Realignment stories for 2023

[shizzle787]

It's a new year. With a new year, comes more conference realignment.
Here are my stories to follow for 2023:

1. Pac-12 TV deal and potential expansion.

Prediction: Pac-12 signs TV deal with Amazon and ESPN with CBS picking up some basketball. The league expands with SDSU, SMU, and Gonzaga (Olympic sports).

2. Big East TV deal and potential expansion.

Prediction: Big East signs TV deal with FOX, CBS, and ESPN. The league expands with Saint Louis to improve inventory, scheduling, and NCAA bid probabilities.

3. CFP TV deal.

Prediction: CFP signs 8-year deal with ESPN, FOX, and CBS. All three companies rotate the final on a three year cycle. ESPN keeps the semifinals and two matchups in each of the first round and quarterfinal round. CBS and FOX each get one game in each of the first two rounds.

4. Further chipping away of amateurism in college athletics.

Prediction: The courts deal the NCAA a blow regarding amateurism, but the real death blow occurs in 2024-25.

5. NCAA transformation committee results.

Prediction: The transformation is rather tepid. Division 1 schools are required to provide mental health services to all students. The cost of running an athletic department increases across the board. About 5-10 schools decide to leave Division 1. 1-2 FCS schools drop football.

Honorable mention: Potential realignment out west.

Prediction: The Pac-12 picks up SMU, Gonzaga, and SDSU. The Mountain West stays at 11 with no great candidates to pick from. The WCC adds Grand Canyon and Seattle to get back to 10. The AAC adds MTSU to get back to 14.
C-USA adds Tarleton State.

 

[pepband99]

I'll never understand the preoccupation with St Louis.

I get it, they fit the "major city, catholic, basketball focused" ethos, but what do they really add?

They're maybe the 3rd most popular team in their market, and a distant 3rd at that.
No rivalries amongst BE teams (and really to anyone, really)
Competitively, they've gotten better under Travis Ford, but they're no world beaters.

Personally, i would lean harder towards Dayton, who is more geographically agreeable, brings a much better basketball pedigree, and would immediately have a rivalry with X. The X administration will whine, but we can ask how that worked out for BCU.

 

[Luna]

I hope if fox doesn’t give the big east a substantial raise…we look at other options

 

[Rufus]

I think Dayton is the best fit for the Big East if it expands to 12 teams.

 

[Kolumbo]

I'll never understand the preoccupation with St Louis.

I get it, they fit the "major city, catholic, basketball focused" ethos, but what do they really add?

They're maybe the 3rd most popular team in their market, and a distant 3rd at that.
No rivalries amongst BE teams (and really to anyone, really)
Competitively, they've gotten better under Travis Ford, but they're no world beaters.

Personally, i would lean harder towards Dayton, who is more geographically agreeable, brings a much better basketball pedigree, and would immediately have a rivalry with X. The X administration will whine, but we can ask how that worked out for BCU.

The Big East is a much better fit for SLU than the Atlantic 10 in terms of type and geography. For the Big East it evens out the "western" half and adds a new market. The Billikens have a history with Marquette and DePaul. Billikens have great soccer. Many of the Big East teams are 2nd or 3rd in their markets because they are not large public schools. Who are you putting ahead of St. Louis Basketball in St. Louis? I think the Billikens are in the top 3 potential additions to the Big East.

 

[Drew]

The Big East is a much better fit for SLU than the Atlantic 10 in terms of type and geography. For the Big East it evens out the "western" half and adds a new market. The Billikens have a history with Marquette and DePaul. Billikens have great soccer. Many of the Big East teams are 2nd or 3rd in their markets because they are not large public schools. Who are you putting ahead of St. Louis Basketball in St. Louis? I think the Billikens are in the top 3 potential additions to the Big East.

This is all true but as someone who’s from STL (and who’s mom worked in the AD at SLU) I can tell you Mizzou and Illinois (KU too probably) outnumber SLU fans. That being said- they have a great arena and those Mizzou/Illinois/KU fans go to SLU games if/when the Bills are good.

The guy that says they have no rivalries in this league doesn’t know what he’s talking about. SLU has a ton of shared history with Marquette and DePaul as you mentioned and Creighton would be a natural rivalry. Half the current Big East teams were considered (are still in some cases?) mid-majors as recently as 20 years ago. SLU would fit in great with that group in this league.

 

[Hoophound]

SLU is fine for the Big East if UConn isn’t in it. I’m not at all a fan of being in a league with them. Schools like PC, SJU and even DePaul are considered real basketball schools. SLU is a couple/three notches below them in public perception. I’m not sure I believe that SLU will help the bottom line either. It seems like a bad idea to me.

The Big East should remain what it is, an elite group of basketball playing Catholic schools and UConn (an original member). Adding schools that don’t boost the league seems unnecessary at this point. If Cuse or BC wanted to come back, sure, but these little schools are dilutive.

 

[metsfan2323]

It's a new year. With a new year, comes more conference realignment.
He

2. Big East TV deal and potential expansion.

Prediction: Big East signs TV deal with FOX, CBS, and ESPN. The league expands with Saint Louis to improve inventory, scheduling, and NCAA bid probabilities.

Well UMASS just beat St Louis last night and they are the state flagship university of a state with over 7 million people. UMASS also has a head coach who took a team to the final four 5 years ago and if they were added to the Big East would provide a great border rivalry for UCONN and Providence and restore the original Big East footprint.

Why are we adding St Louis again?

 

[pepband99]

This is all true but as someone who’s from STL (and who’s mom worked in the AD at SLU) I can tell you Mizzou and Illinois (KU too probably) outnumber SLU fans. That being said- they have a great arena and those Mizzou/Illinois/KU fans go to SLU games if/when the Bills are good.

The guy that says they have no rivalries in this league doesn’t know what he’s talking about. SLU has a ton of shared history with Marquette and DePaul as you mentioned and Creighton would be a natural rivalry. Half the current Big East teams were considered (are still in some cases?) mid-majors as recently as 20 years ago. SLU would fit in great with that group in this league.

How many hours would it take Marquette or Depaul (both schools with, again, fantastically better basketball pedigree) fans to mention St Louis as a rival? Where would they rank? 5th? 10th? come on.

 

[CL82]

The thing that often seems forgotten when people suggest the addition of another school to a conference is that the school added to be able to bring in enough money, to be able to pay for its own share of conference revenue, plus enough to meaningfully, increase the share of every other member of the conference. That is really hard to do. I’m not sure any of the schools mentioned. “move the needle” in that regard.

 

[Kolumbo]

Well UMASS just beat St Louis last night and they are the state flagship university of a state with over 7 million people. UMASS also has a head coach who took a team to the final four 5 years ago and if they were added to the Big East would provide a great border rivalry for UCONN and Providence and restore the original Big East footprint.

Why are we adding St Louis again?

I'm all for UMass and I think VCU and Temple would be great additions. But I also think UConn has other plans and should those plans come to fruition, the Big East will most likely want to remain private basketball only schools. I could see the conference eventually adding 2-4 more privates in new markets to strengthen the conference overall even if it means a smaller slice for everyone.

Chicago, St. Louis, Richmond, Davidson, Spokane, Cali.

 

[Luna]

I posted a while back about a article i saw…(Big east financials…how have tv ratings performed) ….so today i went back to it…and the author show where he got his information…(show buzz daily)..so I clicked on it and was surprised what i saw.. 1..football has a lot more viewers then basketball..2…the big east is well represented in viewer ratings… the depaul creighon game got almost 3 million viewers…don’t understand that…the top viewed big east game last year was 415,000 …3… this year besides the depaul/ creighon game the uconn/xavier game had 719,000 viewers… 4… if the big east adds another school.. it should be Memphis…

 

[Hogoff]

I posted a while back about a article i saw…(Big east financials…how have tv ratings performed) ….so today i went back to it…and the author show where he got his information…(show buzz daily)..so I clicked on it and was surprised what i saw.. 1..football has a lot more viewers then basketball..2…the big east is well represented in viewer ratings… the depaul creighon game got almost 3 million viewers…don’t understand that…the top viewed big east game last year was 415,000 …3… this year besides the depaul/ creighon game the uconn/xavier game had 719,000 viewers… 4… if the big east adds another school.. it should be Memphis…

DePaul Creighton was on Christmas Day. Not too many options for sports.

 

[ElGreco]

I'll never understand the preoccupation with St Louis.

I get it, they fit the "major city, catholic, basketball focused" ethos, but what do they really add?

They're maybe the 3rd most popular team in their market, and a distant 3rd at that.
No rivalries amongst BE teams (and really to anyone, really)
Competitively, they've gotten better under Travis Ford, but they're no world beaters.

Personally, i would lean harder towards Dayton, who is more geographically agreeable, brings a much better basketball pedigree, and would immediately have a rivalry with X. The X administration will whine, but we can ask how that worked out for BCU.

St Louis is the first choice. Besides what you mention they have a very long successful basketball history, a pretty new arena that is perfect for the BE, perfect geographic fit for our western members and a large very rabid sports city with no competition anywhere close. After that I would consider VCU, Davidson and Wichita State. Dayton is a great choice but I doubt Xavier would allow it plus they bring no additional tv market.

 

[Luna]

Wonder if those rumors about the big 12 going after Creighton are true… I think they fit geographically…i think it would hurt the big east if they left….

 

[CashewCrew]

Wonder if those rumors about the big 12 going after Creighton are true… I think they fit geographically…i think it would hurt the big east if they left….

what rumors?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

St Louis is the first choice. Besides what you mention they have a very long successful basketball history, a pretty new arena that is perfect for the BE, perfect geographic fit for our western members and a large very rabid sports city with no competition anywhere close. After that I would consider VCU, Davidson and Wichita State. Dayton is a great choice but I doubt Xavier would allow it plus they bring no additional tv market.

Define long and successful basketball history.

Certainly it encompass more than 1 Sweet 16 appearance since 1957.

 

[ElGreco]

Define long and successful basketball history.

Certainly it encompass more than 1 Sweet 16 appearance since 1957.

Going from memory, they were a top national program as far back as the 1960’s and had one of the greatest centers up to then-Bob Pettit. In the NIT on a regular basis when that was the premier tournament.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Going from memory, they were a top national program as far back as the 1960’s and had one of the greatest centers up to then-Bob Pettit. In the NIT on a regular basis when that was the premier tournament.

I think the wording you were looking for then was "successful, a long time ago" as opposed to "long and successful", lol.

There isn't anyone out there that moves the needle to me. Hell I'd be more apt to booting DePaul than adding anyone new.

 

[ElGreco]

I think the wording you were looking for then was "successful, a long time ago" as opposed to "long and successful", lol.

There isn't anyone out there that moves the needle to me. Hell I'd be more apt to booting DePaul than adding anyone new.

Of course no realistically available school offers the BE much. If nothing else “successful long ago” might add the biggest media market available?

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm all for UMass and I think VCU and Temple would be great additions. But I also think UConn has other plans and should those plans come to fruition, the Big East will most likely want to remain private basketball only schools. I could see the conference eventually adding 2-4 more privates in new markets to strengthen the conference overall even if it means a smaller slice for everyone.

Chicago, St. Louis, Richmond, Davidson, Spokane, Cali.

The Big East didn’t seem crazy about adding more schools that play FBS football. But Temple would be interesting because then they could leave the AAC and go Indy for football.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Going from memory, they were a top national program as far back as the 1960’s and had one of the greatest centers up to then-Bob Pettit. In the NIT on a regular basis when that was the premier tournament.

Going by that criteria NYU should also be on the table.

 

[ElGreco]

Going by that criteria NYU should also be on the table.

They don’t play basketball

 

[ElGreco]

They don’t play basketball

They also have good recent records now including 19-10 this year

 

[Tyler2Rings]

St Louis is the first choice

I am all in on St Louis. It is the 20th largest market, ahead of Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Omaha.

Without an NBA team they are the only show in town for basketball. They have a 10000 seat campus arena and the 19000 seat Enterprise Center downtown.

The program would take off with Top 25 Big East opponents coming to town