Reasons the B1G should take ISU

[Clonebydesign]

I'd like to see the B1G go with this. Adding Pitt, ND, Mizzou and ISU. Would add abunch of rivalries. Plus controls every major school in the footprint.
Leaders
Hoosiers 524 miles, 9 hours
Buckeyes 673 miles, 11.25 hours
Nittany Lions 926 miles, 15.5 hours
Panthers 806 miles, 13.5 hours
Boilermakers 462 miles, 7.75 hours
Fighting Irish 436 miles, 7.5 hours
Badgers 279 miles, 5 hours
Fighting Illini 380 miles, 6.5 hours

Legends
Hawkeyes 139 miles, 2.5 hours
Wolverines 583 miles, 10 hours
Spartans 564 miles, 9.5 hours
Cyclones ---
Golden Gophers 218 miles, 4 hours
Wildcats 366 miles, 6.5 hours
Tigers 278 miles, 5 hours
Cornhuskers 225 miles, 4 hours

 

[ljhlax]

Leaders
Hoosiers
Buckeyes
Nittany Lions
Panthers
Boilermakers
Fighting Irish
Badgers
Fighting Illini

Legends
Hawkeyes
Wolverines
Spartans
Cyclones
Golden Gophers
Wildcats
Tigers
Cornhuskers

What if the Conference did the unthinkable and rotated every year? Take the results from the previous year and split it evenly the next. Take overall conference records and head to heads and then put 1,4,5,8,9,12,13,16 in one division and 2,3,6,7,10,11,14,15 in the other the next year. I'm pretty sure the Chicago City league does something like this in Basketball every year. I think it would be pretty awesome if The B1G did something like it. It would keep programs and rivalries on their toes, and make for very dramatic finishes to every season (even if the program is towards the bottom of the league).

 

[desertbound]

Would love to see this happen, even though it is probably highly unlikely. Seems like the U of I should be lobbying for our inclusion (must like OU takes OSU along, Texas takes Tech, etc). Don't know if this has been brought up before, but Graham Spanier, President of Penn State, served as President of Nebraska before taking the Penn State job. AND, he's an ISU alum...graduated in 1969 or 1970, I believe. Would be nice to have him supporting the addition of ISU...

 

[capitalcityguy]

I mentioned this on another thread, Miller and Deace had interesting discussion on ISU joining Big 10 on their show today. Occured in very last segment of the show (sorry, I don't have a time stamp), but here is the link:

http://milleranddeace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Miller-and-Deace-09-13-11.mp3

 

[aeroclone]

Would love to see this happen, even though it is probably highly unlikely. Seems like the U of I should be lobbying for our inclusion (must like OU takes OSU along, Texas takes Tech, etc). Don't know if this has been brought up before, but Graham Spanier, President of Penn State, served as President of Nebraska before taking the Penn State job. AND, he's an ISU alum...graduated in 1969 or 1970, I believe. Would be nice to have him supporting the addition of ISU...

There is a big difference between our situation and that of OSU or TT. First off, Iowa isn't the whale that is OU or UT. Second off, nobody is trying to attract Iowa. Iowa is already in the Big Ten and they are going to stay there. If we were both in the Big 12 right now, maybe we could package ourselves together and try to make a push for the B1G, but that just isn't the case. U of I can lobby for us, but they just aren't in the power position that UT and OU are, so we can't leverage them like OSU and TT are doing with their in-state cohorts.

 

[Cyclonestate78]

I think adding Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas, and Kansas State to the BIG would be great however I know its a long shot.

I guess the biggest thing I don't understand about the BIG is their interest in schools like Rutgers on the east coast. The area is primarily interested in professional sports and the product those schools put on the field isn't very good either.

I think if they could bring in the 4 schools listed above they would have more followers than bringing in schools like Rutgers not to mention local rivalries they would have with Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. I know that football is the key to making it all happen but you would have to think that the egos of the BIG would love to have the additional strength in basketball and basically dominate college wrestling.

You nailed it. Adding a team like Rutgers does absolutely nothing for the B1G. Sure Rutgers is located on the east coast in a huge tv market but nobody out there even cares about Rutgers at all. Where a university is located doesn't automatically give you that tv market... demand is everything.

This is taken straight off of the BTN website...

"The Big Ten Network is available to up to 73 million homes nationwide. The Big Ten Network is available across North America on satellite providers such as DIRECTV, DISH Network and Shaw Direct (Canada), telco companies such as Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse, and on cable in 22 of America’s top 25 media markets.
The network has cable distribution agreements with Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland), Insight Communications, Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, RCN, Service Electric, Shaw (Canada) and more than 250 additional cable operators across North America. Customers of DIRECTV and DISH Network have access to the network regardless of where they live. Verizon FiOS and AT&T’s U-Verse are rolling out the network across the country.
Cable subscribers inside the eight Big Ten states receive the network on either an expanded basic or digital basic level of service. Outside the eight states, excluding St. Louis, Omaha and Louisville, cable operators who carry the network make it available on a variety of packages. Select markets where the network is available are listed below. If you do not see your city listed here, contact your local system office to see if there are plans to add the network. "

Adding a team like Rutgers would bring very little demand so the local cable companies would have little interest in ******* their customers off by jacking up their bills for programming they have no interest in watching. It gets a bit sticky when you get into large tv markets like that. Sure there might be 50 to 100k Rutgers fans crying to get BTN but what about the other 19 million people that live in that tv market? Will those 19 million people have to foot the bill for the tiny percentage of Rutgers fans that wouldn't want to pay for the "sports pack" or the equivalent package from their cable company? Doubt it.

 

[desertbound]

There is a big difference between our situation and that of OSU or TT. First off, Iowa isn't the whale that is OU or UT. Second off, nobody is trying to attract Iowa. Iowa is already in the Big Ten and they are going to stay there. If we were both in the Big 12 right now, maybe we could package ourselves together and try to make a push for the B1G, but that just isn't the case. U of I can lobby for us, but they just aren't in the power position that UT and OU are, so we can't leverage them like OSU and TT are doing with their in-state cohorts.

Valid points.

 

[TXCyclones]

One point that hasn't seemed to have gotten a mention, and I apologize if I've missed it, is that the teams from the Big XII seem to all be heading to coastal conferences. This essentially leaves a vacuum in the heartland, which was once THE mecca for collegiate sports. ISU and MO would be great expansion candidates and keep the B1G roots where they belong. Forget about TV's (although they'd pick up several with KC and St Louis markets). The academics and commonality of backgrounds is astounding. I could also see adding KU & KSU to round out to 16 (and their grades are no worse than Nebraska's).

 

[CyFan61]

In an IDEAL world, I want us, Mizzou, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh in the Big Ten.

Then I'd like to see true geographic divisional alignment. 9 conference games, play all 7 of your division opponents and 2 crossovers with no protected rivalries.

Basketball I would like to see a 16 game conference schedule where you play everyone once, plus your one designated rival twice (home-and-home). Let's say Pitt-PSU, Mich-OSU, IU-PU, ND-MSU, Ill-NW, Minn-Wisc, ISU-Iowa, and then Nebby-Mizzou.

WEST
Nebraska
Mizzou
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern

EAST
Indiana
Purdue
Notre Dame
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Pitt
Penn State

A man can dream....

 

[ljhlax]

In an IDEAL world, I want us, Mizzou, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh in the Big Ten.

Then I'd like to see true geographic divisional alignment. 9 conference games, play all 7 of your division opponents and 2 crossovers with no protected rivalries.

Basketball I would like to see a 16 game conference schedule where you play everyone once, plus your one designated rival twice (home-and-home). Let's say Pitt-PSU, Mich-OSU, IU-PU, ND-MSU, Ill-NW, Minn-Wisc, ISU-Iowa, and then Nebby-Mizzou.

WEST
Nebraska
Mizzou
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern

EAST
Indiana
Purdue
Notre Dame
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Pitt
Penn State

A man can dream....

I like where your head is at. Especially the Basketball schedule. The rivals might be MSU/Mich and OSU/ND though. I think that would fly more with the majority of fans in Michigan, and OSU and ND can feel important together.

 

[stateofmind]

I posted this on the mega thread, but it's buried already. Can you believe it?

I put together this spreadsheet out of curiosity. I wanted to put data in here that would allow me to sort the data in different ways and see how ISU compares to other schools regardless of their conference affiliation.

Not sure anybody else will use it, but I love my spreadsheets.

 

[TXCyclones]

Wow! I was looking for a quote from the B1G President regarding their "need" of staying true to their heritage and academics when I came across this kid's blog in Wisconsin from last week! The Badger Herald: Korger: Open letter to B1G as superconferences near