Quote:
Originally Posted by Logan
Even if Rutgers turned into a dynasty, NY/NJ will always be a pro sports town. You would need to overcome literal generations of people being interested, but not obsessed, with college football in order to become the big thing. That being said, the benefit of the area is that even having a portion of such a large area being fans results in being a pretty big fanbase compared to a lot of areas.
The B1G affiliation helps a lot there. If we didn't get in, stayed in the AAC and made some kind of ridiculous run as a G5 school to the playoff, I don't think that would go as far in sustaining and building a large fanbase. Every Rutgers fan in the NYC area knows plenty of Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin fans and playing these schools so often will help build up college football here. Again, please note I said "help"...I'm talking incremental in the grand scheme of things.
As for the timing, there's definitely a dedicated core group of fans who are dying for success going back to the 70s. If we popped now, it would be a pretty big thing. Just not "Giants Super Bowl run" like.
FWIW, I think Bishop meant more of a giant based on the fertile recruiting ground than a giant fanbase waiting to explode, akin to an SEC territory, but obviously that goes partially hand in hand.
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Mostly, but like you guys are saying, NYC will never be a B1G city like Chicago is but I'd still say the B1G holds the most sway there from a viewing percentage since BE basketball dissolved. There are Michigan bars, and Ohio State bars, and Minnesota bars, and there really aren't those in Boston (ok, Mich and PSU have some pull). There certainly aren't a large percentage of alumni from FSU or Clemson up here in Boston, and even in NYC only Duke really has a decent alumni base from the ACC schools. I also don't even think people from other parts of the country understand that Boston is not only a pro sports town, it's a very, very, fractured fanbase because there are so many private colleges. BU, Northeastern, Harvard, Tufts, etc students are never going to support BC in anything, unlike other parts of the country where the students at smaller schools will at least cheer for Big State in football/basketball. Even less academically rigorous schools like UMass-Lowell and Merrimack compete in Hockey East with BC, in what's the marquee sport for all 3 schools.
Rutgers alone probably wasn't enough to get the B1G on NY cable packages, but combined with those hardcore and vocal fanbases of the other big state schools it was the tipping point. Atlanta will clearly be SEC country, so unless you really want GT's academics, no reason to add them. I'm not sure how DC works, I always got the feeling too many people there looked down on sports. Maryland isn't sexy, but was a fairly obvious add though if things go to 16, and I think the B1G may have gotten a little skittish when Missouri/Colorado were taken off the table as potential options. ND and Texas are clearly their pipe dreams, but now they've always got UConn and maybe UMass* and a play for all of New England as a fallback (or just seeing what happens with the ACC/B12 since one of those conferences will be decimated if the move to 16 happens - UConn/Kansas or UConn/Cuse as a basketball play would make sense.)
* even I doubt it, and don't love the affiliation although an East split with UConn/PSU/Maryland/Rutgers would be the ideal scenario, but I have to assume we're in line ahead of the Dakota's or the SUNY's if every other B1G plan falls through and they NEED a 16th. I think our more likely dream scenario is some merge between the Big 12 & southern ACC schools (a.k.a. FSU/Clemson), where UMass and UConn could come into an ACC as a package deal if the ACC wanted to make an NYC play. For now though we'd just be ecstatic with an AAC invite!