Delany on East Coast pre-expansion push: espn

[SubbaBub]

I think it's been said about as well as it can be said. Cornell is not leaving the Ivy League to become Stanford East. And Buffalo, for all it's merits, is too far from NYC to bag its TV sets.

 

[Sea Goat]

I think it's been said about as well as it can be said. Cornell is not leaving the Ivy League to become Stanford East. And Buffalo, for all it's merits, is too far from NYC to bag its TV sets.

That would be quite a twist because Cornell played a pivotal role in the founding of Stanford in the late 1800's. Many of Stanford's first professors hailed from Cornell. Maybe the weather had something to do with it.

 

[Adios]

Maybe the weather had something to do with it.

It did. That's when California's present culture began to take shape.

 

[HuskyHawk]

ESPN College BBall ‏@ESPNCBB 37m
Sources: D.C. to host Big Ten tourney in '17: http://es.pn/1mykga1

 

[Carl Spackler]

The only think worse than Cornell football, is probably Columbia football. No recruits going to Columbia or Cornell for football glory. Ivy League has more money than the majority of national GDP's around the world. This foray into Ivy league football potentially joining the Big 10 has been a nice little fiction.

 

[jostar1]

We (the Big Ten posters who post here) are all in agreement with you that the emerging link, both athletic and academic, between the Big Ten and institutions in the East is a welcome addition to the conference. We think UConn would strengthen the link and their new academic vision aligns well with that of our conference and their basketball success would be great for the conference. An institution such as Cornell or SUNY Buffalo, from an academic perspective, would also align well and be an "academic and cultural fit" for the conference. The challenge for these two institutions is athletics especially relative to football at a time when strength of schedule will be an important part of the selection to participate in the new college football playoff and the perception of the Big Ten is at a low. This is a sincere not sarcastic question: since we need a partner for UConn, do you have any evidence to suggest either of these two institutions is under consideration for Big Ten membership and that Cornell would leave the Ivy League?

Happened to see this post on the WVU board. A poster with second-hand "insider info" says that Cornell and the Big Ten have been in talks for partial membership.

I'm not an insider, not even close. I love College sports and I love my Gophers & Mountaineers, and that's it. I know nobody and nobody knows me.
I'm not even sure I want to write this post. And don't ask why I'm writing it in a Big 12 message board, because my answer would be simply I don't know where else I would put this delicate information. I come to this Big 12 message board because I love watching Big 12 football and I learn a lot about what people are thinking about in regards to Big Time college sport expansion.
But I got into a conversation with I guy who I have not seen since 2006. I saw him accidentally last night at Maxwell Bar in Downtown Minneapolis. Actually, its not quite downtown, but close enough.
This guy works at Cornell University, and he has been since he was done wrestling in 1987. I went to school with him back in the early 1980's. Our conversation went from family to sports within about 3 minutes of meeting each again for the first time in 8 years. I wish I had a device which could have recorded our conversation so I could play back to you guys what he said to me last night.
Here it is, what I could remember.
President Skorton of Cornell is leaving Cornell University sometime in 2015. Skorton worked at Iowa before he became the President of Cornell. I think he was the President of Iowa, but I'm not sure, I don't remember all the details. But Skorton was a Hawkeye before he went to Cornell. Skorton and Delany have been talking about the possibility of moving some of Cornell's Olympic sports into the Big 10. According to this guys story Cornell would start with moving their lacrosse teams, Men & Women's, before they would move any of the other sports teams to the Big 10. He mentioned wrestling would happen before Hockey, if the transition of the lacrosse teams into the Big 10 went in a positive direction. I doubted his information and asked him why would the Big 10 want to add Cornell and how could he know of any of this information. This guy told me that Delany wants more live sport events for his network and Cornell can fulfill what Delany wants as a Big 10 partial member. On the Cornell side it would mean lots more money and it would provide a bigger carrot for Cornell to encourage their rich boosters down the road. The question is, according to this guys story, can Skorton make this happen before he leaves the University next year. The kicker to this story is that if this happens, if Cornell joins the Big 10 in Lacrosse, we will know about it before the end of this summer, summer of 2014.
I asked again why does he know this stuff, and he answered back, "because my old Wrestling Coach told me 2 weeks ago discussions were going on between Cornell and the Big 10".
I don't know who his Coach was at Cornell, and I didn't ask, I decided to just let it go.
I'm not sure what to think of his story. I tried to look up what leagues Cornell was in besides the Ivy League in D1 sports, and it seems that they are involved with quite a few different leagues from what I could tell.
No mentioned of basketball from this guy and I didn't ask. I guess was too much in shock. He just mentioned Lacrosse, Wrestling & Hockey, at least from what I could remember.
I'm not an insider, but I sure felt like one last night for about 15 minutes.
I'm still not sure what or how to think about this possibility.
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=159&f=4582&t=12863167

 

[babysheep]

So I imagine Cornell won't be official team #16 to come with (hopefully) UConn?

Interesting that B1G seems to be looking to go so all-in on lacrosse.

 

[Sportsman5]

Happened to see this post on the WVU board. A poster with second-hand "insider info" says that Cornell and the Big Ten have been in talks for partial membership.

What decade were they in talks?

 

[RedStickHusky]

Happened to see this post on the WVU board. A poster with second-hand "insider info" says that Cornell and the Big Ten have been in talks for partial membership.

Lol - The poor guy worked at Cornell from the time he finished wrestling there in '87 right up until he got ratted out in a message board for leaking confidential information. Unless cornell has multiple current employees that wrestled there 25 years ago.

 

[B1GALUM]

Happened to see this post on the WVU board. A poster with second-hand "insider info" says that Cornell and the Big Ten have been in talks for partial membership.

Since Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten as an affiliate member for lacrosse, is it possible that other highly regarded academic and research institutions could also join as affiliate members for lacrosse or other sports? Sure it is possible.

The Big Ten and Ivy League have a research collaboration together: http://www.bigten.org/genrel/061912aaa.html. Perhaps a collaboration with one or more Ivy League institutions in one or more sports has been discussed as a mutually beneficial endeavor.

However, these are just moves on the periphery. It is my opinion the Big Ten needs to add full time members such as UConn (#15) and another eastern institution (#16) to have the most significant impact on expansion to the east.

 

[upstater]

Since Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten as an affiliate member for lacrosse, is it possible that other highly regarded academic and research institutions could also join as affiliate members for lacrosse or other sports? Sure it is possible.

The Big Ten and Ivy League have a research collaboration together: http://www.bigten.org/genrel/061912aaa.html. Perhaps a collaboration with one or more Ivy League institutions in one or more sports has been discussed as a mutually beneficial endeavor.

However, these are just moves on the periphery. It is my opinion the Big Ten needs to add full time members such as UConn (#15) and another eastern institution (#16) to have the most significant impact on expansion to the east.

Can't see it happening in hockey. Cornell is going to leave Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale behind in the ECAC?

 

[SubbaBub]

Can't see it happening in hockey. Cornell is going to leave Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale behind in the ECAC?

If not every B1G program will invest in hockey, I could see a merger with the Ivy schools from the ECAC. The rise of Union and QU has made it clear that their academic restrictions is hurting recruiting. Quasi-Ivies like RPI and Clarkson are doomed because they are caught in the middle, too tough to get most players and not prestigious enough to get the top academic players.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Odd, I heard the same about the B1G and Boston U a few months back, except the target was BU’s hockey program. No idea why, maybe tired of being under BC Hockey’s shadow or more money? BU is AAU, does not have a football program, and is in a major metropolitan area, so it could make sense and is similar to what B1G and Johns Hopkins is doing; but, for lacrosse. I just can’t see BU leaving Hockey East, though they can easily continue to schedule games against the local Boston teams and they would still have the Beanpot.

 

[B1GALUM]

Can't see it happening in hockey. Cornell is going to leave Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale behind in the ECAC?

I do not know much about Ivy League athletics. Are there any sports sponsored by an Ivy League institution in which an affiliate membership with the Big Ten would be worth consideration?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I believe 6 of the 8 Ivy’s play hockey (U Penn and Columbia do not). That would really help beef-up B1G hockey scheduling if this was true.

Right now, 5 Ivy teams (U Penn, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Princeton) are in the NCAA’s Top 20 men’s lacrosse poll while only Penn St (playing in the Colonial) and 2 future members (Johns Hopkins and Maryland) are ranked for the B1G. By the way, I did not know that Denver is in the Big East for lacrosse.

In women’s lacrosse, Penn St (Colonial) plus future member Maryland is in the Top 20 while 2 Ivy’s are ranked (U Penn and Princeton).

Wrestling, which is an important sports in certain regions, the addition of Cornell would give the B1G the top Top 4 ranked teams (Minnesota, Penn St, Iowa, Cornell) and 10 of the Top 20 right now.

An alliance with the Ivy league would also put some distance between the two and the ACC for an academic perspective, which carries some weight, especially if football is significantly altered due to unions/pay for play/concussions, etc.

 

[jostar1]

Also note the comment about Delany wanting content for the BTN Network.

I doubted his information and asked him why would the Big 10 want to add Cornell and how could he know of any of this information. This guy told me that Delany wants more live sport events for his network

 

[The Funster]

Do any other UConn fans shudder when they hear "affiliate" or "partial" member?

 

[SubbaBub]

Do any other UConn fans shudder when they hear "affiliate" or "partial" member?

Not as long as it's for FB.

 

[pj]

Do any other UConn fans shudder when they hear "affiliate" or "partial" member?

Not necessarily. It would be acceptable for UConn to go in for all sports but football, if they had a deal in which UConn had to be #15 as a full member if the B1G ever expanded, and there was a scheduling agreement so we could get football games against P5 schools to maintain the football program.

 

[babysheep]

So how would this play in to the apparently inevitable break off of 4 16 team leagues?

 

[upstater]

I know this has been answered before, but about the hockey decision, UConn was talking with Bertagna and Hockey East over a decade ago about joining. Why now?

 

[UConn Dan]

I know this has been answered before, but about the hockey decision, UConn was talking with Bertagna and Hockey East over a decade ago about joining. Why now?

I think ND joining opened a spot up for new membership to maintain an even number.

 

[Durks07]

Happened to see this post on the WVU board. A poster with second-hand "insider info" says that Cornell and the Big Ten have been in talks for partial membership.

Interestingly enough that post brought a response from our old friend, BuffaloLion

Gopher. Let me just say that something is definitely up. There are a LOT of moving parts right now, and something is going to happen in the next 60 days. That's coming right from the horses mouth.

Whether he meant actually adding teams or not, I'm not sure. His actual quote at breakfast on Monday in NYCity was something like "Big things are brewing for the League out East. Expect more news in the next 60 days".

I know Cornell would give their right nut to be in the Big Ten, and I know they have been in contact. In fact, I understand they aren't the only Ivy League school we've been in contact with.

I also know that Delany and FOX would love to grab UConn. UConn has a 27 month exit clause which would require them to give notice by April 1, 2015 to get clearance by July 1, 2017 (the first year of the new TV contract).

How would Delany and FOX get the Presidents to vote for a non-AAU, but academically respected University (US News rank - 57) whose State Government is incredibly supportive of the University's research and development efforts? Maybe teaming it up with an AAU, Land Grant Ivy in New York with an outstanding Hockey team (2 NCAA Championships), outstanding wrestling team (NCAA Runner up to Iowa in 2010 and Penn State in 2011), and outstanding lacrosse team (3 NCAA Championships)? Who knows? We may find out pretty soon.

As I said. LOTS of moving parts right now, a lot of which are happening as we speak right here in Buffalo (possibility of a new NFL stadium being built ON campus). I could write all night about all the stuff going on. But just remember Delany's quote concerning the Northeast:

"We don't just want to visit here. We want to live here".

The next couple of months could be interesting. Stay tuned.

 

[justinslot]

The idea that Cornell would bolt for the B1G in a hot minute if an invitation was made seems like the kind of insane statement that could only be made in earnest on a WVU message board.....but if any Ivy would want to get out the least Iviest Ivy would make sense (land grant, not a Colonial College, ummm has the only traditional non-scatter marching band in the Ivy League.) Of course WVU posters have a tradition of making predictions on the basis of isolated facts (FSU is unhappy in the ACC--true! FSU is joining the Big 12 in three months or whatever--not true.) But if you're going to leave the best academic brand in college sports the only reasonable destination in the best academic brand in big time college sports. At least it's interesting and fairly novel message board conference realignment nonsense...

 

[kingdobbs]

I know this has been answered before, but about the hockey decision, UConn was talking with Bertagna and Hockey East over a decade ago about joining. Why now?

When Notre Dame joined to be #11, Hockey East was not interested at maintaining themselves at that number for very long. UConn perceived that their window of opportunity would not last much longer (anything higher than 12 is very unwieldy for "traditional" hockey scheduling).

 

[AZHuskiePop]

The idea that Cornell would bolt for the B1G in a hot minute if an invitation was made seems like the kind of insane statement that could only be made in earnest on a WVU message board.....but if any Ivy would want to get out the least Iviest Ivy would make sense (land grant, not a Colonial College, ummm has the only traditional non-scatter marching band in the Ivy League.) Of course WVU posters have a tradition of making predictions on the basis of isolated facts (FSU is unhappy in the ACC--true! FSU is joining the Big 12 in three months or whatever--not true.) But if you're going to leave the best academic brand in college sports the only reasonable destination in the best academic brand in big time college sports. At least it's interesting and fairly novel message board conference realignment nonsense...

That also makes us officially contiguous.

 

[CL82]

Do any other UConn fans shudder when they hear "affiliate" or "partial" member?

Depends on the numbers, but unless it was a ridiculous deal (ie the one we currently have) I'd gratefully take whatever crumb they chose to bestow upon us.

 

[Fishy]

Anyone who creates a scenario involving UConn and an affiliate membership in anything should be put into restraints and bludgeoned with their keyboard.

Of all the dopey theories developed here, those stand out for the audacity of their dopiness. (Although, I have to say that the Cornell-to-the-Big Ten talk is a threat to the crown.)

 

[Adios]

While the B1G may be second to the Ivy League, I still have a very hard time seeing an Ivy League school leave for the B1G. Especially considering the Midwest has been declining.

 

[kyleslamb]

While the B1G may be second to the Ivy League, I still have a very hard time seeing an Ivy League school leave for the B1G. Especially considering the Midwest has been declining.

I don't think the Ivy League would even care about that. They're not looking at themselves as being 'regional' entities.

Oh, and for the record, the Midwest as a whole is not declining. It's growing just like every other region in the country. The growth just isn't as rapid right now as the South or other areas.