Big East expansion exercise approaching 2025…

[ConnHuskBask]

St. Louis, Dayton, or Davidson would be nauseating. Hard pass on all 3.

 

[Dooooooomed]

Sorry, but Davidson won't sniff the BE's jock. Frank is way off here. There is one non-P5 team that would add value to the FOX contract and that is Gonzaga. It will be them or no one.

 

[Guapo]

Lol shut up, Frank

 

[auror]

University fit would be important if the schools were driving the realignment bus. But it's the network, and the networks don't give a shred of care about compatibility. They won't foist a school on a conference necessarily, but they're not going to give money for SLU or Dayton.

 

[metsfan2323]

Throw out all of your partisan rooting interests and think of this like a mathematician working for Fox Sports with a job to perform.

Which school adds the largest potential fanbase that would realistically say yes to the offer?

Which school brings the Big East to a new state with a flagship university that again would accept the offer?

And if the answer turns your stomach you are just adding fuel to the fire with that angst. Great sporting events that draw TV audiences are largely built around that stomach turning angst otherwise known as a "RIVALRY".

 

[NH Husky]

Holy Cross
St Bonaventure
St Joe’s
Fordham

 

[Vowelguy]

Any chance Memphis would be able to join and keep football in the AAC? The AAC wouldn't be thrilled but they'd probably keep the school as football only because what other options do they have?

No way in hell the Catholics want Memphis around.

 

[Vowelguy]

Villanova would nix Temple or any other Philly school.

 

[Bobol]

The Big East will add whatever school(s)Fox or it’s media consultants say it should add.

 

[Zissou]

And there is the motto Of the NEWBIE. We don’t compete for national championships WE play for NCAA bids.*

* This doesn’t apply to Villanova or DePaul

And the big ten?

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

It'd be a mistake to expand just for the sake of it. None of this brainstorm list make a lot of sense.

 

[Zissou]

There really isn’t a non P5 school that moves the needle on conference value, or is worth sacrificing the full double round robin schedule format if we exceed 11.

Kansas is the prime target. It would take Fox making a commitment to overpay Kansas for Indy football to get the value for joining the basketball league. This would be mostly a win for Fox pulling Kansas from the Big 12, for which ESPN has primary rights (Fox and others have select games in a secondary position).

This is financially possible in the devalued Big 12, and transition costs can be minimized by waiting until 2025 for the expiration of current agreements.

I’d only expand for Kansas. But if we could land Kansas, I’d also take Kansas State and Iowa State as a package deal.

This isn’t consensus, but as a Philly and Nova fan, I’d welcome Temple in this expansion scenario (only if Kansas is joining) to balance the East. Temple in Philly doesn’t threaten Nova, it would only add interest in the Philly market by enhancing the rivalry with conference play.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Why couldn't Gonzaga be a basketball only? This is a basketball league that should do everything in its power to put the best basketball product on TV. Gonzaga isn't SDSU, they will survive post Few, even if they aren't ranked top 5 every single year. Dayton and VCU are interesting from strictly a program strength perspective.

 

[Get a Job]

As a fan (ignoring all the money, logistics, etc.), I would not want to see any of the teams mentioned in this thread join the Big East except ND, Gonzaga, and Kansas. To the people who brought up Fordham, St. Louis, BU, and the like: Would you actually be excited to see UConn play these teams up to 3 times per season? Granted, those are three of the most extreme examples, but even Memphis, Dayton and VCU get a big no thanks from me.

 

[NJHoops]

Surely the mention of Fordham was a joke. They don’t even belong in the A10. I like Neptune but that is a rough job.

 

[Slasher]

Can everyone just stop with the Kansas talk? The Big 12 specifically picked good BB schools (that also had good football + markets) to please Kansas and to maintain the #1 conference in basketball. Why would Kansas leave the #1 basketball conference + huge payday to join the Big East? It makes zero sense.

 

[the Q]

Kansas
Gonzaga
Baylor

Baylor and even tcu are reasonable targets, but again, travel sucks.

But like with Kansas, where does football go?

 

[Hey Adrien!]

VCU, Dayton etc…. Will take more from the league in revenue than they will ultimately bring in and make the conference on average weaker rather than stronger.

No, no and no.

we already have DePaul.

VCU has been a top-50 team in seven of the last ten years. Dayton has been a top-75 team in eight of the ten years.

Comparing these two schools to DePaul (one top-100 finish this decade) makes no sense at all.

We'll be fortunate to have either of these teams join the Big East. Great locations, attention to basketball, rabid fans.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

VCU has been a top-50 team in seven of the last ten years. Dayton has been a top-75 team in eight of the ten years.

Comparing these two schools to DePaul (one top-100 finish this decade) makes no sense at all.

We'll be fortunate to have either of these teams join the Big East. Great locations, attention to basketball, rabid fans.

The entire A10 TV package is what, $10M total? There is a reason for that.

 

[shizzle787]

Throw out all of your partisan rooting interests and think of this like a mathematician working for Fox Sports with a job to perform.

Which school adds the largest potential fanbase that would realistically say yes to the offer?

Which school brings the Big East to a new state with a flagship university that again would accept the offer?

And if the answer turns your stomach you are just adding fuel to the fire with that angst. Great sporting events that draw TV audiences are largely built around that stomach turning angst otherwise known as a "RIVALRY".

You're talking UMass.

 

[dennismenace]

What about schools that have historically been good, or have the potential to be good? Maybe in a better league they start to rise again? St. Joe's? BU? Maybe those are bad examples. I'm sure the board could come up with better north-east'ish schools that might be a good fit.

None obviously that are as good as Gonzaga, but they didn't get there overnight either.

One that comes to mind is Duquesne U which is right in Pittsburgh. They just opened a brand new fieldhouse and facilities and have been a solid team in the A-10. There is access to a large tv audience with a major arena (they have a locker room in the 19,000 seat PPG Paints Arena which was built in 2010) They have played some home games there as has U of Pitt. There is no NBA presence. Perhaps they might have room for expansion of their fieldhouse which presently holds 3500. It would be ironic to steal the hometown Pitt fans with a NBE team in their own backyard. This would give the NBE a foothold in the western Pa/eastern Ohio territory for recruiting as well.

UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse opens as state-of-the-art sporting venue at Duquesne University

Duquesne University now has a state-of-the-art, $45 million arena called the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, to honor Chuck Cooper, the first Black player drafted by the NBA.

nextpittsburgh.com

 

[dennismenace]

St Louis is the most over-rated expansion candidate of any the the names being tossed around. Packed arena? They average just over 50% capacity. Recent Top 25 program? 4 NCAA tourney appearances over the last 20 years. Not the best candidate by any means.

Good school. Terribly dying city.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Don't dilute the brand.

Gonzaga or nobody.

 

[navery12]

Keep it at 11. The round robin, playing every team twice a year is perfect

 

[superjohn]

Val Ackerman said team, not teams and made a point of saying anything is possible in these crazy times and geography is not insurmountable. Kansas, Notre Dame, and Gonzaga are the only ones that make sense from the Big East perspective/TV. Kansas, they would have to know the Big 12 is further breaking apart (it will eventually) Notre Dame would have to be a bidding war between Fox and NBC. It seems pretty clear Gonzaga is the school being talked about. They are there for the taking, just work out the logistics.

This is driven by what the TV people are telling them. None of the other teams add value, they would actually devalue the conference.

We don't know much about realignment but we know you have to be proactive, look ahead, and plan for contingencies.