Big Ten Expansion?

[peanut]

Something tells me that the Big Ten is not done expanding. Below are the strongest eight candidates, as I see it. Only three of the eight have wrestling teams:

1. ND- 6th most valuable sports program, national brand
2. Georgia Tech, 47th most valuable sports program, 7th strongest tv market
3. Duke- 26th most valuable sports program, 22nd biggest tv market
4. UNC- 40th most valuable sports program, 22nd biggest tv market
5. Miami- 31st most valuable sports program, 18th biggest tv market
6. Colorado, 55th most valuable sports program, 17th strongest tv market
7. Utah, 56th most valuable sports program, 28th strongest tv market
8. ASU, 68th most valuable sports program, 43rd strongest tv market

ND will join any conference whenever it feels like doing so.

I could see Georgia Tech and Miami joining the Big Ten as a pair. Two big tv markets, plus good football recruiting areas. And together, they would extend the Big Ten's reach into the southeast.

I could also see Duke and UNC joining the Big Ten as a pair. Great academics and strong basketball programs in a decent-sized tv market.

I think Colorado, Utah, and ASU are long shots, but they would at least fill in the huge geographical gap between the Big Ten's west coast teams and Nebraska.

Edited Sunday at 03:55 AM by peanut

[ionel]

7 minutes ago, peanut said:

I think Colorado, Utah, and ASU are long shots, but they would at least fill in the huge geographical gap between the Big Ten's west coast teams and Nebraska.

Didn't they just join a conference? 

[peanut]

Just now, ionel said:

Didn't they just join a conference? 

At this point, any school would do anything to join the SEC or Big Ten.

[Wrestleknownothing]

23 minutes ago, peanut said:

At this point, any school would do anything to join the SEC or Big Ten.

Haven't the conferences been signing them to long term committments with large exit fees?

[ionel]

24 minutes ago, peanut said:

At this point, any school would do anything to join the SEC or Big Ten.

Doubtful.  The b10 could've had them if they wanted before the B12.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

2 hours ago, peanut said:

1. ND- 6th most valuable sports program, national brand
2. Georgia Tech, 47th most valuable sports program, 7th strongest tv market
3. Duke- 26th most valuable sports program, 22nd biggest tv market
4. UNC- 40th most valuable sports program, 22nd biggest tv market
5. Miami- 31st most valuable sports program, 18th biggest tv market
6. Colorado, 55th most valuable sports program, 17th strongest tv market
7. Utah, 56th most valuable sports program, 28th strongest tv market
8. ASU, 68th most valuable sports program, 43rd strongest tv market

 

 

Only two schools on that list likely offer anything that the B1G wants: Duke and UNC. I submit that the most important criteria for getting a bid revolves around research. That is, research grants and research dollars spent. Both Duke and UNC are in the billion dollar club. They would fit right in, and both are AAU schools. 

Remember, this will be voted on by university presidents and boards of trustees, not athletic directors and football fans. 

Before the last round, I knew they'd pick Washington because it is at the top of the list of research institutions. Oregon was the geographic rival that came along. Nobody wants Washington State. I also thought Stanford and UCLA would join the conference. Instead, it was UCLA and USC. Those two are geographic rivals and billion dollar research centers as well. 

What folks on sports websites always look at are the tv sports contracts. The conference gets about a billion dollars per year from football broadcasting, then throw in the Big Ten Network and basketball, and you have some nice change. But, each school gets as much each year in research grants and corporate research tie-ins. 

And that's not even where the real money is. 

The real money is in the patents. The schools do the research, and they get to keep a percentage of the profits from any patents created because of the research. How much is a new drug worth? How about a more efficient solar panel or computer chip? 

From 2015 to 2020, the University of ILLINOIS was granted 620 patents. Even stupid Indiana received 256 patents. Duke and UNC, as much as I hate them, are Big Ten worthy in that regard, and they are natural geographic rivals. 

 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

For those who want to get even deeper in the weeds, consider the economics of big-time college sports. You generate revenue mostly from broadcast rights, ticket sales, merchandizing, donations and coffee table books about Dick Butkus. Your expenses include the care and feeding of somewhere around 480+ athletes, coaches, doctors, trainers, the physical buildings, advertising and on and on. 

You're lucky to break even.  

Research, on the other hand, is a way for universities to gamble with other people's money. The big research schools will get over a billion dollars in federal and state funding each year. Then, you have corporate sponsors who want your smart students to make their products better, faster, less likely to explode. 

With all of that money, you attract the Nobel Prize winners and the best students from around the world. They are put to work making discoveries. All of that is paid for! Then, when they do make a discovery, you patent it, license that patent to a company that wants to build that product or incorporate that discovery into their existing product, then go to the best strip club in town for a bad ribeye steak dinner. 

[DownOnWashington]

I wish OkState would wrestle with the B1G like Mizzou does for the Big 12, majority of us are in Tulsa/DFW area (3 hours from DFW). Many of us like myself are from Houston too. But I get it the academics are not B1G standard at the moment and way bigger brands like UNC/Duke/ND, but hey at least we’re not Texas Tech or LSU at 2.0gpa acceptance! 
 

However I’d love to have OkState dual with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, etc. culturally it would be amazing.

 

 

[peanut]

3 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

 

Only two schools on that list likely offer anything that the B1G wants: Duke and UNC. I submit that the most important criteria for getting a bid revolves around research. That is, research grants and research dollars spent. Both Duke and UNC are in the billion dollar club. They would fit right in, and both are AAU schools. 

Remember, this will be voted on by university presidents and boards of trustees, not athletic directors and football fans. 

Before the last round, I knew they'd pick Washington because it is at the top of the list of research institutions. Oregon was the geographic rival that came along. Nobody wants Washington State. I also thought Stanford and UCLA would join the conference. Instead, it was UCLA and USC. Those two are geographic rivals and billion dollar research centers as well. 

What folks on sports websites always look at are the tv sports contracts. The conference gets about a billion dollars per year from football broadcasting, then throw in the Big Ten Network and basketball, and you have some nice change. But, each school gets as much each year in research grants and corporate research tie-ins. 

And that's not even where the real money is. 

The real money is in the patents. The schools do the research, and they get to keep a percentage of the profits from any patents created because of the research. How much is a new drug worth? How about a more efficient solar panel or computer chip? 

From 2015 to 2020, the University of ILLINOIS was granted 620 patents. Even stupid Indiana received 256 patents. Duke and UNC, as much as I hate them, are Big Ten worthy in that regard, and they are natural geographic rivals. 

 

Georgia Tech has great academics, and Miami just joined the AAU. As a pair, they would bring in two tv markets that are each bigger than the Raleigh-Durham tv market shared by Duke and UNC. 

But I agree that the Big Ten would absolutely consider Duke and UNC.

[wjd]

10 hours ago, peanut said:

At this point, any school would do anything to join the SEC or Big Ten.

It costs a lot of money to exit a conference. I doubt anyone who's just made a move is going to be doing another anytime soon. 

[PortaJohn]

15 hours ago, peanut said:

ND will join any conference whenever it feels like doing so.

ND will join the B10 when they and the SEC start their own league in the near future 

[CHROMEBIRD]

Conference expansion and realignment has been driven largely by media dollars. There's diminishing returns with adding new teams relative to the incremental media market revenues they bring in, esp when the pie is already being divided 18 ways. 

Lofty GOR penalties didn't prevent teams from leaving (or suing and trying to leave, if you're in the ACC) but it's hard to imagine recent movers like ASU, CU, and Utah make a move. 

Anyway, further consolidation of conferences probably isn't what's best for wrestling.