USC & UCLA to the Big Ten

[Irish#1]

I honestly don't understand the consternation towards the BIG 10. Just leave whatever happened in the 90s in the 90s and move on. A move to the Big 10 is absolutely the right move for ND right now. Anything else would be pretty short sided. I don't think 2 superconferences are going to cater to an independent ND for much longer. Now is the time to make a move.

I have no idea if they will, but name me the biggest draw in CFB?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

If the Big Ten is going to form one of the two Super Conferences, you'd think that the academics of ND, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Duke would be positives right? ND Football and Duke Hoops are attractive options.

Stanford gives them the Bay Area market along with Los Angeles
Duke gives them a Carolinas presence
Vanderbilt is in Nashville, which is growing considerably.

No brainers all around.

 

[GATTACA!]

I hope however this shakes out the Big10 and the SEC both rebrand. Makes no sense to be calling a conference with 24 teams in it the Big10.

 

[Dale]

I don’t think markets really matter anymore with how streaming numbers are counted. 15 years ago yes (ex. Rutgers) but just being in a big city on its own isn’t a sell anymore .

 

[Dale]

I hope however this shakes out the Big10 and the SEC both rebrand. Makes no sense to be calling a conference with 24 teams in it the Big10.

It’d think SEC might hold on but Big Ten will be gone. It’d guess “B1G” is retained in some way though. The B1G Conference sponsored by Fox.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

B1G you would think would have to add 2 more West coast schools regardless. It might as well be a school we currently schedule, are rivals with, and historically and currently better than over Oregon given the choice.

I wouldn’t be so sure that they need more western teams. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. This is market driven, not geography driven. There’s really no other meaningful media markets out there. the Bay Area maybe. Seattle isn’t moving any needles on TV deals. Neither is Denver Or anything in Oregon. I would guess the BIG would dip south before taking any other western leftovers now.

and who says Stanford is a “rival”. We play them regularly, but is that what makes a team a rival? I don’t, and never have, considered Stanford a rival.

 

[Dale]

I wouldn’t be so sure that they need more western teams. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. This is market driven, not geography driven. There’s really no other meaningful media markets out there. the Bay Area maybe. Seattle isn’t moving any needles on TV deals. Neither is Denver Or anything in Oregon. I would guess the BIG would dip south before taking any other western leftovers now.

and who says Stanford is a “rival”. We play them regularly, but is that what makes a team a rival? I don’t, and never have, considered Stanford a rival.

USC would for sure want 3 local games a year guaranteed (a pod).

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

USC would for sure want 3 local games a year guaranteed (a pod).

I’m sure they would. But they aren’t suddenly some kind of power player in the BIG that can make demands. All the decisions the BIG makes will be money related, not convenience for Southern Cal related.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

The funniest thing to me will be when instead of four superconferences, which everyone projected, it's really just TWO superconferences. The Ultra-SEC and the Mega-BIG.

There *will* be two other "super" conferences, but all the programs of true consequence will end up in either BIG or the SEC simply to maximize TV-related revenue as the contracts get bigger and bigger with each major addition.

Then, because of how big the two primary conferences get, we end up with 8-team pods... or basically, we end up with 6 major sub-conferences among them, thus essentially recreating the regional conference system that we all knew and loved, but less watered down, and with two TV network packages to worry about instead of 4 or 5.

This will either destroy college football, or make it a more-concentrated version of what we like, just with slightly different regional affiliations.

Are the Ultra SeC and Mega Big10 going to combine into a Zord?

 

[Dale]

I’m sure they would. But they aren’t suddenly some kind of power player in the BIG that can make demands. All the decisions the BIG makes will be money related, not convenience for Southern Cal related.

I’m rather confident USC is in fact some kind of power player here.

Will more West coast teams be added this week? By 2024 even? I don’t know. But it’d be shocked if long term there isn’t at least 4 from the coast.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I’m rather confident USC is in fact some kind of player player here.

Im sure Penn state and Nebraska thought the same thing.

trust me, they aren’t.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

I’m rather confident USC is in fact some kind of player player here.

Will more West coast teams be added this week? By 2024 even? I don’t know. But it’d be shocked if long term there isn’t at least 4 from the coast.

I could see Oregon for sure. ANyone from the Big 12 left to join the Big 10 along with USC/UCLA?

 

[Huntr]

Thamel further explained ND's relationship with the ACC in his latest column. Emphasis mine.

If Notre Dame was to join a league, it's unlikely to be the ACC. That's especially with the way things are trending financially. If the Irish are still in the ACC in all their other sports, as they are currently, they are required to join the ACC in football if they join a league. But the Big Ten wouldn't take Notre Dame as a football-only member, so it would have to pull out of the ACC and pay any relative fees and deal with any grant-of-rights issues for the non-football sports.

 

[Blazers46]

I’d rather be in the new SEC.

 

[Crimson streak]

Thamel further explained ND's relationship with the ACC in his latest column. Emphasis mine.

For non football fees, I can’t imagine that it would be that much for them not to make a move


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AKRowdy]

Honestly a 2 conference set up basically every is independent scenario.

 

[Blazers46]

Honestly a 2 conference set up basically every is independent scenario.

How does it play out? You would almost have to have a large playoff. 20+ teams per conference you could have a bunch of undefeateds

 

[B1G20]

One thing to think about here is what do you want the schedule to look like? Lets assume ND does agree to join and the B1G finishes out with Stanford, Oregon, Washington to get to 20. You pretty much have to go to rotating divisions (call it a mini-NFL format) so that all schools play each other semi-regularly.

You could rotate the divisions every season and play everyone not in your division twice ever six years, which would work great with 9 conference games, leaving you 3 non-cons to schedule. Something like:

Pacific
USC
UCLA
Oregon
Stanford
Washington

Great Plains
Wisconsin
Iowa
Nebraska
Minnesota
Illinois

Great Lakes
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Indiana

Atlantic
Penn State
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Rutgers
Maryland

Pretty good competitive balance across the board with something like that.

You really can't protect rivalries across divisions at 20 schools, I assume ND would want to play USC every season, but I don't know how you make that work - you can't only two two divisions or it's basically two separate conferences. Notre Dame being in a division with NW/Rutgers would be good trips every year to NYC/Chicago.

You could also add Colorado instead of Oregon, as an example, then put Colorado in the Great Plains Division, move ND to the Pacific, and Illinois to the Atlantic, but I'm certain the TV partners wouldn't like that cuz the Atlantic division looks pretty light in that scenario.

 

[Blazers46]

One thing to think about here is what do you want the schedule to look like? Lets assume ND does agree to join and the B1G finishes out with Stanford, Oregon, Washington to get to 20. You pretty much have to go to rotating divisions (call it a mini-NFL format) so that all schools play each other semi-regularly.

You could rotate the divisions every season and play everyone not in your division twice ever six years, which would work great with 9 conference games, leaving you 3 non-cons to schedule. Something like:

Pacific
USC
UCLA
Oregon
Stanford
Washington

Great Plains
Wisconsin
Iowa
Nebraska
Minnesota
Illinois

Great Lakes
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Indiana

Atlantic
Penn State
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Rutgers
Maryland

Pretty good competitive balance across the board with something like that.

You really can't protect rivalries across divisions at 20 schools, I assume ND would want to play USC every season, but I don't know how you make that work - you can't only two two divisions or it's basically two separate conferences. Notre Dame being in a division with NW/Rutgers would be good trips every year to NYC/Chicago.

You could also add Colorado instead of Oregon, as an example, then put Colorado in the Great Plains Division, move ND to the Pacific, and Illinois to the Atlantic, but I'm certain the TV partners wouldn't like that cuz the Atlantic division looks pretty light in that scenario.

Gross. Pass

 

[drayer54]

Remaining Big 12 and remaining PAC will surely merge after this. They may as well. I genuinely hate what money has done to CFB.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

One thing to think about here is what do you want the schedule to look like? Lets assume ND does agree to join and the B1G finishes out with Stanford, Oregon, Washington to get to 20. You pretty much have to go to rotating divisions (call it a mini-NFL format) so that all schools play each other semi-regularly.

You could rotate the divisions every season and play everyone not in your division twice ever six years, which would work great with 9 conference games, leaving you 3 non-cons to schedule. Something like:

Pacific
USC
UCLA
Oregon
Stanford
Washington

Great Plains
Wisconsin
Iowa
Nebraska
Minnesota
Illinois

Great Lakes
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Indiana

Atlantic
Penn State
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Rutgers
Maryland

Pretty good competitive balance across the board with something like that.

You really can't protect rivalries across divisions at 20 schools, I assume ND would want to play USC every season, but I don't know how you make that work - you can't only two two divisions or it's basically two separate conferences. Notre Dame being in a division with NW/Rutgers would be good trips every year to NYC/Chicago.

You could also add Colorado instead of Oregon, as an example, then put Colorado in the Great Plains Division, move ND to the Pacific, and Illinois to the Atlantic, but I'm certain the TV partners wouldn't like that cuz the Atlantic division looks pretty light in that scenario.

when you show it like that, it’s really not terrible. Not sure if Stanford goes anywhere without Cal, or if they would, why you wouldn’t choose Cal OVER Stanford if you had your pick.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

I can't believe I am saying this but the Big Ten became much more attractive.

 

[B1G20]

when you show it like that, it’s really not terrible. Not sure if Stanford goes anywhere without Cal, or if they would, why you wouldn’t choose Cal OVER Stanford if you had your pick.

I'm not sure what would happen to Cal/Stanford if they don't get the B1G invite and Oregon/Washington go to the B1G - maybe Ivy League? I don't see them joining a B12/P12 Leftover Mashup.

 

[AvesEvo]

I'm not sure what would happen to Cal/Stanford if they don't get the B1G invite and Oregon/Washington go to the B1G - maybe Ivy League? I don't see them joining a B12/P12 Leftover Mashup.

Someone on another message board said that Oregon was denied.

 

[mango4]

My Gopher buddies say this guy is really plugged in with Minnesota athletics so he's a reliable source

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Atlantic
Penn State
Notre Dame

I would lose my mind every year for this game. Zero objectivity and I'd be screaming at my TV as if I had the lives of my children bet on the game.

Especially if that swill rag Franklin is their coach.

 

[greyhammer90]

iRrElEvAnT

 

[Sea Turtle]

Oregon and Clemson were told to pound sand.

 

[Dale]

iRrElEvAnT

I can’t wait for the takes of I told you ND was irrelevant, had to join a conference just like everyone else. Meanwhile all it took was the B1G giving ND everything they wanted and our schedule is almost identical just with about $50 million more in our pocket.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Someone on another message board said that Oregon was denied.

I don't know whether that's true but I don't think Oregon is all that attractive. They're not in a big market, they don't have a great academic rep or a ton of investment into research, they don't draw TV viewers, and their current status is entirely dependent on Rich Uncle Phil underwriting everything.

Washington has a much worse recent football history but is fundamentally better, IMO.

The B1G would love to add Stanford's academic clout. Stanford isn't a football rival but that's not what makes them attractive to Notre Dame. ND enjoys being associated with Stanford. It's probably the biggest brand name in college education outside the Ivy League.