Quote:
Originally Posted by tarcone
A thread popped up over at Hawkeyenation about the B1G taking in 2 more teams.
Nothing was factual, just speculation. But here are the names being tossed around: Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgi Tech and, of course, Notre Dame.
By the way, Notre Dame hockey just joined the B1G.
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I don't see any way that domino falls on its own. The B1G won't expand to a 16-team group that excludes Notre Dame and Texas, and both those schools are extremely happy in their current situation. I think the ND fans would be in favor of B1G membership and more "traditional" opponents, but the administration uses the football team as a tool to increase their national appeal and broaden their applicant base. They think (correctly) that they're already known everywhere in the midwest and northeast, those are demographically static or shrinking, so they've been making a big push to be more known in the Southeast and Texas, where ND is less known and the population is growing faster. (I haven't seen the idea of broad long term regional growth trends play this big a role in where a team plays since FOF2 when you could go through a 100+ year career!) Playing basketball in the ACC and one football game a year in Texas let's them hit those areas. Texas is still raking in money hand over fist despite a terrible football team, will always have a PAC-12 offer if the conferences are going to 16, and kind of loves the power they wield in the Big 12. If other events force their hand, I could see any permutation happening, but I think all 3 entities are quite content where they are.
ND/Hockey East was just a terrible fit
from the start, possibly driven by another sport-specific national TV deal, and every fanbase except maybe BC's is ecstatic they're leaving. I don't follow quite as closely as I did when I was at UMass (and we weren't a joke - fingers crossed the new AD nails this hire), but it always was a regional league. Orono is a hike, but every school was in New England. (And the B1G cracked the door by changing their policy on associate {one sport} member when they admitted Johns Hopkins in lacrosse.)
Speaking of that, the Hockey East replacement talk has an interesting rumor. Quinnipiac is thought to be the obvious replacement (HE is better than the ECAC, QU has poured a ton of money for a university their size into hockey, is now a top 5 team), but the QU President allegedly values being in a league with the Ivy's more than the increase in revenue and publicity a move to HE would bring. Face value, that's dumb, but if he can use hockey to pull QU into the Patriot League?
PS - MBBF, I get that you hate Texas (and you're not entirely wrong about how they act), but I know you don't think that it makes more sense for the Big Ten to add a state with 3 million people and the #31 and #69 media market's over one with 30 million and the #5, #10, #37 and #41.