I’ve long said that I come to the BY because its posters understand CR more than any of the other boards I’ve visited. Unfortunately the news of the B1G TV deal seems to have sent a wave a stupid out over part of the board. I’m not about to come here and tell you what will happen next, no one knows at this point. “Diamond” Jim likely doesn’t even know yet let alone anyone on this board or any other board. What I can say is that from my point of view the world didn’t change 48 hours ago because FOX wants to give the B1G a bunch of money. Some act like this is new but the SEC and the B1G have been the P2 for a while. The ACC, the Big XII and even the PAC have not been and are still not a threat to steal schools from either of them. None of those three has really made a push to pass them in revenue for a long time. Everyone knew the gap was going to grow and some, that we thought were crazy, even said it would be this big of a jump. I see no reason for UConn to start the move to DIII, you have the same great school and the same great AD as you had 49 hours ago. I know CR has been more than unfair to UConn but the last 48 hours didn’t change that.
As for how could Indiana and others (I hate that you guys use IU as an example, do some research. IU is not the bottom of the B1G…Purdue is. Do I come here and talk about UConn being below Rutgers or BC...no because I F…ING know they aren’t) sorry, anyway as for the question of how the schools of the B1G are worth $50 million…they aren’t. OSU, Michigan…none of them is worth that. The B1G is and has always been a lesson in the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its pieces. The B1G has huge fan bases, and the fans run from coast to coast. The people that are leaving the north are B1G fans retiring to the south or moving for jobs. Do you think they step off the plane and burn their home state gear? I now live in Texas, I work in an office that is at least 1/3 B1G fans, the last company I worked for here in Texas, the office was also at least 1/3 B1G fans. I lived the first 36 years of my life in Indiana and I’m sure I never worked with a Big XII fan. No Indiana is not worth that kind of money but the B1G is or they wouldn’t get it. FOX is not out to lose money, they aren’t “doing the B1G a favor” and stop talking about cord cutting. It’s like some of you think the B1G, SEC, ESPN, ABC, NBC, FOX…are all just going to die. Don’t you think they will change with the times, don’t you think they will squeeze every last drop out of the cable system while planning for it to be gone at the same time. The SEC and B1G were the most followed conferences when this crap was on the radio. Do you think people were saying, “boy when TV takes over no one will even remember the B1G”? Sorry for the rant, I love this board but the last 48 hours here IMO has been mostly an overreaction to news we all expected or at least nearly expected anyway.
Finally, why will/would the B1G expand? I’ve already said I have no idea what will happen but I do know the B1G is looking 50 years down the road. Holding onto that huge fan base may be hard that far out. I think most of you are off in thinking the B1G only cares about money. I think the end game is not the money, I think the end game is an expanded conference that takes in areas of growth. That would be the southeast and or Texas. The money is a means to that end, not the end. They are grabbing the money while it’s there in the hope they can get the schools they want/need to join before the money goes away. IMO Diamond Jim is just doing what he thinks he must to make sure that the B1G is still the B1G 50 years out and beyond. That’s called being proactive, the alternative would be to set back and slowly die while people point and say, “why didn’t they do something, they used to be a big player in college sports?” Kind of like “why couldn’t the Big East just come to an agreement and stay together?” or “why can’t the Big XII agree on anything?” I don’t know if CR or big media money will kill college sports but I do believe that doing nothing to move forward has just as good a chance of killing it. Bye bye WAC, SWC, Big 8, Metro, Big East v1.0, who do we say bye to next? The B1G didn’t kill those conferences, the B1G isn’t going to kill UConn, just keep fighting, that’s all you can do.