Question by Daniel John: Would Boise State or TCU make a good Big 10 team, as the Big 10 looks to expand next year?
I know it probably won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see one of those teams, or Utah, able to compete in a real conference?
Best answer:
Answer by SCOTT
It would be good for them to join a real conference and see how it goes. I think they would rather stay as the big boys in the little conferences, though.
If they add two teams to the Big Ten, what will they call it? The Big 12 is already taken.
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The Big 10 already has 11 teams they would likely only need to add one team. I think Boise would be great, but I don’t see it happening. The way they have been playing they’re already amongst the upper tier of the Big 10 just behind The OSU and Penn State.
I thought about the distance issue, but Boise and every other WAC school already have to travel to Hawaii. The Pac-10 commisioner already implied that Boise may not qualify academically so that is obviously an issue.
Ultimately, that would be too far to travel for a conference game, and neither of those schools meet the academic standards of the Big 10. But if you have a problem with their conferences, do you also have a problem when a top school doesn’t play anyone out of conference?
Yeah. They are also looking at Missouri as well, and the Tigers will most likely make the switch if offered.
First, the concept of a “good Big 10 team” is unproven and most likely no such thing exists. I certainly haven’t seen one in the last several years. Second, in order of the Big 10 to expand the team they add needs to be able to bring something like $ 10M in revenue to the table to offset money lost by current conference members having to split the existing pie 12 ways instead of 11. I seriously doubt that either school you are suggesting can do that.
They need to add a team like ND (not likely any time soon), Rutgers (to get access to the NY market), or maybe Louisville or Cincy (because at least these schools have a decent chance of going deep into the basketball tourneys and generating money that way).
All Big Ten teams must be located in states contiguous with states that already have a Big Ten team. This rule is to keep travel costs down. I don’t remember which one, but at least one other conference has the same rule for the same reason.
Way Smarter Than You -
“… the concept of a “good Big 10 team” is unproven and most likely no such thing exists.” Where is your proof for that statement? How do you prove something uproven? The New York market has little importance There’s very little there.
They would call it the Big Ten and Friends (since Big 12 is taken) and neither BSU or TCU is a good fit because of geography, Notre Dame would make the most sense, but Cincinati might be the one that winds up going.
BSU would fit better in an expanded Pac-10 with Utah going too for the Pac-12.
I actually got the thought that Boise State, TCU, Utah, BYU, Fresno State and some other teams need to get together and start their own conference. They could at least start off with 8 teams like the Big East has. I think adding the service academics that are in the FBS could work, just the problem of some are not located out West. But Navy is a strong team, Army looks like they might be improving and Air Force is okay. If any of the western teams join a conference, though, I think they should look at the Big 12 and Pac-10. Pac-10 makes the most sense.
Big Ten…either needs to get Notre Dame, ditch a team or leave the whole thing alone. I think they are going to have a hard time getting any team that matches what they want and is worth the trouble. Most teams will not be interested; many are not geographically and/or academically a match; others do little more than make it so that we can have 12 teams and a championship game, i.e. Rutgers and Syracuse add no real value that I can see as far as football quality/interest go.