Do you think the Big Ten should expand?

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KyGopherfan

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I was just thinking of this the other day. I really think the conference could benefit from adding an additional team. It would make things more equal and allow for each team in the conference to play each twice....OR

An additional team could allow the conference to split into 2 divisions, like the SEC. You play each team in your division twice, then in the opposite division once with alternating home-away games each season. We could have a Big Ten East and Big Ten West.

I think there are some great teams that would be good additions in both football and basketball and would fit geographically. West Virginia comes to mind. They might get swallowed in the Big East. Notre Dame also may be a good fit for the Big Ten. Any other schools come to mind?
 

Would prefer they go back to 10

But that's never going to happen. 10 is a perfect number for both football and basketball scheduling. Play everyone once in football and twice in basketball like the Pac 10 does. Creates a true conference champion.

I would prefer 12 over 11, however. Notre Dame would be my first choice, Pitt (re-establish the Penn State-Pitt football rivalry would be cool) would be my next choice.
 

I would also prefer they go back to 10... but who would you kick out? Northwestern or Penn State would be about the only options. NW cuz they are the only non-public school and PSU because they are the newest and farthest away geographically.

If they went to 12, I wouldn't mind seeing Missouri or Iowa State come in. St. Louis would even fit in pretty well geographically, but I don't think they have a football team, definitely not one in FCS, and their basketball team is suspect at best.

I think the best options are Missouri, Iowa State, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Cincinnati, or Kentucky.
 

Reducing to 10 or increasing to 12 are both no-brainers. So we'll probably remain at 11.
 



If they change the name I might consider it. Marquette should probably be the team to join, if it was only for basketball. Talk about a geographic outlier in the Big East.
 

Kick out Penn state! They should have never been in there in the first place!

If we HAD to go to 12, I would go for Notre Dame, I guess. But would they want that? Don't they make a boatload by being an independent in football? Because they get their own TV contracts and what not?
 

If the Big Ten adds a 12th member, it will be about two things and two things only:

1) academic fit
2) TV sets

There are two clear choices for that (not saying I like the choices, but here they are):

1) Notre Dame - brings many, many TV sets and national prestige (ideal fit geographically). Academically, ND actually falls short in many things the Big Ten values - research and graduate programs. However, they have an oustanding undergrad program and the Big Ten would likely make concessions in that regard and ND would likely increase its emphasis on research and grad programs. Notred Dame turned down an invite in about 1993.

2) Rutgers - ideal fit academically, major land grand, state-funded, research institution with thousands and thousands of students enrolled. And, they bring the No. 1 TV market into the fold (New Jersey/New York). If I had to place a wager on who will be next into the Big Ten, I'd hedge a great deal of money onto Rutgers.
 

This topic comes up on one of the boards every few months, and it's pretty predictable how the responses will shake out. There will be 5-7 schools considered for addition, and two schools (Northwestern and Penn State) considered for expulsion.

Though I firmly believe the conference would be better with 10, don't count on Northwestern (charter member of the Western Conference) or Penn State (just invited in 15 years ago and packs a 110k+ stadium for football) being kicked out.

I would count on the number sitting at 11 for a long time.
 



I dont even like them having 11 but I disagree with kicking schools out.
 

I just wouldn't be surprised if the Big East shrinks. There are way too many teams in that conference. And I can see Bob Huggins looking at the lay of the land and thinking he has a better shot at winning a B10 title than a Big East title. Also WVU would be good to have in football as well.
 

West Virginia will never be in the Big 10 - mark my words. The academics there would not meet the approval of the other 11 schools.

Currently, every single Big 10 school sits among the top 75 in the latest US News & World Report rankings (lowest ranking are Indiana and Michigan State, tied at 71). To get into the Big 10, a school would have to be in this same group, or the top 100 at the absolute least.

If you're looking for Big East schools that would ever have a chance to join the Big 10, look to Pitt and Rutgers.
 

I think everyone is in agreement, 10 (will never happen) or 12 (divisions) but not 11.

Someone posted months ago that the BT has some rather specific rules about joining. It included something like the school needed to be from a state contiguous with a charter member. So, ND, Pitt, Iowa State would make it, but I don't think we can reach all the way to Rutgers.
 



How about if we just go to 20 B10 conference basketball games? That would solve the issues I have for basketball. I don't like the two division idea at all. Who would you not want to play twice?
 

UST82Gopher said:
It included something like the school needed to be from a state contiguous with a charter member. So, ND, Pitt, Iowa State would make it, but I don't think we can reach all the way to Rutgers.
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Doesn't have to be a charter member. Just a member. Pennsylvania borders New Jersey, so Rutgers qualifies.
 

94Gopher said:
How about if we just go to 20 B10 conference basketball games? That would solve the issues I have for basketball.
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I believe this idea has come up before, and something of a compromise was to extend the season from 16 games to 18 games. IIRC, several coaches, including Coach Smith (please correct me if I'm mis-attributing these sentiments to him), spoke out in opposition of the 20 game conference season for various reasons, mostly to the point that our teams would kill each other over the length of the schedule, and attrition caused by league play would diminish the amount of bids the Big 10 would get in the NCAA tournament.

Also, moving to such a schedule might work for hoops, but you could never expand football to an 10-game conference season. The current 18 game set up for basketball (where you at least play the two "pass" teams once) is still infinitely better than the 8 game football schedule (where you don't play the two "pass" teams at all).
 


If you have conferences, you might as will just split into two divisions. My view is that this has not helped the Big 12. I guess the playoff games are a bit more interesting, but the bulk of the season is less so. I think twelve is probably too cumbersome for bb and definitely too cumbersome for football. Ten teams is really perfect given the number of games currently allowed. Not that I'd be asked, but I couldn't get behind kicking Penn State out (too classy and fun) nor Northwestern (too quirky, often surprising and too much legacy). Now if we could start talking about a way to get rid of OSU, I'd be interested in hearing what kind of rules we'd need to bend.
 


Iowa Needs to Go!

Poor academics, substantial criminal behavior (and coverup), and pig farming hick fans make it a no-brainer. Iowa needs to go indepenent.
 

Do Not Add

Notre Dame for any reason. Expanding for the sake of expanding is not a good idea, especially when considering ND.
 

Notre Dame does not really fit the profile of the Big Ten Schools for anything other than Football and Basketball.

There are a ton of other activities that are part of the conference affiliation.

Public and Land Grant Universities fit the profile much better.

Pittsburg
Iowa State
Missouri
Nebraska

are the ones that come to mind.
 

jovs said:
Notre Dame does not really fit the profile of the Big Ten Schools for anything other than Football and Basketball.

There are a ton of other activities that are part of the conference affiliation.

Public and Land Grant Universities fit the profile much better.

Pittsburg
Iowa State
Missouri
Nebraska

are the ones that come to mind.
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Pittsburgh - brings decent TV market, but Big Ten already has Pennsylvania

Iowa State - no chance the Big Ten brings them in, no added TV sets, ISU adds no prestige at all

Missouri - adds good TV markets St. Louis and Kansas City, but Missouri won't walk away from the Kansas rivalry and the Big 12 (Mizzou is a charter Big 8 member)

Nebraska - great academic fit, again likely not enough TV sets to make it worthwhile

I'll say it again -- keep your eye on Rutgers. Well-regarded land grant, research, state institution, with the No. 1 TV market in the nation (New Jersey/New York). Do not underestimate how much the Big Ten (with their new TV network) wants to penetrate the East Coast and specifically that NY market. Rutgers, although peripherally, gives them that.
 

tjgopher said:
Pittsburgh - brings decent TV market, but Big Ten already has Pennsylvania
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No they don't; the non-Penn Staters across the state could care less about the Big Ten. Getting a team from Philly or thereabouts would be huge for Big Ten exposure, but as far as I know there aren't really any. That leaves Pitt that would bring in the rest of the Western PA market, and Rutgers that would bring in a decent portion of the New Jersey market.

West Virginia is a possibility, and would be a rival to both PSU and OSU geographically; that would be the 3rd choice, IMO. I don't see any Big 12 or ACC teams switching allegiances. And as for ND, they can go F themselves. I wish Big Ten teams would stop playing them in football, because I think ND would lose a lot of luster that comes from those big games (Mich, MSU, Purdue, etc.). Syracuse isn't really a Big Ten style academic institution, so I don't see them coming to the Big Ten, but their dome would give Wisconsin and Iowa fans something to get a hard-on over, seeing as how much they enjoyed the Metrodome.
 

cncmin said:
No they don't; the non-Penn Staters across the state could care less about the Big Ten.
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They have Pennsylvania in the sense that the cable TV companies carry the Big Ten Network. That's what they care about.


cncmin said:
Getting a team from Philly or thereabouts would be huge for Big Ten exposure.
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Rutgers is 65 miles from Philadelphia. It is 32 miles from New York City. That's my point. Rutgers brings things that Pitt cannot.


cncmin said:
West Virginia is a possibility.
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No, it isn't. Doesn't bring enough exposure, prestige, academic standing or television sets in comparison to other alternatives.
 

WEST:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Purdue

EAST:

Ohio St
Michigan
Michigan St
Penn St
Indiana
Notre Dame

That is a geographical East/West if you add Notre Dame. That East conference looks incredibly tough in football and basketball potentially.
 

That East conference looks incredibly tough in football and basketball potentially.
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Maybe it's too tough in football. Purhaps the following would be easier to swallow but it would screw up the Michigan OSU rivalry.

WEST:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan St
Northwestern


EAST:

Pitt
Ohio St
Penn St
Indiana
Illinois
Purdue

Basketball wise this is two pretty tough conferences.
Footballwise how do you think Michigan would like fighting for the conference title in from the West. they would be able to go to the championship most years. Trouble is no matter how you split it up we destroy rivalries.
 

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