And the First Shoe Drops...

[realmofotalk]

Sure, A&M would stand out as the Texas' only SEC school, but you don't know if Texas recruits would still rather go to UT or OU in the Pac-16. If Kansas isn't invited to the Pac-16, their best hope at avoiding relegation to the Mountain West is to pursue a spot in the Big East.

[redsfan28]

Now apparently they are going to try and save the Big 12. Apparently Texas is waffling

[realmofotalk]

Texas is staying.
Texas turns down invitation to join the Pac-10 | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

[redsfan28]

Shocking!!! That means the rest of them will stay. Now, will the Big 12 try to expand, taking some of the "mid-major" teams like Memphis, etc?

[Slyder]

Texas is staying.
Texas turns down invitation to join the Pac-10 | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

Which means the 9 other teams are taking this in the rump. I would still use Texas' actions to try and convince Kansas, KSt, Mizzou to come to a 14 team big east (or insert name here) divorce the basketball schools if needed. There is cracks there now is the time to take some dynamite to it and blow it to the heavens.

I dont have the numbers but a BE network with support from the NFL Network in the NE has to be able to at worse match a Texas Sports Network.

[realmofotalk]

Which means the 9 other teams are taking this in the rump.

Yup, as a result of lopsided revenue sharing.

I would still use Texas' actions to try and convince Kansas, KSt, Mizzou to come to a 14 team big east (or insert name here) divorce the basketball schools if needed. There is cracks there now is the time to take some dynamite to it and blow it to the heavens.

I highly doubt the Big East will reinvent themselves as a football conference. The BE would be happy if none of their remaining football schools end up being poached by the ACC or Big Ten.

[Slyder]

I highly doubt the Big East will reinvent themselves as a football conference. The BE would be happy if none of their remaining football schools end up being poached by the ACC or Big Ten.

It wouldnt be reinventing the wheel they just take what they already have and just tweak it. If a full divorce from the bball schools is needed fine, if there is someway to have a "loose association" (Big East vs football challenge for TV) thats fine too. By leaving also may force a redo of the tv contract in a time where the networks are seriously overpaying for that air time.

I think its a given that the Big 10 will take Rutgers or Syracuse, not both, to try and force ND's hand, by rocking the Big East boat. None of the other Big East schools are on their radar. Pitt adds nothing if the goal is truely # of TV sets (already covered by Penn St). If they want to maximize their tvs they need to head south not north. The ACC has some underlieing cracks just under the surface (yes they just got a redone deal but there are schools who are not happy). The schools I would specifically target would be Maryland and Virginia solid programs with good/great academic reputations. Opening up Tidewater to recruiting, DC tvs, B-More and keeping with "tradition of academic excellence".

Now Virginia has a "Tech problem". If the Big East is proactive and able to get some hard numbers in front of them the Big East could solidify itself as the main Northeastern football conference. By working in combination with the Big 10, the Big East could really isolate the ACC to being the Carolina's and Florida's B squads. BC is already looked upon as the red-headed stepchild and Va Tech only pushed to join when there was doubts that the Big East would retain its seat at the table. This would open up Virginia to listen as they wouldnt have to worry about little brother and present all 4 schools with an ability to be in a more stable conference and keep Virginia's two schools at the table and resume playing as OOC teams.

I would NOT stop there. The Big 12 is still at a point of upheaval. Its Texas, Oklahoma, and the 8 little dwarfs. Uneven air time, uneven influence, uneven everything tilted to stroke Texas' ego. Mizzou has already flirted once with leaving and Texas seemingly had no problems with leaving Kansas, KSU, and Iowa St for the wolves. All 3 of those schools make a lot of money, they dont really have TV # but they generate revenue. I would send out the numbers to them and make some concessions. Like opening up a "western office" somewhere like St. Louis, Cincinnati, somewhere in KY, Memphis, etc.

East:
BC
UConn
WVU
Pitt
Syracuse/Rutgers
Va Tech
USF

West:
Cincinnati
Louisville
Missouri
TAMU (I know I know never happen still would invite privately)/Iowa State/Memphis
Kansas
Kansas St.
(Insert ISU/Memphis/other non bcs school here maybe TCU?)

Football Schedule: 8 games
6 vs the division (3 home, 3 away)
2 vs other division. "Even cost" by setting up some formula for travel costs and rotate.
Championship game rotate between NY, Paul Brown Stadium (if you can cut the deal with the Bengals), St. Louis, Orlando depending on possible deals.

Basketball:
12 games: H/H vs each of the other teams in the division
7 games: 1 vs each of the other divisions.
Talk to MSG and ESPN about having that week before the old Big East Tourney for this one if the two "seperate".

Still that would be a formidable basketball conference first and foremost but at the very least be stable for football with room to grow. Would need some good fortune with the Championship game and sponsers to help pack the place at first.

[redsfan28]

I wonder what Texas would say to joining the SEC...

[Slyder]

I wonder what Texas would say to joining the SEC...

They dont want a challenge they want to steam roll everyone and be given everything. Heaven forbid they actually have to EARN something they get.

[Slyder]

Just when you think its safe to cruise college football again here comes the latest rumor....

TCU TO THE BIG EAST!

I gotta say that would at least put a name most everyone has heard of before in the conference. I would feel sorry for TCU if they were the only addition. If its the first of many it makes more possible sense.

[redsfan28]

How in the world does that make sense logistically? I don't even understand why South Florida is in the Big East, much less TCU. TCU would have made sense in the Big 12, just like Boise State would make sense in the Pac-10

[Slyder]

Big East currently has 8 football members as everyone knows. To gain some stability they need to grow their market base and try to build upon this with as many mid to upper mid type programs they can find and pray one or more of them goes all Virginia Tech/Miami for the conference giving them the "flagship" to build a BcS case around. I actually like the idea of TCU if its one of a number of moves, not just the main one.

I would try and take advantage of the precived/real cracks in the Big 12 armor. No way that you could get Texas or Oklahoma but I still believe that Kansas, Kansas St., Missouri would all be willing partners for similar money. I would also include TAMU in talks, they showed they were willing to listen to other conference (granted that dont mean squat about them listening to the Big East). This puts you at 12, I would not stop there because as stated above my goal is add as many quality programs as possible that could add to revenues. The last 2 spots I would go for would go out to Memphis as a kickback to Louisville and Cincinnati for another rival (more to why later) and my own personal opinion would be ECU, but many people would state a case for UCF.

Bowls: One of the MAJOR problems with the conference right now is the absolute craptastic bowl lineup we have. Bringing in Memphis and ECU might help in the short term with this problem as it would likely bring the Liberty Bowl and add another school with a good regional fan following (ECU), so that WVU doesnt have to carry the mantle by itself of making bowls money. Even if the Liberty Bowl is the only bowl added it at least adds a more tradition laden bowl to the conference to build on. It may even help add to the potential of getting a Texas bowl or two with all the midwestern additions (Sun Bowl?).

The reason for going to 14 is 12 is still on the edge too much for me to stay there. If we went to 12 and the Big 10 takes a couple teams were right back where we started. Theres a geographic balance and I dont believe it would be too insane for non $$$ sports for travel. I do not for a second believe that the ACC, a conference that hasnt been able to live up to the last round of guarentees, is in any position to expand.

East:
UConn
ECU
Pitt
Rutgers
So Florida
Syracuse
WVU

West:
Cincinnati
Kansas
Kansas St.
Louisville
Missouri
Memphis
TCU

Football: You get 8 conference games with 6 being vs the division (also why I went to 14 to limit cost) and 2 (1 home, 1 away) vs the other division with teams linked by distance to spread travel around.

Possible Sites for Championship Game:
With 14 also gives you the opportunity for a Title Game. Some o fthe locations the "new Big East" could consider include:

* St. Louis
* Cowboys Stadium
* Paul Brown Stadium
* Ketchup Field
* New Giants Stadium
* Liberty Bowl

all would be HUGE recruiting booms for the conference as you could tell recruits that your title game is in an NFL stadium in front of sellout 80k+ fans on National TV. The football side would still have to live off of the basketball side for a few season but I believe by adding so many marketable programs with national id (Kansas) even if it is the basketball side gives legitimate potential for at least one of the programs to rise up to become what this conference needs. A premier flagship.

Basketball: 14 teams would let Notre Dame do as they felt best. A minor seperation with contracts in place for bball vs fball Big east Challenge could bring both conferences major tv time and major $$$. The basketball schools could then add from the likes of Dayton, Xavier, Butler to get a conference to where they were comfortable with the size and still be among the top 5 basketball conferences in NCAA.

Tournament time I would see about the weekend before at MSG and thus keeping that recruiting advantage. 20 games in total (home and home in division and split 4/3 vs the other), 20th game decided by tv for matchups like UConn/Kansas, WVU/K State, etc or decided by previous year standings also to keep balance of home/road games.

This schedule is similar to what I would propose for sports like soccer, baseball, etc in order to try and keep things comfortable for all sports. If needed reduce the out of division games by half and play a 16 game schedule.

[Foster]

Will there ever come a day when "regional" conferences are formed. Devoid of money hungry AD's, TV execs and all that other junk that ruins a pure sport like College Football and Basketball. It's awesome to see NCAA hockey be a beacon of hope.

[Slyder]

Will there ever come a day when "regional" conferences are formed. Devoid of money hungry AD's, TV execs and all that other junk that ruins a pure sport like College Football and Basketball. It's awesome to see NCAA hockey be a beacon of hope.

When Congress gets involved and taxes the ever living heck out of the TV money. And it possibly affects the university's non profit status. We might return to days of geographic conferences.

[Slyder]

How in the world does that make sense logistically? I don't even understand why South Florida is in the Big East, much less TCU. TCU would have made sense in the Big 12, just like Boise State would make sense in the Pac-10

Think my idea above at least tries to make sense of it all?