Big East expansion exercise approaching 2025…

[dennismenace]

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

It makes all the $ense in the world.

 

[MU in MKE]

I see the answer to this in three tiers.

Tier 1: Kansas, ND, Gonzaga would be a slam dunk, take them whatever it takes to make them work. However, as discussed: Zags are too far, Kansas has their football to think about (really they need to just drop it), and ND is tied tight with ACC. So unless a miracle happens, I wouldn't want to lose the round robin.

Tier 2: That being said, if they HAD to take new team(s), I could see Dayton and VCU both stepping up to the next level. Dayton already fills the stands really well and VCU has a bit of history as well. But does FOX really see the benefit? If they do, I'd be ok-ish with it.

Tier 3: SLU and UMass... ummm.... uh... do we need it to close the deal with FOX? Well I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, but I wouldn't be happy about it. Maybe someone thinks they'd bring something after the move? There's a lot of risk in this, and I don't think odds are good of either actually bringing value.

I don't see any other possibilities.

 

[metsfan2323]

You're talking UMass.

Yes, they would make a great addition.

Ignore their recent history. UMASS is in the same condition that Houston was in prior to joining the AAC. Houston capitalized on the AAC upgrade, found themselves a great coach and they are now a basketball power. UMASS would be quite capable of doing the same thing with a much better Big East upgrade.

Of course UCONN fans (and likely Providence fans) cringe at the thought of UMASS being turned into a basketball power because we are greedy and don't want the competition, however rivalries draw TV audiences and that's what this is about.

Watching everyone pretend UMASS doesn't exist in this thread has been quite comical. Even Davidson got a mention before UMASS (LOL)

 

[imno1]

I see the answer to this in three tiers.

Tier 1: Kansas, ND, Gonzaga would be a slam dunk, take them whatever it takes to make them work. However, as discussed: Zags are too far, Kansas has their football to think about (really they need to just drop it), and ND is tied tight with ACC. So unless a miracle happens, I wouldn't want to lose the round robin.

Tier 2: That being said, if they HAD to take new team(s), I could see Dayton and VCU both stepping up to the next level. Dayton already fills the stands really well and VCU has a bit of history as well. But does FOX really see the benefit? If they do, I'd be ok-ish with it.

Tier 3: SLU and UMass... ummm.... uh... do we need it to close the deal with FOX? Well I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, but I wouldn't be happy about it. Maybe someone thinks they'd bring something after the move? There's a lot of risk in this, and I don't think odds are good of either actually bringing value.

I don't see any other possibilities.

I'd put Loyola Chicago in the tier 2-3 although Depaul would probably nix it. Loyola is on of the biggest Catholic schools in the country and has success recently.

 

[HooperScooper]

Holy Cross
St Bonaventure
St Joe’s
Fordham

Omg. Yuck, yuck, yuck and yuckiest!

 

[Hoophound]

I don’t think UMass is a great addition given the Big East’s saturation in the Northeast. They don’t really even bring an audience. UMass is kind of loathed in Eastern Mass where the eyeballs are.

Personally, I don’t see why we’d expand at all. It doesn’t appear that there is anyone worth adding to the Big East. The best options are too far away or too obscure to make a difference.

 

[huskymedic]

Another option... h/t @Storrs South

 

[metsfan2323]

I don’t think UMass is a great addition given the Big East’s saturation in the Northeast. They don’t really even bring an audience. UMass is kind of loathed in Eastern Mass where the eyeballs are.

The Big East is not saturated in MASS, we have no presence there at all which is a shame, and I remember the 90's very well, there was UMASS Mania in that state just like Husky Mania in CT. They have a large fanbase it's just kind of dormant right now, add UMASS to the Big East and they will wake up. UMASS to the Big East would also be a kick in the teeth to BC which is nice.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Do nothing. Keep the round Robin.

Gonzaga: too far, too linked to Few. I don't think they succeed when he's gone. We would hate the 10:00 PM eastern game times. Hint...so would Fox. The pacific time zone is TV ratings hell.
Kansas: will never, ever join the Big East. Insane to even think of it. The only league they'd leave for is the B1G.
Notre Dame: is locked in to the ACC for many more years. Why on earth would they downgrade their league in every respect? It's like imagining Gisele will leave Tom for your sorry ass.

Dayton, St. Louis, Davidson: don't add anything. Markets don't really matter anymore, especially for hoops.

Crappy eastern schools (St. Joes, BU, Temple...): are you people high?

The only name that might make sense, if they went indy for football (and they won't) is West Virginia.

 

[superjohn]

Kansas: will never, ever join the Big East. Insane to even think of it. The only league they'd leave for is the B1G.

Your first mistake, never say "never, ever" in conference realignment. Kansas may not have a choice, I don't see the Big 12 existing down the road.

 

[Hoophound]

The Big East is not saturated in MASS, we have no presence there at all which is a shame, and I remember the 90's very well, there was UMASS Mania in that state just like Husky Mania in CT. They have a large fanbase it's just kind of dormant right now, add UMASS to the Big East and they will wake up. UMASS to the Big East would also be a kick in the teeth to BC which is nice.

Eh, maybe. That was a unique UMass team. It took a very crooked coach, no academic or behavioral standards and paying the best player in CT to go there in order to catch that lightning in a bottle. That stuff would never fly there now.

I was living in Boston at the time, they definitely weren't having anything that compared to Huskymania there. It was a pretty big deal though, I'll give you that. I'd be much more interested if UMass' main campus were in Greater Boston.

 

[ctchamps]

Another option... h/t @Storrs South

This is the only plausible suggestion. It would be a good suggestion if the BE has leverage. It doesn't. If anything this announcement lets the schools we would want to play against know the BE is in a financial bind and thus can set terms favorable to themselves.

This is not good news for the BE or for UConn. Viewership matters and I would consider the option of uniting all the conferences minus the P5 and proactively leveraging a tv deal with a major network with this group. The sum of all that viewership will be greater than the individual components. A value will have to be given to how it's divided based on some combination of viewership, success, sports programs and so forth. I doubt it could be achieved but otherwise the clock is ticking for most of these conferences.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

1. Kansas
2. Gonzaga
3. Notre Dame
4. West Virginia
Then there's everybody else you could think. I find it unlikely that any of those 4 would join, but if you can't one of them I don't see how any other A10 or equivalent school moves the needle in terms of TV and viewership

 

[Friarsnoop]

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.

I believe a team can be a member in a conference for a single sport if their main conference doesn't offer it. That's why it happens in football and done Olympic sports primarily, and why the Big Ten teams had to play in their hockey conference.

 

[RedDog]

I live in Boston and not only does no one care about UMass, no one cares about B.C. This is a pro sports town only.

 

[McLovin]

Kansas, Norte Dame and WVU. Otherwise hard pass on any other school. These are the only brands that increase the per school value of the media payout. Could the NBE land these school? Doubtful, because they make way more in their current situation.

Does FOX pay us more (per school) for adding Temple, SLU, Dayton, etc.? Doubtful. So why would we want to dilute ourselves?

Re-alignment is all about additive value to the bottom line of the networks and the universities. Just because fox wants more schools to increase the revenue on their end, if it doesn’t give more money to each institution as well, then I hope Val has the spine to tell them to F off.

 

[Tenspro2002]

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

I couldn't care less about the double round robin. Strength and perception of the league is paramount.

Get 12 teams with Gonzaga, reduce the number of league games to 18 (only 9 teams have to travel to Spokane per year). 20 league games is a bit excessive. Play every team once and most teams twice -- set up traditional rivalries that play twice every year, plus rotate others through.

 

[shizzle787]

I couldn't care less about the double round robin. Strength and perception of the league is paramount.

Get 12 teams with Gonzaga, reduce the number of league games to 18 (only 9 teams have to travel to Spokane per year). 20 league games is a bit excessive. Play every team once and most teams twice -- set up traditional rivalries that play twice every year, plus rotate others through.

I think we should stay with 20 games. However, going to 12 teams by adding Gonzaga while keeping the 20 game schedule could result in regularly get 7 bids as opposed to probably 5 currently.

 

[navery12]

I couldn't care less about the double round robin. Strength and perception of the league is paramount.

Get 12 teams with Gonzaga, reduce the number of league games to 18 (only 9 teams have to travel to Spokane per year). 20 league games is a bit excessive. Play every team once and most teams twice -- set up traditional rivalries that play twice every year, plus rotate others through.

Sure if we can get Gonzaga then that's fine and 12 teams improves the conference. Same would apply to Kansas. But there's 0 chance of either of those teams joining the Big East for all of the reasons already mentioned in this thread.

 

[MU in MKE]

This is the only plausible suggestion. It would be a good suggestion if the BE has leverage. It doesn't. If anything this announcement lets the schools we would want to play against know the BE is in a financial bind and thus can set terms favorable to themselves.

This is not good news for the BE or for UConn. Viewership matters and I would consider the option of uniting all the conferences minus the P5 and proactively leveraging a tv deal with a major network with this group. The sum of all that viewership will be greater than the individual components. A value will have to be given to how it's divided based on some combination of viewership, success, sports programs and so forth. I doubt it could be achieved but otherwise the clock is ticking for most of these conferences.

Sorry, but I strongly disagree with this assessment.

The BE has been quite a success story for Fox Sports. The ratings were higher than they forecasted and have been going up every year since (I don’t know how the pandemic affected things though). Although picking up games from the B10/P12/etc, the BE is still the backbone of their channels during this season and they can’t just back fill 100+primetime slots that they’d miss without the BE. From what I understand, both Fox Sports and the BE are very satisfied with the product and have a great partnership.

By trying to “leverage” power with conferences outside the six high majors, the BE would be doing itself a grave injustice and only hurt themselves. Few schools, other than Gonzaga and a few other strong schools in mid major conferences, would draw more eyeballs and thus would weaken the position UConn and the BE are in.

The scheduling alliance seems intriguing, since you could schedule with those few schools that can draw viewers, but not have to worry about dragging along everyone else that goes with the mid major conferences. That’s the only way it’s a win-win plan that wouldn’t hurt the BE.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

A 12 member conference means two six school divisions. Considering the proximity of UConn, PC, St John's, SH, Nova and Georgetown to each other and their proximity to the remainder of the conference, that will be one of th he two divisions. A twelfth member will be no further east than slightly east of Xavier but more likely somewhere that bridges Creighton to the remaining western half of the BE. That school also needs to have a men's basketball profile that would help the conference as a whole (be in ttb e upper half of the conference in terms of identity).

Not sure there are any realistic candidates (I don't believe Kansas is a realistic candidate).

 

[MU in MKE]

Sure if we can get Gonzaga then that's fine and 12 teams improves the conference. Same would apply to Kansas. But there's 0 chance of either of those teams joining the Big East for all of the reasons already mentioned in this thread.

I wouldn't say zero for Gonzaga. They've already discussed it with mutual interest in the past... they just couldn't get over the distance at the time. However, with the move to larger conferences and the scheduling alliances being set up, etc, maybe there's enough incentive to get over the hump and get creative this time.

 

[uchusky32]

A 12 member conference means two six school divisions. Considering the proximity of UConn, PC, St John's, SH, Nova and Georgetown to each other and their proximity to the remainder of the conference, that will be one of th he two divisions. A twelfth member will be no further east than slightly east of Xavier but more likely somewhere that bridges Creighton to the remaining western half of the BE. That school also needs to have a men's basketball profile that would help the conference as a whole (be in ttb e upper half of the conference in terms of identity).

Not sure there are any realistic candidates (I don't believe Kansas is a realistic candidate).

Depaul?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Depaul?

What about DePaul?

 

[uchusky32]

What about DePaul?

Just saying they're farther west than X. But, yes they aren't relavant.