hawkfan

Then just kick out Rutgers and swap them with Miami and it works out pretty well, lol.

This makes sense, ND isn't going to join until the financial gap is massive and they have no incentive to announce it now....Unless the ACC falls apart, that's the thing that could expedite ND's inclusion in a conference. This article just posted this morning: https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/2022/07/06/game-changer-ucla-insider-says-acc-grant-of-rights-is-malleable/ If the B1G wants ND to commit, perhaps they don't add any other schools on the West Coast, then focus on the ACC for the last few spots. Something like ND/UVA/UNC/GT would work and would then free up Clemson/FSU/Va Tech/Duke for the SEC to get to 20.

Just staying travel would blow, though you'd be getting paid enough where that wouldn't matter from a revenue standpoint - I think adding a couple more West Coast schools would considerably improve the travel situation during football and basketball.

Yep, if ND stays independent, I could see the B1G just taking a break until the ACC GOR gets closer to expiring and waiting to see how that shakes out. Would suck for USC/UCLA, but also, there are rumblings they're trying to block Oregon anyway, so maybe they wanted to be on an island out there.

I would interpret that to mean he's trying to pull levers to get Oregon/Stanford into the B1G, as we've had no indication that Stanford has any other home at this point (i.e. not included in any of the PAC to B12 discussions). I think that's all going to depend on Notre Dame though - it's possible that they just add USC/UCLA to the B1G West and push Purdue to the East if Notre Dame doesn't join.

Best guess would be that Stanford might be the one out of that group who actually has a shot at getting in the B1G? Maybe the B1G is going to pass on Oregon/Washington. Many reports surfacing that the LA schools are butthurt that Oregon recruits so well in LA, so perhaps they are just saying they'd rather not allow them in.

The brass at ESPN do not want Notre Dame in the B1G - pretty clear from that article they know that swings a lot of the CFB power balance towards Fox. For that reason alone, I'd think Notre Dame would want to join the B1G. Unless they want to inevitably end up in the SEC under ESPN's control.

If you could kick out Rutgers and add Miami, that setup above is about perfect, Miami isn't really an academic fit though, Rutgers definitely is.

So lets assume that Pate tweet is correct and we just get to the final end game here. Say the B1G is willing to go to 24 and play 11 conference games - kill off all the warm ups in September against the FCS/MAC/Etc, which is what the Networks probably want. A 24 school B1G setup that could work out pretty well would look something like this: Pacific USC Notre Dame UCLA Stanford Washington Oregon Great Plains Wisconsin Iowa Nebraska Minnesota Colorado Northwestern Great Lakes Ohio State Michigan Michigan State Purdue Indiana Illinois Atlantic Penn State Rutgers Maryland North Carolina Virginia Georgia Tech That setup preserves geographic continuity pretty well, it's a total national conference, and we've been hearing rumors of Georgia Tech/Miami having B1G interest. Only current annual rivalry you lose there is Illinois/Northwestern - everything else fits pretty well and I could see ND being fine being in the Pacific Division to protect the games against USC/Stanford. Edit: I forgot about Rutgers, lol. I know the B1G has to be regretting that addition right now.

But the thing is, they won't be putting Penn State/USC or Penn State/UCLA on at 9PM Eastern - that was a necessity for the PAC because they had too much West Coast Inventory - when you only have 5ish West Coast schools, it becomes pretty easy to put those desirable games on at 3PM Eastern/Noon PST and the entire country gets to watch it. The 9PM start times were the product of having too much undesirable inventory (USC vs. CAL/Oregon State/Washington State/Arizona/Colorado/Etc.) Will USC/Indiana be on at 9PM EST? Yeah, probably. Most of the B1G won't get that time slot.

Yeah, pretty clear to me that if the B1G did expand east, their first two targets would be UNC/UVA, SEC would probably just pass on North Carolina if they didn't get UNC, but I could still see them taking Va Tech to get into Virginia. I don't think the SEC would want either NC State or Duke without UNC. After UNC/UVA, I could see the B1G grabbing GT, again, assuming they had to go East. Miami is the one that is most interesting to me - not really an academic fit and can't fill their stadium, but a big brand in a huge recruiting hotbed. I think for long term continuity, the B1G needs to give USC/UCLA travel partners first, but if UVA/UNC had interest, it would be difficult for the B1G to say no.

UNC/UVA will almost have to go to the SEC, unless the B1G is willing to go beyond 20. They're interesting because they're a better academic fit in the B1G, but a better cultural fit in the SEC. Could be two where the Board of Regents/Academic side push for B1G, but athletic department and boosters all want SEC.

He's got a whole new tweet storm, might be full of shit, but he's been beating the USC to B1G from for awhile, so even if he's full of shit, the realignment fiction porn is still entertaining. This one tweet caught my attention though: One thing that Utah/ASU/CU would have going for them is they Mountain time zone if you're trying to build out the broadest set of options you can from a TV schedule standpoint. I would think Utah would be greatly preferred by the B1G presidents to ASU for academic reasons (or CU). Thought the lack of Stanford being mentioned there was interesting.

"Mostly Positive" telling the ACC ADs that they were locked in to being paid $40M-$60M less per year than every school in the SEC or B1G.

This is what should happen, then expand the playoff to 12 teams and conference parity doesn't really matter that much either. I'm not sure how you make that happen though without getting ESPN/Fox on board and making all 64 schools happy with the terms.

Why would you add Oregon & Washington when you get better ratings with Clemson/Florida State sitting right in your back yard? It isn't about new markets anymore, it's about TV Ratings and what fan bases watch.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/01/stock-report-pac-12-survival-options-for-oregon-and-uw-the-big-12-as-hunter-scotts-legacy-and-more/ From the article: From here, it’s clear the Big Ten’s next move is to grab Notre Dame. If the Irish are willing to end their existence as an Independent, they would need either one or three partners to accompany them into the Big Ten (for even numbers). The Huskies and Ducks might become candidates at that point, along with North Carolina. But we don’t envision a near-term scenario in which either Northwest school is offered admission to the Big Ten without Notre Dame involved. And that could take time, perhaps years.

Had not considered Stanford going Ivy League, but that kind of makes sense and wouldn't shock me. Same with Cal. I imagine they'd both go that route before playing in some B12 conglomerate with TCU/BYU/Baylor.

To this point, you would think adding Stanford would be a wet dream for the B1G presidents. CAL as well, but I think that's probably overkill in California. Oregon/Washington are both AAU and deliver new markets.

Missed this earlier today, these guys analyze media deals, don't think the ACC schools can be stopped by the GOR, which would mean we could arrive at the end game by 2024-2025 maybe.