BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

I agree. I'm not sure where the SEC goes next ... Louisville, West Virginia, Missouri and TCU all are OK, but none of them are home-run selections. I think the SEC should go with TCU in addition to A&M and really try to put a major imprint in Texas.

 

They'd get more of the Texas market by inviting Oklahoma than they would TCU. Missouri is really their only home run of the reasonable possibilities. West Virginia would certainly be respectable on the field/court/diamond, but other than its own state, a bit of the Pittsburgh market and a teeny tiny bit of D.C., that's all the following they bring. Louisville adds nothing and Kentucky would raise holy hell.

 

... and they're still pissed off that the ACC hasn't come knocking. You'll be waiting a while longer, ECU. Even John Swofford isn't that stupid.

ECU could help the Big East in football and baseball. But that will barely begin to help compensate for how badly they'll get beaten in men's and women's basketball. And if the Big East thinks it will get anything more than fringe play in North Carolina, it's kidding itself.

 

Did anybody post this yet? ESPN getting ants in its pants about everyone blaming it for Longhorn Network and getting its hands dirty in this realignment business, so it releases a statement. ESPN reports that ESPN is in the clear.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/09/espn-dont-blame-us-for-sweeping-college-football-realignment/1

The driving force on realignment lies with the conferences and universities. The Big 12 determined in 2010 to grant each of its schools the ability to create their own networks. As a result, the Big 12 stayed together and the University of Texas made the decision to launch its network. ESPN subsequently won a competitive bid to become its media partner. We have since seen Kansas State and Missouri create opportunities while Oklahoma is exploring its media options. The concept of LHN remains the same as it was 15 months ago.‬

Yep, totally innocent bystanders.

 

Yep ... that's about as full of it as Bevo is.

 

"The Big 12 gave us an opening to make more money and we took it. How is that our fault?"

 

Heck, Chuck Neinas was Big Eight commish when I was a kid. Shocked he's still alive

 

It's interesting. I agree with you that East Carolina won't deliver a market to the Big East, both from the standpoint of Greenville not being much of a market and from the standpoint that ECU is not UNC or Duke and doesn't register in the state's bigger markets.

But it's also two ways. The Big East doesn't bring much to North Carolina to tap into a market. It's sort of the old Conference USA thing. They used to add major metro markets trying to tap into those cities. But folks in New Orleans and Houston, etc. never would really catch on not because there isn't a potential market for UH in Houston or Tulane in New Orleans, but because New Orleanians aren't compelled by UH coming to town and Houstonians aren't compelled by Tulane coming to town.

I do think that major conferences that come with a draw can increase their presence in metro markets by adding schools in those major metros. In other words, the Big 12 or the SEC would get more of an impact in the DFW area from having TCU in their league than what the Mountain West gets and what the Big East will get, if that makes sense.

Now, this does have its limits. I wouldn't advocate the Big 12 adding Texas-San Antonio, for example, or the SEC adding Tulane which currently has next to no support even in New Orleans. But TCU has seen increased support as it has become a big winner and could probably draw like a second-level BCS team -- thinking Ole Miss and State, Baylor or Maryland, Syracuse, etc. -- if it was in a BCS league. And, of course, it would allow a BCS league to bring its signature teams -- Texas and OU in the Big 12, LSU, Alabama and (significant for its history in Texas) Arkansas in the SEC -- into said major metro several times over.

 

When does Charlotte start football? Maybe the Big East could add them for all sports other than football and then add football when its ready? Kind of the South Florida blueprint.

 

This is why Miami along with Va Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Ga Tech will remain in the ACC. The path to the BCS playoffs is easier then going to the SEC.

Football Playoffs.
Quarter Finals (Thanksgiving Friday/Saturday): Conference Championship game. Give them Bowl Names (Sun, Cotton, Gator, Citrus)
Semi-Finals: Big 10X v PAC1X (New Years Day)(The Rose Bowl is back, Baby) & SEC v ACC (Orange Bowl)
Finals: Fiesta or Sugar (Second Monday in January)

A BIG ESPN F*CK YOU to NBC and Notre Dame

 

Charlotte starts in 2013 as a FCS program. The goal is to move up to FBS at some point, but there's no timetable. Georgia State does not have a timeline for upgrading either, but it's assumed they have pretty strong ambitions.

East Carolina is not a metro on its own, but it does at least give you some of the Raleigh and Hampton Roads market. And I think the overwhelming majority of ECU grads either end up somewhere in North Carolina or Hampton Roads, so it's not like having people in Beaumont care about UTEP. It's not ideal by any stretch, but you could certainly do a lot worse than ECU if you're trying to save a Big East that lost two to five of its schools.

TCU played nationally-ranked Oregon State at Cowboys Stadium last year and got a crowd of 46,138. They drew in the 40,000 or less area in three home games -- despite being a national title contender from week 1. Sure, they can get better crowds with better competition, but so can SMU, Rice, Houston, UTEP, UT-San Antonio, North Texas and a bunch of schools.

The SEC doesn't need TCU because they're already in Texas with A&M. The Big 12 has, for the time being, Texas and Texas Tech and Baylor. The only thing you get adding TCU is those fans who *only* care about TCU to the exclusion of everything else in the state, and I'd be willing to wager that's a small number.

 

True dat. But that's not the only factor worth mentioning in reasons these schools won't join the SEC. Somebody mentioned an extremely high penalty for leaving the ACC (it's in the contract). And, let's not forget that of the schools you mentioned, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia would spearhead the effort to keep four of those five out.