8 replies to this topic

[Spencer]

What's everyone think of this?

[Tommy]

Weakens the football even further (if that were even possible at this point). I know it's all about the money, so programs without a big football program aren't asked to join the Big 10, but man, I sure would have loved to have seen Kansas and Missouri in Big 10 basketball. They wanted in, but weren't wanted.

Maryland will be fun to watch, but Rutgers? I don't know what Rutgers brings to the table for us, at all. I'm sure the Big 10 is looking at getting east coast fans, but I can't help but think we could have done better than this.

And Brett - before you say it, yes, Michigan has a good football team, and OSU is always tough, but really, compared to the SEC and Pac-10 from top to bottom, I think we're kind of a joke.

I'm an Illini fan, so take this post for what it's worth. Just my opinion!

[fromthemitten]

I never thought I'd be living in another big ten state so soon!

I understand it... like both Rutgers (NJ/NY) and Maryland (Baltimore/DC) bring in major media markets and there is a trend of people moving from the midwest to the east coast (like me) so I guess I'm glad that there will be more big ten games aired in my market. I guess the other positive that I can bring out of this is that it gives Michigan some more easy wins. Pitt would have made more sense but they're ACC bound.

[King Jeff]

I think it adds two pretty decent tv markets and recruiting areas to the B1G(I think that's what it's called?). I think Rutgers is the better addition, and they probably should have pushed for a school like South Florida instead of Maryland.

[Luke]

Maryland is going to be a nice basketball addition, though. I'm not sure how they'll fare in the Big 10, but they are usually a solid program.

I bet Maryland sells some more football tickets for a few seasons as nationally known teams like Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State, and Wisconsin come in. Not to mention the easy wins from Indiana and Northwestern and the notorious cheats from Ohio State.

[Spencer]

As King alluded to, it's all about tv markets and media rights in my mind. A lot of people are worried about conference names and all that crap, but that doesn't really bother me much. It does bother me that the conference is now so geographically spread out, but that was sort of a thing when PSU was added, too. I'm not familiar with how Maryland and Rutgers are in any of the Olympic sports, but I don't think they add a ton to football. I don't really buy the "it opens recruiting for different regions" argument, either. If coaches wanted kids from those regions, they'd recruit them anyway. The competition is going to be the same. As Tommy said, I think Delaney coulda done better.

[Luke]

I'd be tough to find two bigger media markets/media market money than NYC and Baltimore/D.C. I suppose they could have reached into the Dallas area?

[King Jeff]

As King alluded to, it's all about tv markets and media rights in my mind. A lot of people are worried about conference names and all that crap, but that doesn't really bother me much. It does bother me that the conference is now so geographically spread out, but that was sort of a thing when PSU was added, too. I'm not familiar with how Maryland and Rutgers are in any of the Olympic sports, but I don't think they add a ton to football. I don't really buy the "it opens recruiting for different regions" argument, either. If coaches wanted kids from those regions, they'd recruit them anyway. The competition is going to be the same. As Tommy said, I think Delaney coulda done better.

For the most part I agree, but they do get some recruits by having away games in that recruits backyard. It's why Notre Dame refuses to drop Stanford or USC from the schedule, they want to play in California at least once a year. I'm sure it only helps with a few recruits, but I can see how it would help some schools get their school some exposure by playing in the Baltimore and Jersey areas. I do agree that they could have done better, like I said earlier, expanding into Florida would have made more sense if that's why they expanded so much geographically this time.

[hansman1982]

Wait, so the Big Ten now has 14 teams? Well at least it will stop the tired Big Ten = 12 but Big 12 = 10 jokes.