B1G

[CTGoonie]

Ga Tech and BCU only make sense because of Rutgers and Maryland. They were only chosen because Delany thinks he can get the B1G Network on basic cable in NYC and DC. If he thinks he can do that in NYC than why not take two other huge markets with ATL and Boston? I only hope NYC doesn't give in unless Uconn is added as well.

 

[businesslawyer]

I feel the same way about BC. If this is about forcing your way into a market for subscription fees a school with a transient student and professional population doesn't make sense. The only difference is that whereas GT is a distant second cousin to the SEC in Atlanta, BC is a distant second cousin to 'I don't give a **** about BC' in Boston.

BC is on the same list but worse, as it's going to be harder for BC to be competitive with state flagship institutions than GTU. I didn't mention BC because I refuse to believe that BC is even being seriously considered. (And no, considered by anonymous internet sources is not being considered.

 

[Waquoit]

I found a name for my new fantasy team, "Dom Amore's Hunch"

 

[Adios]

Ga Tech and BCU only make sense because of Rutgers and Maryland. They were only chosen because Delany thinks he can get the B1G Network on basic cable in NYC and DC. If he thinks he can do that in NYC than why not take two other huge markets with ATL and Boston? I only hope NYC doesn't give in unless Uconn is added as well.

Do you think people in Atlanta, other than Georgia Tech fans, would care to watch the B1G? When it comes to supporting organizations other than UGA, they are historically weak.

 

[pj]

I also can't see Ga Tech bringing as much value to the B1G, or BC. The only way I could see BC being better than UConn for the B1G is if they bring along Notre Dame, but when has Notre Dame ever been loyal to the other Catholic schools? Their other advantage is they give Michigan/Ohio State the chance to play in Boston, but UConn gives them the chance to play within driving distance of both Boston and NYC, plus CT, which seems worth more. Also BC cannot expand their stadium and has no room for tailgating, whereas UConn can and would expand. ... Ga Tech would be the lone northern outpost in the South. They would wither.

 

[CTGoonie]

Do you think people in Atlanta, other than Georgia Tech fans, would care to watch the B1G? When it comes to supporting organizations other than UGA, they are historically weak.

I could ask you the same thing about whether people in NYC care about Rutgers. Jim Delany doesn't care about that he only cares about getting the B1G network on basic cable. If he can get it in NYC he can certainly get it in Atlanta.

 

[noeynox]

I could ask you the same thing about whether people in NYC care about Rutgers. Jim Delany doesn't care about that he only cares about getting the B1G network on basic cable. If he can get it in NYC he can certainly get it in Atlanta.

He has yet to prove he can do it in NYC with Rutgers. What if he fails? Is the economics still worth it? I'm with those that has difficulty seeing the GA Tech thing panning out for a wide variety of reasons, of course that means its probably already in the works.

 

[RuffRuff]

Took a gander at the Rutgers thread suggesting rumor of BC to Big 10. Interesting post came up that I'm on page with:
____________________________________________
Here we go again

We've now heard Miami and BC in the past week for the the B1G

BC does NOT fit the profile of the B1G....PERIOD.

There is only ONE school that is NOT a major state university that could end up B1G....Duke.

And that is because the Duke is such a great academic school and the #1 basketball brand that is worth a LOT of $$$...a LOT. And even that is a question....because what is Duke basketball in 10 years without Coach K.

And the only way Duke ends up in the B1G....is if the B1G goes to 18 teams...and adds
-UVa
-UNC
-Duke
-Ndame

Yes....Duke and Ndame would have to be a package....as the END GAME for Big10...and the only justification to bring the Big10 to a swollen 18 teams....

Ndame remains the end game for B1G....period.

For this to happen....the following would need to occur...which is all a destabilzation of the ACC...and the movement to four superconfrences:
1.) The big12 to take Florida State, Clemson...and go to 14 by adding LVille and Miami OR GTech.... ACC then reduced to 10

2.) The SEC gets to 16 by adding NC State and VTech....giving UNC and UVa politicial cover to move out of the ACC. ACC is reduced to 8

3.) UVa and UNC added to the B1G to make it 16....and the ACC is reduced to 6

4.) NDame then sees the reminants of the ACC 6...and even with UConn and Cincy decides it is not a good enough home for the rest of its sports....and cannot be a legit bowl partner for those years when it is not "BCS" worth
Ndame (not for football)
Duke
Wake Forest
Syracuse
BC
Pitt
GTech/Miami

Then....Delany ends it with NDame and Duke...leaving the ACC officially dead...and WForest, Cuse, Pitt, BC, and Gtech/Miami to joing the BE....


Remember...Delany's goals are TWO fold
1.) Home run candidates (Got PSU and Nebraska)
2.) Eastern seaboard eyeballs for the B1G network...with schools that fit the profile
_________________________________________
Now does this guy's vision play out 100%? Of course not. Although I do think this general methodology plays out. I will forever continue to think Delany will strong arm ND until a point where it's absolutely 110% obvious they will never go to conference affiliation in FB. In the least, I think it's owed to and competetive spirit will position Delany to continue to test this until it's absolute, a situation where ND has nothing but a carcass to belong to with their "everything but football" approach. When it does get there, ND will have to think long and hard about that and understand what's more important to them, football independence or the integrity of all of their other sports. And will there be a legimitate 5th conference left worthy for all sports but football(there may be). The ACC allowed this setup because they're in survival mode - none of the final 4 BCS leagues will committ to that once they are solidified. That is the big domino. Right now, ND can be patient all they want. The only way the ACC survives is if ND committs on the FB end.

So why would Delany dismiss that option at this point and begin filling with a Uconn, a school that may be a filler candidate, but on the back end of a fairly long lineup of options? Big Ten goes for home runs next after taking Maryland/Rutgers. Those two are also fillers, but fillers with purpose/guinea pigs that fit the profile and have potential. They were brought in to set further dominoes in motion(insecurity in the ACC, challenge exit fee) and a cheap partner/NYC market. In essence, adequate/necessary steps(with potential) to bigger fish. Big Ten can play around with Rutgers for a bit, see what they can build it into, have a settlement in NYC, maybe see what comes of MSG, market in NYC, position games in NYC venues to build the brand. It does not need to double up with Uconn right now, who is the distant 2nd best local state U brand in NYC. Why would it? The only way Uconn gets in is if the Big 10 sees value in blowing up to 20 teams. That, to me is once they nail down targets and see what comes of Rutgers value/future program. That to me, is at least 5-6 years out.

Uconn's future likely in an old BE and new BE hybrid with ACC scraps and a couple of the current new schools. Unfortunately, timing on Uconn's FB maturity/potential & geography just not at a point/level where it makes the big boy conferences at the realignment juncture. Although solid on many points, it also just doesn't have enough in many. Geography may be most symbolic, just a little too far from NYC and a little too far from Boston to really develop any kind of brand foothold in either. So I think we're looking at a future conference of solid, but shortcoming schools that fit a similar mode, a bit of an CUSA on roids. This whole process is a survival of the fittest and the drivers are obvious, not many of the abstract/ambigous that guys like HFD like gossiping about. There will be outliers amongst it like a UMD and Rutgers, but very much likely just outliers:

BC
Syracuse
Uconn
Pitt
Wake
Temple
Memphis
South Florida
Louisville
Cinci
UCF
Houston/SMU

ND ends up in a situation where they decide whether this conference is good enough for all sports or finally committ. This is not a bad place for Uconn. Is it the Big Ten? No. But that's a decent FB conference that likely matches up rightfully with the ceiling of potential of UConn's FB caliber. Uconn will never be a big time football state, it just does not have enough. Unlike basketball, there is much more needed in terms of infrastructure, natural fan base and the recruitment of a LOT more players. Where you can put together a great basketball team with one or two big time recruits, not so in FB. This conference will contain some longstanding rivalries, has some recruiting hotbeds in FL and TX and remains a very good BB conference(Cuse, Uconn, Memphis, Temple, Ville, Cinci).

At some point you just have to call a spade a spade - you can hope all you want and list to HuskyDan and his conjecture/rumor mill, but the Uconn program is what it is and the current drivers in realignment are what they are. Best case is very long term and Uconn dominates this conference, joins AAU, the landscape changes further and it finds a way into the big boys and Rutgers shows the value of NYC presence.

We can't get overexcited about Uconn's FB prospects - it had limitations before any of this. What is most important is that we preserve what was built up in BB, finds a solid all sports conference, a capable FB conference, some rivalries and find revenue.

 

[noeynox]

Sorry ruff ruff, that's just white flag shitttt right there.

 

[businesslawyer]

I could ask you the same thing about whether people in NYC care about Rutgers. Jim Delany doesn't care about that he only cares about getting the B1G network on basic cable. If he can get it in NYC he can certainly get it in Atlanta.

No, that is terribly, absolutely, 100% wrong. I don't mean to pick on you but people should understand this.

NY is a small market for college football, proportionate to its actual size, and a fragmented market for college football in terms of what conferences are being followed. The plan, which may or may not work but theoretically makes sense, is that when Rutgers is playing games in metro New York against Michigan and Ohio State and Penn State, NYC will have more interest in college football than it does today and its interest in college football will be more concentrated on the Big Ten than it is today. Adding UConn and/or Syracuse would strengthen that strategy.

Atlanta is already a market that follows college football and whose interest is concentrated in a single conference, Adding GTU to the Big doesn't change the fact that that conference is the SEC.

 

[CTGoonie]

No, that is terribly, absolutely, 100% wrong. I don't mean to pick on you but people should understand this.

NY is a small market for college football, proportionate to its actual size, and a fragmented market for college football in terms of what conferences are being followed. The plan, which may or may not work but theoretically makes sense, is that when Rutgers is playing games in metro New York against Michigan and Ohio State and Penn State, NYC will have more interest in college football than it does today and its interest in college football will be more concentrated on the Big Ten than it is today. Adding UConn and/or Syracuse would strengthen that strategy.

Atlanta is already a market that follows college football and whose interest is concentrated in a single conference, Adding GTU to the Big doesn't change the fact that that conference is the SEC.

BL - The basic cable thing was not something I just made up but I see your point that in addition to getting the B1G network added to basic cable people will actually have to watch eventually. I therefore join the ranks of people that do not believe Ga Tech is a viable candidate. Now please stop picking on me.

 

[businesslawyer]

BL - The basic cable thing was not something I just made up but I see your point that in addition to getting the B1G network added to basic cable people will actually have to watch eventually. I therefore join the ranks of people that do not believe Ga Tech is a viable candidate. Now please stop picking on me.

Should I have started my post with "with all due respect ..."?

No, you are not making the cable thing up, but you oversimplified it (or repeated someone elses oversimplification) to where it stopped making sense. No conference automatically makes more money from cable companies merely by adding a team in the local market. The local market has to decide it can pass a charge along to its customers in order to pay the conference, and that requires determining if their customers are willing to have their cable rates go up to get the Big Ten Network, which will only happen if enough customers care about what is on it.

 

[UConn5]

Regarding the cable charges, there was an interesting article I read somewhere that asked whether the local tv market bubble was about to burst. You see these crazy valuations of pro franchises being based upon what they can sell their local tv rights for, but the point the article was making is that it is imprudent to count on customers being willing to simply tack on charge after charge. The B1G network isn't going to be able to generate the demand from customers to have Cablevision or Time Warner fork over massive amounts of dough for their channel.

I've always assumed the B1G plan was something like what BL described. You take the small market share that Michigan has in the NY metro area and combine it with Rutgets, then do the same over and over again with Ohio State, Penn State, etc. and pretty soon you'll have some pretty decent exposure in the area. Adding UConn would help that...but so would adding any northeast football program.

 

[Adios]

Making NYC B1G turf is incredibly clever. Now we need to market ourselves in. It works. It really does.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Ga Tech and BCU only make sense because of Rutgers and Maryland. They were only chosen because Delany thinks he can get the B1G Network on basic cable in NYC and DC. If he thinks he can do that in NYC than why not take two other huge markets with ATL and Boston? I only hope NYC doesn't give in unless Uconn is added as well.

bc and gt dont make sense on any level.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Should I have started my post with "with all due respect ..."?

No, you are not making the cable thing up, but you oversimplified it (or repeated someone elses oversimplification) to where it stopped making sense. No conference automatically makes more money from cable companies merely by adding a team in the local market. The local market has to decide it can pass a charge along to its customers in order to pay the conference, and that requires determining if their customers are willing to have their cable rates go up to get the Big Ten Network, which will only happen if enough customers care about what is on it.

do you mean like people in ct paying for the btn network to see uconn games?

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Let's start a grassroots fan email campaign and spam Jim Delany's inbox. The email would consist simply of a promise to order the Big Ten network - for ourselves, our families, friends, coworkers, mail carriers, what-have-you - should the B1G ever add UConn. The goal is to convince him that the BTN will be broadcast on every television in CT. That has to be worth something to him, right? Right!?

 

[ElGuapo]

I just cut back my Comcast package and saved $30.00 a month.

I got there by sacrificing the majority of the outlier sports networks which included B1G Network.

So Digital Starter package it is.
I still get SNY and NESN, plus ESPN 1 & 2.

Count me out until something changes.

 

[sportsart]

Let's start a grassroots fan email campaign and spam Jim Delany's inbox. The email would consist simply of a promise to order the Big Ten network - for ourselves, our families, friends, coworkers, mail carriers, what-have-you - should the B1G ever add UConn. The goal is to convince him that the BTN will be broadcast on every television in CT. That has to be worth something to him, right? Right!?

I'm pretty sure Delaney knows, down to the nickel, how much can be made by adding UConn to the B1G He might be looking for even bigger fish though.

 

[riskylogic]

^^^^
Delaney knows nothing about nickels because ElG just trimmed his subscription fees.

That said, if Cincy ends up completing the ACC midwestern pod, Uconn would make a nice fourth in the B1G eastern pod.

 

[Adios]

I'm pretty sure Delaney knows, down to the nickel, how much can be made by adding UConn to the B1G He might be looking for even bigger fish though.

That's why we have to market ourselves. By saying the right words and doing the right things, we can prove ourselves to be amongst the big fish. GDL being booted would be a good start.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Again, FWIW , guy who broke Maryland/RU to B1G stating that B1G will have 16 by 6/30/2013 and that UNC and GT are top targets. There is a lot of smoke recently, and any smoke anywhere is good news for us.

http://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=642&tid=161456682&mid=161456682&sid=988&style=2

 

[specialisthusky]

Again, FWIW , guy who broke Maryland/RU to B1G stating that B1G will have 16 by 6/30/2012 and that UNC and GT are top targets. There is a lot of smoke recently, and any smoke anywhere is good news for us.

http://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=642&tid=161456682&mid=161456682&sid=988&style=2

I wonder if unc leaving would open the floodgates on that confrerence or if FSU will view itself as the de facto leader of the conference now and stick around to see what being the ACCs prized possession feels like.

 

[HobokenHusky]

I wonder if unc leaving would open the floodgates on that confrerence or if FSU will view itself as the de facto leader of the conference now and stick around to see what being the ACCs prized possession feels like.

Yea, no idea, all I know is that the absolute worst case scenario in any further conference movement is that we end up in a ravaged ACC, or we take on the ravaged ACC teams to form a new league with a better TV contract. Either one, while not ideal, is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> than our current situation. Keeps us afloat in order to do bigger better things down the road hopefully. We are currently in the treading water stage. Need a life raft for now, even a *****y one.

BTW, this whole situation is making me very well versed in titanic/shipwreck, prom/highschool and fire/flame analogies. Glad I have those in my back pocket now.

 

[upstater]

ND would gladly join the ACC remnants + UConn and Cincy to remain independent.

ND to the championship this year has vindicated its model.