Further Big East Expansion

[BOoneYaRD1]

Now that UConn's back in the fold, would a school like Notre Dame ever be interested in returning to it's roots and coming back to the Big East? Now before you say it's impossible, thats what most people were saying about UConn's return up until it actually HAPPENED (still can't believe it), give the idea a chance.

I actually think it could make a lot of sense for Notre Dame and the Big East. They fit the geographic footprint, there catholic, we don't need to worry about football (independence) and they would make a similar amount (I think/hope I'm correct about this, otherwise this is a horrible first post) from the Big East as they do the ACC (they take in about 6.8 million a year from ACC and with Big East re-negotiations currently undergoing and if Notre Dame actually joined I assume school distribution would be around 7 million from Big East).

It would also be great for Women's Basketball which would pit the games 2 biggest rivals against each other. And finally the men's ND team which has sat in the doghouse at the bottom of the ACC for the past 2 seasons would return to its roots (and maybe prevalence) with richer recruiting pipelines, and a return to its natural rivals.

What do you guys think, and if not ND and the Big East did indeed decide to expand further beyond UConn, who would be a target? Are there other schools that moved to P5 conferences during the great realignment that have since struggled mightily, that would ever think of returning? Or have they resolved themselves to never winning again and just collecting a paycheck every year?

 

[HuskyHawk]

No. And they are prohibited from joining any conference other than the ACC.

 

[Ha Who]

Now that UConn's back in the fold, would a school like Notre Dame ever be interested in returning to it's roots and coming back to the Big East? Now before you say it's impossible, thats what most people were saying about UConn's return up until it actually HAPPENED (still can't believe it), give the idea a chance.

I actually think it could make a lot of sense for Notre Dame and the Big East. They fit the geographic footprint, there catholic, we don't need to worry about football (independence) and they would make a similar amount (I think/hope I'm correct about this, otherwise this is a horrible first post) from the Big East as they do the ACC (they take in about 6.8 million a year from ACC and with Big East re-negotiations currently undergoing and if Notre Dame actually joined I assume school distribution would be around 7 million from Big East).

It would also be great for Women's Basketball which would pit the games 2 biggest rivals against each other. And finally the men's ND team which has sat in the doghouse at the bottom of the ACC for the past 2 seasons would return to its roots (and maybe prevalence) with richer recruiting pipelines, and a return to its natural rivals.

What do you guys think, and if not ND and the Big East did indeed decide to expand further beyond UConn, who would be a target? Are there other schools that moved to P5 conferences during the great realignment that have since struggled mightily, that would ever think of returning? Or have they resolved themselves to never winning again and just collecting a paycheck every year?

 

[bendm]

1) The ACC's grant of rights makes it financially impossible for a school to leave, guaranteeing in the remaining years of the ACC/ESPN deal that a school's media rights, including revenue, for all home games would remain with the ACC regardless of the school's affiliation
2) Even though ND gets a partial share of conference revenue they will receive a full share of the new ACC network deal
3) the only 3 non-football midmajor programs worthy of joining the BE are gonzaga (too far) wichita (cant pay aac exit fee) and vcu (not ruining the 20 game round robin to add them)

 

[UC1995]

Adding another would screw up the round robin... plus we already play Notre Dame each year

 

[CTMike]

One BE adds ND... we can take their spot in the ACC! Pretty genius tbh.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Great first post.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I would like to point out, troll or not, someone was interested enough to spend probably 10-15 minutes laying out a case for a scenario, which, with any layman's knowledge of college athletics, or 2 minutes of Google search, would see the entire scenario is impossible for the next 15 years.

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

UConn to the Big East: "Let's break this AAC contract ASAP, shouldn't be a problem!"

Any Other School to Any Other Conference: "Hey idiot, you realize there are unbreakable contracts, right?"

 

[HuskyHawk]

UConn to the Big East: "Let's break this AAC contract ASAP, shouldn't be a problem!"

Any Other School to Any Other Conference: "Hey idiot, you realize there are unbreakable contracts, right?"

The AAC didn't have a grant of rights.

 

[billybud]

The AAC didn't have a grant of rights.

Exactly...and UConn had to pay more than the standard exit fee...with a GOR, that amount becomes exponentially more....prohibitively more.

 

[ctchamps]

I would like to point out, troll or not, someone was interested enough to spend probably 10-15 minutes laying out a case for a scenario, which, with any layman's knowledge of college athletics, or 2 minutes of Google search, would see the entire scenario is impossible for the next 15 years.

I'm just hoping this isn't @Travelman32 under a different name.

 

[billybud]

I think that Zissou has brought a whole new phenomenon to football boards...

Just post it enough and it will happen....almost magical.

A lot of folks are clicking their allegorical ruby shoes together.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

One BE adds ND... we can take their spot in the ACC! Pretty genius tbh.

Should have happened that way in the first place.

 

[Bobol]

The BEast will only expand if Fox Sports thinks it makes financial sense.

 

[Towney007]

I gotta be honest, I can't think of a single team outside of us that'd make sense for them at this point. There's just some huge impediment somewhere.

Sure, Gonzaga's absolutely good enough, but they're in freaking Washington. Sure, Wichita prioritized basketball as much as anyone else and are good enough to be in the conference. But they just jumped to the AAC. I'm not really sure what VCU or Dayton would bring to the fold that the conference doesn't already have.

And to be honest, I'm really looking forward to NOT talking about the ongoing conference hopping stuff. I appreciate the fact that the Big East knows what they are and are particular and specific about what'd work.

 

[A10 fan]

This is about as big as a league can get without separating into haves, and have nots, which is what happened in the old BE when it got large. Yeah, it was great to send 11 teams to the NCAA's, but it wasn't so great for Rutgers, PC, SH, etc., who got buried by the massive amount of good teams in the league. ND would certainly be a have, and we expect UConn to be one as well. Add Xavier to the list, and it starts to become hard for the teams at the bottom to rise. Finish out of the money for 3, 4, 5 years, and your image becomes that of an also ran, like DePaul. Thus, while adding ND, and maybe Gonzaga, would be great for the image of the league, and the quality of play, there would be some who would be losers in that scenario.

 

[WrenchFan69]

How aboout Notre Dame joins the ACC in football and then they finally add us as the 16th

 

[Zissou]

I think that Zissou has brought a whole new phenomenon to football boards...

Just post it enough and it will happen....almost magical.

A lot of folks are clicking their allegorical ruby shoes together.

When you deny the obvious logic of the UConn move back to the Big East, and mock it as even a possibility, it must seem like magic when it actually happens.

There’s no place like home.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

ND never should have left the Big East. Like why though?

 

[TRest]

The ND coaches and AD made it very public that their Olympic sports thought the BE was garbage and wanted the better competition in the ACC.

 

[atom58]

The AAC didn't have a grant of rights.

Neither does the SEC - the only P5 conference not to do so, but with their money (pioneering the first FBS confence championship game) and football (mainly through AL) and even basketball (mainly through UK) performance, probably don't need one. Now ideally ND should have gone with the Catholic 7 into the new BE and it would have worked well for their football independence and basketball teams; there were fears inside the ACC they might do that prior to the grant of rights. So the SEC and the G5 leagues do not have a grant of rights. I think the Big 10 (14 - these "academic conferences" can't count) was the first to do it and it stabilized the Big 12 (10) and ACC. So far it has not been challenged in a court of law so it's anyone's guess as to whether it would stand up in court - certainly no one wants to go there because it has the potential to rattle everyone's cage.

 

[HuskyHawk]

When you deny the obvious logic of the UConn move back to the Big East, and mock it as even a possibility, it must seem like magic when it actually happens.

There’s no place like home.

If not for the horrible new AAC deal with ESPN this doesn’t happen. It wasn’t obvious logic at all to pay $20M to get to a conference with a lower media payout. There were a lot of unique circumstances that caused it to happen, including an underperforming basketball team (not the fault of the conference).

I’m supportive now because I think the only real shot at the ACC is to excel in the Big East and show football value beyond what is expected. That means Indy with a TV deal and out performing that deal. Filling seats for all sports. UConn has to demonstrate that it’s not G5 and this is the better path. I wasn’t convinced of that before. And if that never happens, the changing TV landscape will make football Independence more viable than it has been.

But to suggest that ND is better off in the BE is just silly.