.

 

[sunset]

Sunset, I have been nothing but courteous to your point of view, so there is no need to get hot under the collar. Ohio State and Michigan have great interest in expanding the Big Ten this round and in the future since more teams equal more money if they are chosen for a reason that increases the Big Ten brand and revenues. You cannot point to generalizations of money and greed and win a discussion with me. I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way. Use your brain and resources to come up with a scenario in which 10 or 20 years from now a Michigan or Ohio State decides to make a move that would endanger Iowa's ability to remain in a BCS-level conference. I'm not saying a scenario doesn't exist, I just haven't been given a plausible one yet that gives me pause for concern.

First of all, the Big Ten requires a 75% vote to make any changes to the conference. No matter how many new teams come into the conference that percentage will not change. That means that a pretty big contingent of universities would have to come together to discharge a member. I just don't see this being a realistic scenario, since this isn't even what is happening in the Big 12. In the current conference realignment scenario, no one is kicking out ISU, KSU or Kansas, instead they are being left behind as other universities leave for new conferences.

If you and I can agree that the Big Ten won't have the power and will never remove Iowa, then the only way Iowa gets into danger is if the Big Ten disbands. Under what circumstances would the Big Ten disband? Too often it is forgotten that the Big Ten wasn't formed and still doesn't exist solely as an athletic conference. Instead of an athletic marriage of convenience (ex: Texas and the Big 8), the Big 10 conference has partnerships and collaborations in research that greatly dwarf athletics. Keep in mind that the Big Ten discharged $6 billion dollars worth of research expenditures last year where as the athletic departments budgets totaled approximately $0.9 billion. Research is 7 times the dollars of athletics. Of course, athletics is still very important to the Big Ten, but money is king and the money is in academic research. The Big Ten will want to keep it research collaboration structure (Committee on Institutional Cooperation) and subsequently its conference even if Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State or all 3 left for greener pastures. Even though I don't see why they would leave since the other options (ACC and SEC) don't offer the academic collaborations they get from being in the Big Ten.

So I look forward to hearing some scenarios you can come up with.

Also, I have faith in a lot of things, but the tooth fairy is not one of them.

I have not been discourteous to you. I just don't have much free time so I get straight to the point.

It's a giant leap of faith that you think the big10 will never remove an institution. The concept is very, very simple: I bring in more money than you do, therefore you are a dilution from my point of view. The Joneses down the street are keeping more of their own money so I think I will too.

I'm not going to get into some drawn out conversation of "what if" when you can't even agree to the simple concepts.

 

[vmbplayer]

I have not been discourteous to you. I just don't have much free time so I get straight to the point.

It's a giant leap of faith that you think the big10 will never remove an institution. The concept is very, very simple: I bring in more money than you do, therefore you are a dilution from my point of view. The Joneses down the street are keeping more of their own money so I think I will too.

I'm not going to get into some drawn out conversation of "what if" when you can't even agree to the simple concepts.

When has a conference ever kicked out a team? Any conference. Honestly I'm young enough that this is the first potential major conference shake up to happen since I've cared much. I don't see any conference especially one as established as the Big 10 kicking out any member, especially a founding one because they don't bring in enough money.

 

[weR138]

When has a conference ever kicked out a team? Any conference. Honestly I'm young enough that this is the first potential major conference shake up to happen since I've cared much. I don't see any conference especially one as established as the Big 10 kicking out any member, especially a founding one because they don't bring in enough money.

Big East and Temple? Or was it ACC. I think I read this in another thread...

 

[sunset]

When has a conference ever kicked out a team? Any conference. Honestly I'm young enough that this is the first potential major conference shake up to happen since I've cared much. I don't see any conference especially one as established as the Big 10 kicking out any member, especially a founding one because they don't bring in enough money.

They are not a founding member. And if it eases your mind any, you can think of it as further reallignments with the biggest schools of each conference teaming up. Really, you are playing symantecs and missing the bigger picture. These past few weeks have clearly shown that NCAA is going in a completely new way. It's a path driven by greed and screw your neighbor thinking. Once the ball starts rolling it will only gain momentum and it will only be a matter of time before the smaller schools that got lucky in this round of money grab are thrown to the side.

 

[LutherClone]

I think this thread needs a soundtrack:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAzvKt_8lk]YouTube - O Fortuna Misheard lyrics[/ame]