Soxbadger

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 05:16 PM) As of next year Michigan and OSU will be in the same division, I just wonder about the other one. Yeah 1 division will always be considered stronger and its whatever division OSU is in. Wisconsin basically picked the perfect time to go to 3 Rose Bowls, because they get to move to the perceived weaker division. QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 05:19 PM) I wouldn't mind seeing four divisions of 4. Something like: 1- Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois 2- Wisconsin, NU, Purdue, MSU 3- Michigan, OSU, Indiana, Uva 4- PSU, Rutgers, Maryland, UNC Not sure how the scheduling would work. Maybe 8 games, play everyone in your division once, and then play another division, rotated by year (ie a plays b year one, a plays c year 3). Have game 8 scheduled home games for two divisions each year, and they match up against another opponent with a road game. Division winners could play each other, acting as a conference semi of sorts. I really dont like the pod system. And if there was going to be a pod system, I would expect that Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska would be in the same pod. It wouldnt make much sense to move Illinois to that group. But I really dislike pod system, I just want 2 divisions.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 04:56 PM) Gotta wonder where the B1G ultimately stops. At a certain amount of teams or where the money doesn't keep growing. There are 4 potential stops. 14, 16, 18 and 20. 20 is an interesting number for the Big 10. You then have 2 10 team divisions. This could create an "Old 10" division and a "New 10" division. There would be some balance because youd have Nebraska/PSU + new friends to counterbalance Michigan/OSU + old friends. The other bonus of this is that the "old 10" play every year all the time. They then get 1 fun game against a "new 10" so their fans wont be b****ing about never playing their old rivals. The new guys will get a chance to create new rivals. The obvious problem is Nebraska is on the wrong side of the country, but oh well its 1 outlier. I personally believe that the number is going to be 16, unless they can get 2 other schools they really want. After that it gets too big, and unless you go to 20, you are going to end up with some really unhappy fanbases.

3 invites makes sense too, it leaves 1 invite for schools named Duke, ND or other to take 18. If the Big10 goes to 10 game IC, with 9 team divisions. Youd have 8 games in division and 2 games against other division. That would ensure that everyone plays at least 1 time every 5 years.

Rock, That Ermann guy was involved in the MD story break, so at least he has some track record.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 04:19 PM) "East" & "West" is better than "SEC" & "everyone else" I assume eventually the Big10 will get the leverage to outlaw over-signing and then there wont be much difference between the SEC and everyone else. Its just much easier when you get to sign more recruits than other leagues.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 04:13 PM) So basically college athletics is going to be two conferences - "East" and "West" So lame. Not all of college athletics. Its going to be basically like when Illinois or another state adds a new division (I think it was 6a) for the really big schools. Youll just have more divisions.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:39 PM) I found your real twitter handle. It wasnt hard @iamanawesomelawyerandyouknowit I'm surprised they allowed so many characters I wrote them a mean letter.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:55 PM) Big 10 is going to lose some of their games as a result of the deal, so it's really a +3-4 games for the ACC and not just +2. Also, the bowl bid is a bit less important now that there is a playoff. The bowl bids are worth like $10-20mil, so Im pretty sure that is important.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:50 PM) ND has given the ACC five guaranteed games a year, which is something very tangible to the ACC schools. That means they get a guaranteed home-and-home series with ND a minimum of two out of every ten years, and the bigger names (FSU, Clem, GT, UNC) probably get them more often than that. Not doubting how big Texas is, but while Oklahoma is very good in football, they are not a ratings draw. Notre Dame has averaged playing roughly 3 big 10 schools a year. So the ACC gets 2 more games, and had to give ND a shot at the ACC bowl bid. That is called trade rape.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:44 PM) So outside of all the crap above. The Big Ten invited UNC, UVA and GT. Not bad at all academically or athletically. Have you seen this confirmed anywhere? its hard to tell if its a rumor or true. The guy from 24/7 Maryland has been legit before, but some of the fake guys are running this too so hard to tell.

You keep saying ND is in the ACC, but ND is not. If ND joins the ACC then we would be having a completely different discussion. But the fact that ND is not fully in, should be proof of how weak the conference is. You can say the Big 12 is nothing, but currently the Big 12 has Oklahoma and Texas, which are 2 pretty powerful football schools. Not to mention that Texas has a population that is larger than many states.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:27 PM) I don't think the number of teams in the playoff is going to have an effect on the number of conferences. If you use 2012 as an example, there would have only been 2 conferences represented in the 4 team playoff. The SEC is going to get 2 teams in the playoff more years than not, so even if you condense down to four conferences there is still at least one left out. Even if this is the case, the SEC and the Big10 dont want to split money 5 ways when they can split it 4 ways. The way the current playoff works the Big10 will get the same amount of playoff money whether they send 2 teams or 0 teams. There just is no reason to have a 5th and unnecessary conference. Even the SEC websites (Mr SEC) are concluding that the Big10 has the best leverage to drive the ship. http://www.mrsec.com/2013/02/which-confere...inition-of-win/ If that comment is true, its just a countdown until the ACC falls.

Hickory, The problem is 5 is to many, 4 is just right. You have 5 conferences, SEC, Big12, ACC, Pac and Big. If you have a 4 team playoff, 1 of them is left out. Thus you have to kill 1. I just cant see all 5 conferences lasting the next 10 years, it just doesnt make much sense.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) I don't see your picture there. That doesn't look very lawyer-y I use a pen name online. Cant have people looking me up on the interwebs.

@Theflapship

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 02:47 PM) U of L has a small stadium. 50k per game represents 91% capacity. Also, ticket sales are a pretty small chunk of football revenue. In any case, all three schools will probably see an increase in attendance now that they are replacing South Florida, Rutgers, and Cincinnati with FSU, Clemson, and BC on their schedules. Ticket sales are an indication of the strength of the program, which is an indirect indication of the value of the team. Its not coincidence that the 2 most profitable conferences are the 2 conferences with the highest attendance. The Big10 averages 20k more per game than the ACC. Lets say each team has 6 home games, total 72 home games for Big10 teams. 72x 20,000 = 1,440,400 Now even if tickets are only $20 per person, thats $28.8 mil more in attendance revenue. That is not counting things like personal seat fees, donor fees, parking fees, concessions etc. The ACC is going to keep struggling to keep up with the Big10 and SEC. There just is no way around it. Not even ND as a full member would change that.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/...rences-and-scho The SEC averaged 75,538 per game to lead all conferences. The Big Ten (70,040), Big 12 (59,004), Pac-12 (53,679) and Atlantic Coast (49,910) rounded out the top five in conference attendance. http://www.datafy.me/analysis/college-football-attendance/ Sadly, only U of L averaged 50k. That means the 3 schools chosen by the ACC will arguably have a net decrease on average attendance. Youll also notice that Cuse and Pitt have been trending down. And if Pitt is just as good as anyone in the ACC, the ACC is in real trouble as Pitt shoudlnt be in the top half of any reasonable conference.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 01:41 PM) If the Big10 wanted UNC, they should have gone after them a couple years ago, before the ACC landed Pitt, Syracuse, and ND and made the ACC a more attractive place to stay. Well Im pretty sure that the reason the Big10 thinks they can go after UNC is because the ACC is being watered down by teams like Pitt/Syracuse/Louisville and its unlikely that the ACC can ever catch the Big10 in revenue. The ACC is currently behind the Big10, and the Big10 tier 1 is about to expire. Many people believe the Big10 will get a tier 1 deal that is larger than their current, which will increase their revenue further. Its also interesting that you mentioned ND, which is part of the reason for the ACC destabilization. Much like the Big East, the ACC is going to find that having a "partial" member costs more than its worth. If ND was to join the ACC as a full member, than it would likely stabilize the ACC for the near future. But Ive seen no indication that ND Football wants to join the ACC as a permanent member.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 01:04 PM) What new rumors? Just your run of the mill, Big10 had a secret meeting where they invited UNC. Rumors about April announcements. No real information, probably just timed with the NC ruling on the ACC lawsuit. The fun part will be discovery. If Im Maryland I want to depose everyone and ask them if they have contacted other conferences, etc. Im sure everyone will love the deposition transcripts.

Lets derail this really quick. A lot of expansion rumors today

I generally buy from Best Buy or other brick and mortar stores. I like to know that there is someone who is going to have to deal with me if my product doesnt work right.

For boozer and hamilton (or whatever salary match) id take Smith. For anyone useful on the Bulls, no thanks.

He needs a fall guy. Im sure you can find someone for a $1mil to claim he put the gun in the bag and Bowers had no idea

Is that why they switched ends during the middle of the 3rd? 2 games on 1 day is probably pushing it.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Feb 16, 2013 -> 11:51 PM) Going to the Hockey City Classic tomorrow at Soldier Field. Should be solid. Did you go to both games? I only went to the Wisconsin- Minnesota game. As you said the attendance was 50k+ which is huge for college hockey. Part of the reason it looked empty was that I do not believe a lot of people went to both games. When we were arriving Miami-ND fans were all leaving. The result was obviously odd, Minnesota is considerably better than Wisconsin this year, but Ill take the win.