Omaha World Herald suggests Big Ten targeting UNC and Kansas

From the column:

The speculation is rampant — ironic, since Delany said the reason the Big Ten went secret this time after going very public with its search for a 12th member two years ago was the turmoil caused by prolonged rumor-mongering.

That's no comfort to league commissioners and member schools who hear that ACC school North Carolina (where Delany played basketball) and the Big 12's Kansas are high on the list of possible targets.

Is this corner barstool chatter?

Doesn't sound like it. Four BCS conference coaches and administrators I talked to Tuesday said they think the Big Ten is actively hunting for members 15 and 16, and mentioned the Tar Heels and Jayhawks.

http://www.omaha.com/article/201211...arfknecht-16-members-sounds-sweet-for-big-ten

Go Gophers!!

Will Duke be next?

Is Iowa St. out of the picture? Geographically Iowa St. and Kansas make sense. UNC is a splashy name, Coach Kill will be unhappy though

I would love to see a 16-team conference, but I still don't see how Rutgers fits into this. Still a bit surreal that Maryland is joining.

khoffman43 said:

Is Iowa St. out of the picture? Geographically Iowa St. and Kansas make sense. UNC is a splashy name, Coach Kill will be unhappy though

I would love to see a 16-team conference, but I still don't see how Rutgers fits into this. Still a bit surreal that Maryland is joining.

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Iowa State was never in the picture.

It is all about money. The Big Ten would like to TAP into the New York market, so I would be surprised with these two teams. The Rutgers rumor makes more sense.

First comes football; Penn St/Nebraska

Next comes TV markets; Maryland/Rutgers

Then comes basketball; Kansas/UNC

Could Louisville be a possibility?

GophersInIowa said:

Could Louisville be a possibility?

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They have pretty poor academics don't they?

MadtownGopher said:

They have pretty poor academics don't they?

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I dont think they would be an option.

The order that seems to be driving the additions seem to be, 1) TV markets, 2) School makeup and Academics, and 3) Athletics in this order.

With Missouri going to the SEC it doesn't leave alot of options, nothing in the east other than Connecticut is a fit especially with Pitt going to the ACC, not much in the western direction, Virginia would seem to be but similiar TV market as Maryland, North Carolina is a perfect match, Kansas not so much.

With all the money involved with BTN/Football, may the University of Chicago wants back in.

Little to be gained in the lower Midwest.

I vote for Virginia and North Carolina. High echelon public universities, huge athletic departments, growing populations, contiguous states. What wouldn't the B1G want? The B1G presidents would drool over these schools and the CIC would likely be a big attraction for them.

19, will join me as we become Co-Commissioners of the BIG TIME CONFERENCE?

We will start by making sure that we all play a 10 game FB schedule and a 20 game BB schedule.

With 16 teams, we will have 4 4-team divisions.
We will each play a home and home every year within our divisions (6 games, and with FB there will be 4-games out of division. rotating schedules), and for basketball there will be back to back nights of home games at both sites...b 2 b. for example, with Wisky at the Barn back to back nights, later a b2b at the Kohl on consecutive nights. This will cover 12 of the 20 games. 8 games are therefore remaining for lots of out of division games.

All other sports schedules will be determined by a meeting of You, Me, ALL AD's, and the previous year's Cheerleaders' of the Year winners.

The meetings will be sponsored by Bud Light and Blatz, or will be made available to the highest bidder, including Diet companies, Insurance companies, the Automotive Industry, AARP, or Congress.

Food for the meetings will be DONATED by Subway, with a make your own sandwich buffet.

Women's BB would follow the same format as Mens' BB.

You and I will each get paid on a basis of 1.1875% of all BIG TIME CONFERENCE gross income, including Bowl Games and NCAA BB Tournament.

I just received an email from James Hoffa, President of the Teamsters' Union. He would like to talk to us. I emailed back that only if Michelle Bachman, Beej, and GopherLady could join us.

And also, that the meeting must be unannounced publicly and held at Mabel Murphy's in Fergus Falls.

Kansas is stuck in the Big 12, all the schools signed their media rights and revenue over to the conference for something like the next 12 years. So short of the conference dissolving KU or Texas won't be coming to the Big 10.

if a Big 12 school leaves for another league in the next 13 years, that school's media rights, including revenue, would remain with the Big 12 and not its new conference.

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http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/54878/big-12-cements-future-wallets-and-revival

Calgoph said:

Little to be gained in the lower Midwest.

I vote for Virginia and North Carolina. High echelon public universities, huge athletic departments, growing populations, contiguous states. What wouldn't the B1G want? The B1G presidents would drool over these schools and the CIC would likely be a big attraction for them.

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Mr. Jefferson would never approve of UVa in the B1G. And he still has final say.

As a basketball fan first, my (mostly negative) opinion of conference expansion/realignment would do a complete U-turn if KU and UNC joined the Big Ten. Kansas and North Carolina coming to Williams Arena on occasion, added to the stud programs we already get to see at The Barn? Count me in.