Comments on: Big 12 expansion http://blog.ecorrado.us/2009/12/22/big-12-expansion/ Ramblings about library technology, open source software, and other adventures! Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:59:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Vincent http://blog.ecorrado.us/2009/12/22/big-12-expansion/comment-page-1/#comment-41073 Vincent Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:33:53 +0000 http://blog.ecorrado.us/?p=788#comment-41073 I see the Big Ten expanding by three to 14 members, adding Rutgers, Syracuse and Maryland. The first two give the Big Ten and its cable network the NY metro market -- something neither can do by itself -- while Maryland delivers Washington and Baltimore to the conference. With those three, plus Penn State, the Big Ten has the four top BCS programs (all of them Tier I academic institutions) in the New York-to-Washington corridor, establishing dominance along the eastern seaboard. Would Maryland leave the ACC? It might waffle were it the only school invited, but with Syracuse and Rutgers also in the mix, it would be less geographically isolated. Moreover, the benefits it would give College Park -- athletic revenue at least twice what it currently gets from the ACC, the allure of Big Ten football (enabling expansion of Byrd Stadium, more of a sure thing than the largely disappointing post-expansion ACC), the Big Ten academic consortium -- would more than offset losing basketball games with North Carolina and Duke. The Big Ten would be the only conference Maryland would leave the ACC for. I see the Big Ten expanding by three to 14 members, adding Rutgers, Syracuse and Maryland. The first two give the Big Ten and its cable network the NY metro market — something neither can do by itself — while Maryland delivers Washington and Baltimore to the conference. With those three, plus Penn State, the Big Ten has the four top BCS programs (all of them Tier I academic institutions) in the New York-to-Washington corridor, establishing dominance along the eastern seaboard.

Would Maryland leave the ACC? It might waffle were it the only school invited, but with Syracuse and Rutgers also in the mix, it would be less geographically isolated. Moreover, the benefits it would give College Park — athletic revenue at least twice what it currently gets from the ACC, the allure of Big Ten football (enabling expansion of Byrd Stadium, more of a sure thing than the largely disappointing post-expansion ACC), the Big Ten academic consortium — would more than offset losing basketball games with North Carolina and Duke. The Big Ten would be the only conference Maryland would leave the ACC for.

]]>