I had assumed as much when the back and forth had begun with Boise and the Big West, but it seems clear that SDSU has used their olympic muscle (basketball especially!) to allow Boise State, in principle, to join the Big West Conference in olympic sports. This still has to clear a vote from the presidents, but it seems extremely likely that it will happen: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2012/08/15/bmurphy/boise_state_all_set_join_big_west_president_says I also have to add that, no matter what some people might say about the new Big East, it feels really good to know that there are schools that are bending over backwards trying to get into our conference and play against our school. I hope that the new tv contract rewards their efforts, and ours...
My not so secret wish is that the Big East help both of them out by adding any combination of 3 of BYU, Fresno, AFA, or Nevada to get to 16 with Navy & & add to whole bundle for all sports. Only Navy need be a football only if they wish. AFA has been in an all-sports conference & wouldn't want to give up that luxury. As it is, Boise & SDSU have to put some of their minor sports in the Big Sky & would probably welcome having all sports under the umbrella of one conference.
BYU and AF would certainly be in my top 2. I'm having a hard time figuring out the third, though. If we were to try to capture the vast military market with a bad football team, then yes, Army. If we were to capture a decent football team with a decent fanbase and no tv market, it would be ECU. If we wanted to capture a solid football team with a decent fanbase and even less than no tv market, it would be Southern Miss. I'm just not sure who number 3 would be, but it seems clear who 1 and 2 are...
Go for TV markets. If realignment has taught us anything, that's it. Also, bad teams are good for conferences -- they make the very good teams look like great teams. Too much parity reduces TV audience interest in the conference by making the top teams seem mediocre. We don't need competitive teams that bring no audience therefore no money. They subtract value.
Army would be a horrible addition. They have made the decision not to remain competitive in major D1 sports. Fresno, UNLV, Nevada, or Fresno would be the best addition for #16 if that happens. Would also add Colorado St. to that list.
Not Fresno. Central Valley California is imploding. Reno is too small. UNLV - maybe but they would have to make a huge investment. Colorado State might be a possibility.
Andy Katz @ESPNAndyKatz Big West sends out formal announcement. Can't forget Hawaii add too. Adding Hawaii, SDSU, BSU and only losing Pacific is a plus. Expand Reply Retweet Favorite
You want to play in an olympic sports conference with the likes of Fresno State, Nevada, Air Force and Boise State? Diluting the basketball conference with UCF, SMU and Houston wasn't enough? Let's further bring down the only real value the conference has and while we're at it, let's decrease UConn's payout from a tv deal.
Got to add Tulane. Great recruiting area and New Orleans is great place to visit (moved to NO in 2010 and live half mile from Tulane). Building 30 k stadium on campus, can use super dome for big games. The can be BE's Duke; get them in BE and their recruiting will jump. Got my tickets and Tulane shirts for the Sept. 1 game against the Rutgers; even for the BE can't root for Rutgers.
i think tulane will be in this conf eventually also. i really think ruty/uconn/lville and 1 other will be gone before the nbe gets to ink something. espn is just toying with nbc and at the last minute will leave the full kill off of the conf. the bball schools will split and merge with a10 schools. that big east of 16 bball special schools will get a tv contract from espn in the end for like 1 or 2 mil a team and be happy. whats left fball wise will take this new commish and go to a big 16 or 18 all sports. be the 6th best conf in fball and do its thing. schools like tulane, fresno and ecu will be in that.
First, God help me if Tulane is ever in this conference. Seriously, God help me. Secondly, if they were ever to add the olympic sports of the western members, the Big East would almost certainly have to split it up into a Big East-East and a Big East-West (in other words, the Big East and the Big East Partner Division), for multiple reasons. A) There is no way in hell that a school like Nova, GTown, or even UConn for that matter will pay for its volleyball teams and field hockey teams to play half their games on the west coast; that's just stupid for both the athletes and the wallet. B) Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, can function as a 24-team conference. It would be chaos in most olympic sports. I'm not opposed to creating a western "Partner Division", so that teams like Boise and SDSU can play olympic sports against teams like BYU, AF, etc., rather than against UCDavis, et al. But it would have to be mostly separate, with very few "cross-conference" games, to insure the integrity of the Big East olympic name as well as to insure that the schools make the best monetary and student choices that they can.
