ESPN's Mitch Sherman discusses potential Big Ten expansion; division realignment

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per Sherman's Q&A:

@UofMKirwin12: @ESPN_BigTen if it were up to you...would you realign the divisions? If so, what would the divisions be?

Mitch Sherman: The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. What's wrong with the current divisional structure? It's much better than what we had with the previous, 12-team split. Sure, the East is too powerful, but I'd prefer not to split Michigan from Ohio State or Michigan State. Geographically, it works. Call me boring, but I say leave it alone -- until the next chapter of expansion, which brings us to the next question ...

‎@spartymcj3: @ESPN_BigTen - If Big 12 collapses, would Kansas and Oklahoma be best expansion bets for a 16 team B1G? Great rivalries with Nebraska.

Mitch Sherman: Barring a Notre Dame divorce from the ACC, yes. Iowa State makes sense geographically and from an institutional point of view, but the Cyclones take a back seat to Kansas and Oklahoma in prestige and power. With Kansas, of course, it's all about basketball, and that's a big deal to the Big Ten. The Jayhawks have a long football history with Nebraska, but Kansas has won just two of the past 42 meetings. I can't envision an Oklahoma split from Texas or Oklahoma State, but it's a scenario with which I might have to get comfortable in the not-so-distant future of college sports. If the Sooners are forced to separate from their Big 12 rivals, a renewal of the rivalry with the Cornhuskers would help soothe the pain. And the addition of the Big 12 duo would, no doubt, strengthen the Big Ten's position in the marketplace.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post...-coordinators-badgers-schedule-expansion-talk

Go Gophers!!
 

From a travel perspective Kansas would be great for us, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. Oklahoma and Nebraska back in the same conference in the same division would be something. We would have three of the best former Big 8 teams.
 

Oklahoma and Kansas don't bring many TV's. Texas and Georgia Tech do. I could settle for Oklahoma and Texas though.

Or Notre Dame and USC, if you want to think B1G. Imagine grabbing USC and the LA Market...
 

Sparlimb said:
Oklahoma and Kansas don't bring many TV's. Texas and Georgia Tech do. I could settle for Oklahoma and Texas though.

Or Notre Dame and USC, if you want to think B1G. Imagine grabbing USC and the LA Market...
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Oklahoma does bring a lot of viewers. No no no to USC. And heck no to Texas. They are the major reason the Big 12 is a mess. I'm over ND. They have no interest.
 

Section2 said:
Oklahoma does bring a lot of viewers. No no no to USC. And heck no to Texas. They are the major reason the Big 12 is a mess. I'm over ND. They have no interest.
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Texas might be fine.

Texas's issue with the Big 12 partly was caused by the Big 12 not wanting to make a TV network.

So Texas made their TV network and everyone got upset....


Bring Texas and Oklahoma in, just like any other member and they'd be happy with TV revenue and such.
 


Section2 said:
Oklahoma does bring a lot of viewers. No no no to USC. And heck no to Texas. They are the major reason the Big 12 is a mess. I'm over ND. They have no interest.
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ND and Kansas. If we want to go west, I vote for Stanford over any other PAC team. Imagine 16 teams with ND and Stanford...best top to bottom conference gets way better in multiple sports.
 

PMWinSTP said:
ND and Kansas. If we want to go west, I vote for Stanford over any other PAC team. Imagine 16 teams with ND and Stanford...best top to bottom conference gets way better in multiple sports.
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ND makes the most sense but they absolutely go out of their way to communicate they want no part of us. Time to move on. California is just too far away, and not feasible for the non revenue sports.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Texas might be fine.

Texas's issue with the Big 12 partly was caused by the Big 12 not wanting to make a TV network.

So Texas made their TV network and everyone got upset....


Bring Texas and Oklahoma in, just like any other member and they'd be happy with TV revenue and such.
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Texas doesn't come off as a school that's happy being just another member. Huge ego and think they are special. I don't think they are a fit.
 

Section2 said:
ND makes the most sense but they absolutely go out of their way to communicate they want no part of us. Time to move on. California is just too far away, and not feasible for the non revenue sports.
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Agreed.

ND doesn't want to be a full member of a conference, it's their thing to play a lot of different people.

Also yeah CA is way too far away for a one or a couple members.
 




No ndsu?

Sent from my LGLS665 using Tapatalk
 

Section2 said:
ND makes the most sense but they absolutely go out of their way to communicate they want no part of us. Time to move on. California is just too far away, and not feasible for the non revenue sports.
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With MD and Rutgers, how is travel distance still even relevant to argue? The ND argument has always been about football...they would have joined years ago but for the TV $$. As the B1G revenue has grown, that has become a non-issue issue. They get $15M/year from NBC...do the math.
 





PMWinSTP said:
With MD and Rutgers, how is travel distance still even relevant to argue? The ND argument has always been about football...they would have joined years ago but for the TV $$. As the B1G revenue has grown, that has become a non-issue issue. They get $15M/year from NBC...do the math.
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Because Rutgers is a heck of a lot closer to PSU and OSU Indiana etc than California is to Nebraska. No, ND is not just about revenue, you do know they joined the Acc for basketball right? They want nothing to do with the Big 10.
 

Section2 said:
Because Rutgers is a heck of a lot closer to PSU and OSU Indiana etc than California is to Nebraska. No, ND is not just about revenue, you do know they joined the Acc for basketball right? They want nothing to do with the Big 10.
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And they joined the B1G for hockey.

ND will eventually have to join a conference. They won't be able to schedule enough good games with all of the P5 schools adding more conference games. They can go ACC if they are afraid of the B1G.
 

alchemy2u said:
And they joined the B1G for hockey.

ND will eventually have to join a conference. They won't be able to schedule enough good games with all of the P5 schools adding more conference games. They can go ACC if they are afraid of the B1G.
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Maybe you're right, but I've just heard for about 5 years now that they are dead set opposed, fans are dead set opposed etc. I will agree that it would be a huge add and make perfect sense. But for whatever reason, they feel that they are special.
 


Spoofin said:
Oh, how cute. Not about the $? What a joke. It is always about the $. Always.
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Tru dat, we added Rutgers and Maryland.... yeah that wasn't because we think they're awesome and always wanted them...
 

Section2 said:
Texas doesn't come off as a school that's happy being just another member. Huge ego and think they are special. I don't think they are a fit.
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I think when the LHN contract ends / nears end you'll see Texas interested in joining a conference and being a good member. Their issue with the B12 is they were that much bigger in that conference than the other teams.... and couldn't get the conference to see the future regarding TV revenue. In a $olid conference with teams that wouldn't stand for special treatment of one team, I suspect Texas would be fine and would behave.
 

This is getting insane - endless chasing of TV money, yet they spend it all, anyway.
 

Spoofin said:
Oh, how cute. Not about the $? What a joke. It is always about the $. Always.
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Well, if ND could make more joining the BIG, why haven't they if they are all about $?
It's all about self interest, not just money. And there are many factors beyond tv contracts.
 

Section2 said:
Well, if ND could make more joining the BIG, why haven't they if they are all about $?
It's all about self interest, not just money. And there are many factors beyond tv contracts.
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Well, if ND thought their biggest money grab was to join the B1G when it was offered, you can assure they would have. I find it cute that you feel they operate on some other sort of pride/principals than the rest of the world.
 

Spoofin said:
Well, if ND thought their biggest money grab was to join the B1G when it was offered, you can assure they would have. I find it cute that you feel they operate on some other sort of pride/principals than the rest of the world.
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Well, they are part of the catholic institution.

image.jpg

They would compliment PSU nicely.
 

Section2 said:
Maybe you're right, but I've just heard for about 5 years now that they are dead set opposed, fans are dead set opposed etc. I will agree that it would be a huge add and make perfect sense. But for whatever reason, they feel that they are special.
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He is right, and got to the hockey before I could...which is sort of a 2nd go-around since they were part of WCHA at one time. They were set to join years ago but could not agree to bring FB, and that's how Penn St ended up coming on board. Pretty sure there was serious talks with ND before Nebraska as well.
 

If you factor in that ND gets to keep 100% of their bowl revenue does it even out? They like to think they can get a BCS type bowl every year and may just want to keep the payouts. They also might just want to avoid the B1G schedule. Committing to several games against ACC opponents is a lot easier than doing the same with the SEC or B1G. They still play the service academies for Christ's sake! You really think they want to join the B1G east and play OSU, MSU, UM, Penn State, and Rutgers every year when they can feast on the Cadets and Midshipmen every year?

(Rutgers was a joke)
 


Otis said:
If you factor in that ND gets to keep 100% of their bowl revenue does it even out? They like to think they can get a BCS type bowl every year and may just want to keep the payouts. They also might just want to avoid the B1G schedule. Committing to several games against ACC opponents is a lot easier than doing the same with the SEC or B1G. They still play the service academies for Christ's sake! You really think they want to join the B1G east and play OSU, MSU, UM, Penn State, and Rutgers every year when they can feast on the Cadets and Midshipmen every year?

(Rutgers was a joke)
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How is that any different than other teams playing the MAC, Sun Belt, or even FCS schools? Every year they play between 2-4 non power 5 schools, pretty much the same as everyone else.
 

Spoofin said:
Well, if ND thought their biggest money grab was to join the B1G when it was offered, you can assure they would have. I find it cute that you feel they operate on some other sort of pride/principals than the rest of the world.
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My point is that this "money grab" includes other stuff (donations from alums?). I think you badly misunderstand my point. I despise ND, I dont' think they are special, and I wish we'd just move on instead of continuing to ask out the hot girl who keeps blowing us off.
 

Otis said:
If you factor in that ND gets to keep 100% of their bowl revenue does it even out? They like to think they can get a BCS type bowl every year and may just want to keep the payouts. They also might just want to avoid the B1G schedule. Committing to several games against ACC opponents is a lot easier than doing the same with the SEC or B1G. They still play the service academies for Christ's sake! You really think they want to join the B1G east and play OSU, MSU, UM, Penn State, and Rutgers every year when they can feast on the Cadets and Midshipmen every year?

(Rutgers was a joke)
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Not anymore...B1G is leading the way in revenue generating. They still could play those teams and SC...would make their non-conf the same every year. They would give up their preferential bowl treatment, which is long overdue.
 

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