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Big Ten ... UCLA and USC?

pete

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pete

pete

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James

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Yeah, for them it matters. For the below average fan? Who cares what league they’re in because it’s all meaningless and about money. They’ll be on tv somewhere.
Standby for jackass college students promoting themselves on tv to increase their image $.
 
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pete

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Yeah, for them it matters. For the below average fan? Who cares what league they’re in because it’s all meaningless and about money. They’ll be on tv somewhere.
Standby for jackass college students promoting themselves on tv to increase their image $.
yeah, sadly the Big Ten (and others) for non premium viewers limit access to TV. I love listening to my local radio folk but generically suffer from the income generating stream that limits viewing
 

Andy Mink

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So who will fill the slots? I've heard Boise State, UNR, UNLV, and a few others. That doesn't exactly say "powerhouse". After reading the above article and seeing phrases like "owned by", "$80 million annually", and "television deal", I am left to wonder what's more important to colleges and universities: education or athletics? As an alumni of UNR I get ticked off every football and basketball season with all the "oh, this is the year" BS. "Oh, look, we've got a game against Notre Dame this year!" Big deal. Too much emphasis on college sports.
 

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Lincoln Riley thought he was running away from the tougher conferences to play PAC Cakes.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Have fun with that LOL!
 

Shawn

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For the below average fan?
It would be pretty cool to play different teams. As a Penn State fan, I'm excited about a different whiteout opponent besides Ohio State and Michigan. Instead, we'll see USC and potentially Oregon, Washington, and Notre Dame under the lights soon enough.
 
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pete

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so true on the money. With gaining literally millions in revenue for what is today primarily a self funded group in the big name schools, and sometimes funding other sports, Football has been big business for years. They're just fine tuning and developing their cash streams.

I'm sure there's the thought of how to recruit the best players when players now can be paid for their likeness/image. If I'm a top athlete with a choice of insanely famous team or a lessor known team, choosing for the possible cash flow makes the choice easy.

Funny, My brother in law went to a founding member Big Ten ... but the U of Chicago withdrew as academics was a keen focus.

Not to say education is lacking, most these schools are bigger than many cities and with this a lot of different activities on top of education.
 

Jim Kenney

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My alma mater Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2014. It was all about the money. Maryland athletics had previously cut many non-revenue sports (including one I lettered in - Cross Country) and needed an infusion of cash to prevent further downgrades. Older alums like myself mostly hated leaving the traditions and rivals of the ACC. I also felt the strengths of our athletic program better fit the profile of the ACC schools. I still go to one home football game per season, mostly to socialize. It's fun to see some of the teams in our new conference, but if it's against one of the Big Ten powerhouses we get our butts kicked royally. I don't really pay much attention to big-time college sports, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
 
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pete

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My alma mater ...... I still go to one home football game per season, mostly to socialize. .....rain of salt.
yeah, one reason for following my alma mater is reliving the fun of college days.
 

Jwrags

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This will be the end of the “power 5”. It will now be the power 2 and the group of 8, at least for football. Oregon, Washington, and likely Stanford will be next to go while the SEC will likely collect Miami, Florida State and Clemson. The big question is will these two power conferences jettison the lesser schools who cannot and never will compete or be a big draw.
 

wallyk

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Correct spelling is B1G......Notre Dame, the ultimate college sports and academic prize for any conference, is still single and their contract with NBC expires soon.
 

Jwrags

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Correct spelling is B1G......Notre Dame, the ultimate college sports and academic prize for any conference, is still single and their contract with NBC expires soon.
Notre Dame is going to have to climb down off their perennially overrated high horse and join a conference if they want to continue to have any chance to compete for a national championship. The Big 10 is the best all around fit.
 

wallyk

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The addition of USC, less UCLA, plus the geographic proximity to the B1G schools makes the Big 10 a better suitor and more compelling than the SEC. Academically, ND in the Big 10 is a better fit than the SEC.

Maybe Stamford moves to the Big 10????
 

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ACC still has most of the basketball dynasties. Notre Dame plays ACC basketball and had a temporary deal with ACC for football during the pandemic. I like the idea of 2 or 4 power conferences to facilitate an 8 team football playoff. But, when basketball enters the equation it all falls apart at the 2 or even 3 conference level..
 

locknload

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Washington Husky Alumni here...with strong family connections to UCLA...longtime Pac 8/10/12 football fan. I'm sad but not surprised. CFB was ruined long ago and this is the final step. All the regional rivalries will go away and the schools like Washington State, Oregon State and others will lose a lot as this plays out. The money is the only driving factor now and schools are now making decisions solely based on their tv contract payout (supposedly non-profit educational institutions) regardless off what it does to their school and how it impacts it in other ways. Washington and Oregon have presented themself to the Big Lebowski (not sure what to call the Big Ten anymore) and there was mutual interest, BUT they want to see what Notre Dame does first. No surprise that ND controls a lot of how this plays out. My guess is that the Big XXXX takes ND (if they want to go) Wash, OR and Stanford who is a traditional rival of ND...however Stanford isn't all that committed to football despite their success under Harbaugh and Shaw. That would give the Big XXXX the Seattle market, the Nike national brand (OR) and the Bay Area.

When the dust settles there will be about 40 programs competing in these 2 mega, mini-NFL conferences and, of that group, only 5 to 10 will have a real chance of winning it each year. I've been to 3 Rose Bowls and they were some of the most fun sporting events I've ever been to because they were special and rare. The tv networks have won and CFB is now corporate seeking the maximize dollars and collecting the best "properties" which is what they now call universities. The traditions simply won't carry over anymore..not to mention how much the games now cost Attending a playoff game a few years ago cost me over $200 for pretty bad seats...that's going to keep going up. Last but not least, imagine the UCLA softball team or the USC soccer team playing a midweek game at Rutgers....this does not help the olympic sports and the other non-revenue producing sports like cross country, tennis, water polo, swimming track etc etc. Back in the day the first mission of a school was to provide a great education..somewhere that has gotten lost.
 
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pete

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Part of the drive for revenue is simply costs. Covid hit all school athletics pretty hard as most today have to be self sustaining. Often, it's the football and basketball revenues that fund a lot of the athletics these days.

Seems to be a self feeding monster but .. for Covid, the Big Ten noted (theathletic.com) in 20/21:

Illinois reported only a $3.2 million loss to the NCAA, while Purdue’s deficit was slight at $8.1 million. Nebraska, which currently has no debt, showed just a $12 million shortfall. Other Big Ten documents received by The Athletic show varying losses at Michigan State ($15.4 million), Minnesota ($18.3 million), Maryland ($20.9 million) and Rutgers ($31.4)
 

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