Expansion

[HoopsTournament]

How many eyeballs would ISU add? Can you honestly say it'd be more than bringing in a team from a different state? There are a lot more people that watch both teams than you think, I'm guessing. The majority of both fanbases do not belong to a group that calls themselves "fanatics".

Just so we have some objective data on this...

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/

...from our friends (now at) the 538 website.

I have heard that point before. Something like...

"ISU has a small, but fanatically devoted ACTUAL fan base to its school and teams."

+ strong academic school, some reasonable tradition in some other sports than football, etc.

"It's downside? Can't even really deliver its own media market, Ames/Des Moines, which is somewhere in the 70s in terms of national ranking."

In an era where geographic proximity to large media markets is the only thing that matter, we're screwed. Things change a little bit if having an active fan base matters more.

According to that resource,

Maryland = 475,000 followers
Rutgers = 930,000 followers
Iowa State = 535,00 followers

We're actually a better choice than Maryland on those metrics. We just don't deliver the Washington, DC and Philadelphia media markets. Take that away, and we look more attractive.

We'd be ahead of...

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Maryland
NC State
Wake Forest
K St.
Baylor
Colorado
Arizona
Oregon St.
Utah
Stanford
Washington St. (damn, lots of P-12 schools)
USF
Cincinnati
Louisville (yes, them)

...on the rankings. Pretty far from somebody to get dropped, I hope?

Then again, there would be so many changes to the system if the cable TV money dried up I can't think about this holistically right now to the point that I can say this is somehow a universal good for us. Unless there's a "$1 to 1 fan" ratio out there in the end, whatever the delivery method (a la carte pricing through the schools or conferences, live attendance, donations, etc.) for funds, who knows what could happen. But it's nice to rank above teams without huge followings but with better media markets than Central Iowa (Chicago, Nashville, DC, Raleigh, Denver, Tucson, Portland, SLC, the Bay Area, Spokane, Tampa, Cincinnati, Louisville) above.

Let's say that your 4 conference scenario comes true and that no teams from those conferences move. Only teams from Big 12 and outside P5 are available.

Big 10 has only gone after AAU schools (even though Nebraska lost theirs). D1-A teams that are currently AAU and not part of one of the other P5 conferences:

Texas
Kansas
Iowa State
Tulane
Rice
Buffalo

Texas would be a big get for the Big Ten, but they would be more likely to join Tech, OU and OSU and go to the Pac 12 than to go to the Big 10. There would be a lot of pressure in the Texas legislature for them to do that.

Kansas also has issue with K-State, but I don't think they are as closely tied as Texas/TT and OU/OSU are.

Tulane, Rice and Buffalo have nowhere near the fanbase that ISU has.

There is also Notre Dame out there, but I believe that ship has sailed and if they do join a conference as a full member, they will stay with ACC.

The question is would Big Ten go outside of AAU. Here are the non-AAU options from Big 12:

OU/OSU - tied together and Big 10 is unlikely to take OSU because of academics
TT - tied with Texas and unlikely to take because of academics
TCU - Fewer fans than ISU
Baylor - Fewer fans than ISU
K-State - Fewer Fans than ISU and unlikely to take because of academics
WVU - Does bring a lot of fans, but is unlikely due to academics

Here are the top non-AAU options outside of P5 that have higher fan ranking that ISU:
UConn - Not a strong football program, slightly more fans than ISU
BYU - Not sure if Big 10 would expand out west

So there is your answer. I am sure you will come up with some stupid response to refute it that is biased with black and gold and has no facts to back it up.

 

[Havs]

No schools are tied in realignment. Kansas and Oklahoma will ditch "State" in a heartbeat. The Big Ten has an invite (still available) to Notre Dame, and they aren't AAU. I would be willing to bet the Big Ten would take Kansas, Okla, and Texas, regardless of AAU status.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

No schools are tied in realignment. Kansas and Oklahoma will ditch "State" in a heartbeat. The Big Ten has an invite (still available) to Notre Dame, and they aren't AAU. I would be willing to bet the Big Ten would take Kansas, Okla, and Texas, regardless of AAU status.

Notre Dame doesn't need the AAU. Only god can judge them.

 

[Mesaclone1]

Texas would commit Hari-kari before joining the Big Ten. No way in heck do they go to a northern league...in fact, they are not going anywhere nor are any of the other teams in the Big 12.

 

[Gonzo]

No schools are tied in realignment. Kansas and Oklahoma will ditch "State" in a heartbeat. The Big Ten has an invite (still available) to Notre Dame, and they aren't AAU. I would be willing to bet the Big Ten would take Kansas, Okla, and Texas, regardless of AAU status.

They'd take Texas, which is an AAU school. No way the B1G takes KU or OU without AAU status.

 

[HoopsTournament]

No schools are tied in realignment. Kansas and Oklahoma will ditch "State" in a heartbeat. The Big Ten has an invite (still available) to Notre Dame, and they aren't AAU. I would be willing to bet the Big Ten would take Kansas, Okla, and Texas, regardless of AAU status.

I agree with KU and KSU, but not with OU/OSU and UT/TT. They are more tied than you might think.

 

[cykadelic2]

I agree with KU and KSU, but not with OU/OSU and UT/TT. They are more tied than you might think.

Agree.

And I highly doubt the B10 will stray from AAU schools if they add schools. If they had a do over, Mizzou would be in instead of NU who was AAU when invited.

 

[CyFan61]

Agree.

And I highly doubt the B10 will stray from AAU schools if they add schools. If they had a do over, Mizzou would be in instead of NU who was AAU when invited.

I agree with this and I wonder how things would've shaken out if Missouri went to the B1G first instead of Nebraska. Maybe the SEC would have gone with A&M and West Virginia, and the Big 12 would look like it does now but with the Cornhuskers instead of the Mountaineers.

 

[Havs]

Agree.

And I highly doubt the B10 will stray from AAU schools if they add schools. If they had a do over, Mizzou would be in instead of NU who was AAU when invited.

It was going to be Missouri in the Big Ten instead of Nebraska if it wasn't for the great leadership ( ) of Deaton, Alden and Governor Nixon.

 

[scyclonekid]

Texas is not joining the big ten its a northern league period.

 

[Judoka]

No schools are tied in realignment. Kansas and Oklahoma will ditch "State" in a heartbeat. The Big Ten has an invite (still available) to Notre Dame, and they aren't AAU. I would be willing to bet the Big Ten would take Kansas, Okla, and Texas, regardless of AAU status.

Schools aren't tied because they like each other, they're tied by their state legislatures. You could maybe argue that Kansas would be able to take the last spot on a B1G or ACC lifeboat rather than have both them and K-State sink, since they don't have enough pull to drag KSU with them somewhere. But Texas and Oklahoma both have the clout needed to pull little brother with them, and Oklahoma as a state isn't going to just let Oklahoma State sink to obscurity just like Texas as a state isn't going to let Tech fade into the AAC or Mountain West.

 

[Gorm]

Exactly.

Remember that Ohio States presidents comments about "Iowa being pressured about Iowa State" into the Big10 thing. There is a lot that happens behind the scenes in realignment when it comes to state governing bodies.

 

[Judoka]

In the case of Texas/Oklahoma you also gotta remember that as long as they stay in the Big XII there is no problem, the conference sails along. So if they try to leave and not bring their little brother's with them then all the state government has to do is tell them not to leave, they don't even have to try to force another conference to take OSU/TT as a package deal. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are very much tied to the larger schools in their state. And you could also bet your *** that Baylor would be pulling every string available (just like they did when the Big XII was formed, and again when it looked like it might fall apart) to be at the table as well. At the end of the day ADs are a fraction of a university budget, which is in turn a fraction of a state budget.

 

[HoopsTournament]

In the case of Texas/Oklahoma you also gotta remember that as long as they stay in the Big XII there is no problem, the conference sails along. So if they try to leave and not bring their little brother's with them then all the state government has to do is tell them not to leave, they don't even have to try to force another conference to take OSU/TT as a package deal. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are very much tied to the larger schools in their state. And you could also bet your *** that Baylor would be pulling every string available (just like they did when the Big XII was formed, and again when it looked like it might fall apart) to be at the table as well. At the end of the day ADs are a fraction of a university budget, which is in turn a fraction of a state budget.

And now TCU.

 

[Havs]

I'd be willing to bet that Texas and Oklahoma would prefer their "little brother" schools to fall and never get back up. Just the mindset of people in this area.

 

[HoopsTournament]

I'd be willing to bet that Texas and Oklahoma would prefer their "little brother" schools to fall and never get back up. Just the mindset of people in this area.

It may not matter what the University of Texas thinks. The legislature has gotten involved in every realignment situation for Texas, so there is no reason to believe that they won't again.

 

[Gorm]

When I see articles like this:

https://floridastate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1758834

It makes me hope the Big12 doens't take other schools first. It would seem that FSU would be in play, since the SEC likely wouldn't take them.

Offer FSU, Clemson, GT, and VT and suddenly you have some nice travel partners for WVU.

 

[jdoggivjc]

When I see articles like this:

https://floridastate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1758834

It makes me hope the Big12 doens't take other schools first. It would seem that FSU would be in play, since the SEC likely wouldn't take them.

Offer FSU, Clemson, GT, and VT and suddenly you have some nice travel partners for WVU.

Just have to hope the ACC isn't able to pull together their Network deal before the deadline. It would be the death of their conference and life for the Big 12.

 

[cygrads]

Just have to hope the ACC isn't able to pull together their Network deal before the deadline. It would be the death of their conference and life for the Big 12.

Last fall channel 13.1 or 13.2 was showing ACC football games - is the ACC just giving away rights to games for anyone to broadcast? Seems odd that an Iowa TV station is broadcasting ACC games.

 

[cyspy]

Last fall channel 13.1 or 13.2 was showing ACC football games - is the ACC just giving away rights to games for anyone to broadcast? Seems odd that an Iowa TV station is broadcasting ACC games.

.

The games aired by WHO TV 13.2 were ACC games in association with Jefferson Pilot,a southern sports network. Jefferson Pilot,nee Raycom,also had contracts with the SEC before the SEC network came on. They have been running ACC football and basketball for years and in fact they run or used to run the ACC basketball tourney games in the ACC markets with the games on ESPN running at the same time blacked out in those ACC markets.