Looks to me like the conferences will start to consolidate into 5 super-conferences of 14-16 teams each. The exception might be the SEC, who will certainly remain one of the elite conferences but could stick with 12 teams simply because there's not really anyone good they could add (the best you could really do would be Memphis and Tulane). Would anyone really be surprised to see, 10 years from now: ACC: Current 12 plus UConn and Syracuse Big 10: Current 11 plus Pitt, West Virginia, and Marshall Big 12: Current 12 plus TCU, Colorado St., North Texas, UTEP Pac-10: Current 10 plus Hawaii, BYU, Air Force, Fresno St., San Jose St., and San Diego St. SEC: Current 12 plus POSSIBLY Memphis and Tulane (could add Lousiana Tech and Rice as well if you wanted to) Any thoughts?
You never know, it could happen. But the Big 10 would never take West Virginia or Marshall cause their academics don't match up even close to the other Big 10 schools. And unlike some other conferences, academics is big for that conference.
I doubt it. 12 is the magic number for a play-off game, so the Big10 will add 1, but I don't know what the Big East is going to do, unless Notre Dame doesn't get a contract from NBC and is forced into the Big East. And watch out. Rutgers will start keeping more in home talent now taht they can compete a little more and UConn is going to get real good real fast. Don't count out a team going from 1-AA to 1-A like Villanova. There are too many variables. 16 teams is too unwieldy - I think the magic number will be 12.
correct. notre dame will be that "one" in to the big ten if they don't get a contract from nbc this time around. the big ten has more to offer all around <sports, academics, region, etc> than the big east and you can bet that if football were to be included then notre dame would bolt entirely to the big ten. don't ya think?
I know not. 1) Notre Dame tried for acceptance back when the Big 10 first started. They were rejected, primarily due to their Catholic character (at the time the KKK was big in Indiana and general environs and very anti-Catholic) 2) There was similar talk a few years ago when ND joined the Big East. The big 10 made the gestures this time and were rebuffed. I don't think ND would ever go to the Big-10 3) ND is very happy with regards to all other sports, including hoops ini the Big east. They have no desire to go anywhere else even if the Big 10 came calling. 4) ND is not a midwestern university in spirit, even though it is geographically. About 1/3 of the students come from the NY/NJ/Conn/Mass area. It may have changed, but there is a HUGE northeast demographic to Notre Dame (hence the "Subway Alumni").
i thought they turned down the big ten b/c the big ten wanted them to join in "all" sports and at that time there was no way notre dame was leaving their football television contract with nbc behind? maybe living in a big ten city i have gotten some "biased" reporting but that is what i thought happened... i guess i am thinking if the football television contract was not around anymore which conference would they wanna join; the big east or the big ten and i just figure it would be the big ten. but hell, i don't know jack about them damn catholics
With how the school is playing and the odds of them getting a BCS bowl every four years ($2.25 million per year) with a TV contract equal to what they have compared to joining the Big Ten and getting to split $13 million amongst 12 members as well as splitting up all bowl revenue and the television revenue, in addition to the introduction of the conference championship game that would generate about $12 million a year which is an additional million to each team. (Of course costs are used, but that's just general income). And with Notre Dame doing worse, they may want to jump to the Big Ten while they have some bargaining power before they become a sad independent mired in non-conference isolation while the rest of the conference members in the (now) Big Five rake in the dough. Sykotyk
Why would Notre Dame not get a new contract from NBC? I mean, when ND doesn't play well, like this year, their ratings seem to be in the 2-3 range. Not Notre Dame-like. They did better than that in 2002. I know NBC is into dumping sports contracts like the Exxon Valdez, but will they really take the chance that ND won't come back? As for the conferences, I think we'll see 6 12-teamers eventually. I would hope they finally settle all this Scott Cowan b.s. and let the big dogs eat.
ND Regardless, ND will need to join a conference in order to win a National Championship in Football. The BCS contract notwithstanding, ND needs to play a Big Ten schedule and include the IU's with the Michigan's instead of the current murderer's row format.