1. The Big Ten going South makes far more sense than the SEC coming north. Both because of ongoing populations shifts and recruiting needs.
2. I was not saying that the SEC wouldn't or shouldn't come north. Just that if UConn was so important to the Big Ten having the sole, dominant place in the Metro New York marketplace, we'd be there already.
3. I thought applicable quotes from Blazing Saddles were exempt from criticism in any event. My bad.
1. You're thinking in terms of football. But both conferences are establishing networks and networks need winter/spring inventory so basketball is as valuable as football. The North is more basketball oriented than the South. The SEC would benefit tremendously in a financial sense from (a) larger markets, (b) larger geographic reach, (c) better basketball, (d) reach into basketball recruiting grounds. UConn provides all four. RegisteredUConn is right that UConn brings more to the SEC than Georgia Tech to the B1G.
2. No. UConn may be very important to the B1G reaching NE/NY. But the Big Ten Network is new, and realignment is new. They have wanted to grow with an even number of teams. They have not yet had the opportunity to take UConn with another team -- perhaps UConn-Rutgers, but they had the opportunity to take Maryland at the same time. If necessary they may take UConn alone as #15 and hope they get a #16 later, but for now, they are seeking to grow by 2 teams and don't have 2. No other conference has yet the forced the Big Ten to stop waiting on UConn. Meanwhile UConn is increasing investments in athletics and academics, making it a bigger contributor to the conference. Why should they extend an invitation and let UConn become complacent / stop upgrading if they don't have a partner and no other conference is competing with them? We can't infer from the lack of an invitation to date that the B1G isn't high on UConn.
3. The error is thinking the quote was applicable!
A last thought. ESPN is the SEC's partner in the SEC network, Fox the B1G's partner in the BTN. I wonder if ESPN may see the value in grabbing UConn for its portfolio. I doubt it will want to cede the northeast to the B1G/Fox, and it seems UConn may add a lot more value to the SEC than to the ACC, and there are political hurdles in the ACC. To date ESPN has kept the ACC as its prized property, owned at a bargain basement price, but it has been forced to pump steadily more money into the ACC while adding weaker properties like Louisville and Syracuse. It may start to see value in building up the SEC Network with its top ACC properties plus UConn, and dissolving the ACC contract and picking up the ACC remnants at a cheaper per-school price.
