Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Big 10 Expansion Thread -Big Ten ready for a playoff .. finally?

Solecismic · 08-30-2011, 05:32 PM

This still seems odd to me. If you're running a university, you move to new conference if the additional money and prestige adds up to more than the value of your past history with the conference.

This makes sense for Texas A&M. Hopefully it's more than the temper tantrum over the Longhorn Network.

I see the Longhorn Network as a really dumb move on ESPN's part. I have the Big Ten Network as part of my basic cable package. I like it because it runs Big Ten football and basketball games. The Longhorn Network doesn't seem to have the ability to televise Longhorn football. I question its ability to generate enough revenue to make people happy. Especially now that it won't televise high school games.

If you're running a conference that wants to expand, expansion only makes sense if the new addition brings in an amount of money exceeding the average amount of each of your existing members.

This will decrease the larger your conference becomes. Getting to 14 actually decreases your value in some of your existing regions because you no longer host certain rivals every year which may have a following elsewhere. That becomes more of a factor in the elite conferences.

That said, I think Texas A&M is big enough to interest the SEC. But not by much, and at a cost of tradition. It also devalues a divisional championship. If you're at 16 schools, you're really talking about a full-on split into two conferences.

It looks like the SEC is willing to try 14. I don't think the others will follow quickly. Two questions will need to be answered, assuming the SEC takes Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

1. Assuming the ACC replaces the Hokies from the Big East (and why wouldn't they?), at what point does the Big East lose its footing in major college football? It's still a 'tweener conference between major and mid-major. It got a boost from BYU and Utah leaving the Mountain West, which is what eliminated the Mountain West campaign to join the BCS, and allowed the Big East to take TCU. With both the ACC and the SEC moving northward, more and more potential recruits will follow those conferences, and the quality of the Big East teams will decline.

2. It's still all about Texas. The next round starts if and when Texas wags the dog.

08-30-2011, 05:32 PM	#4225
Solecismic Solecismic Software Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Canton, OH	This still seems odd to me. If you're running a university, you move to new conference if the additional money and prestige adds up to more than the value of your past history with the conference. This makes sense for Texas A&M. Hopefully it's more than the temper tantrum over the Longhorn Network. I see the Longhorn Network as a really dumb move on ESPN's part. I have the Big Ten Network as part of my basic cable package. I like it because it runs Big Ten football and basketball games. The Longhorn Network doesn't seem to have the ability to televise Longhorn football. I question its ability to generate enough revenue to make people happy. Especially now that it won't televise high school games. If you're running a conference that wants to expand, expansion only makes sense if the new addition brings in an amount of money exceeding the average amount of each of your existing members. This will decrease the larger your conference becomes. Getting to 14 actually decreases your value in some of your existing regions because you no longer host certain rivals every year which may have a following elsewhere. That becomes more of a factor in the elite conferences. That said, I think Texas A&M is big enough to interest the SEC. But not by much, and at a cost of tradition. It also devalues a divisional championship. If you're at 16 schools, you're really talking about a full-on split into two conferences. It looks like the SEC is willing to try 14. I don't think the others will follow quickly. Two questions will need to be answered, assuming the SEC takes Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. 1. Assuming the ACC replaces the Hokies from the Big East (and why wouldn't they?), at what point does the Big East lose its footing in major college football? It's still a 'tweener conference between major and mid-major. It got a boost from BYU and Utah leaving the Mountain West, which is what eliminated the Mountain West campaign to join the BCS, and allowed the Big East to take TCU. With both the ACC and the SEC moving northward, more and more potential recruits will follow those conferences, and the quality of the Big East teams will decline. 2. It's still all about Texas. The next round starts if and when Texas wags the dog.