(11-14-2014 11:37 AM)CintiFan Wrote:  

(11-14-2014 08:36 AM)XLance Wrote:  If the B1G stiffs ESPN.....then it's on.

ESPN will move Missouri and Arkansas to the Big 12 and they will invite BYU.
Florida State will move to the SEC.
Kentucky, West Virginia and Notre Dame join the ACC.
40 teams aligned in a 12, 12 16 configuration, marketed together will bury anything the B1G and PAC could ever put on TV. Two great football conferences spread out over three time zones. The best basketball conference ever assembled. Plus baseball, soccer, women's softball, track, lacrosse, you name it......it's the best. Intersectional play between the three would be like bowl season and the final four wrapped into one.

Delany won't stiff ESPN. He'll play ESPN and Fox off against one another to get the maximum value and in the end divide the pie up in a way that keeps both networks interested and competing with each other.

I also don't necessarily see ESPN having the power to dictate the result JR lays out. That's a lot of presidents, trustees, donors and alumni support to line up to make it happen. ESPN has lots of power, of course, but the schools will not fall in line just because ESPN says jump.

Remember the Big East? Aresco says he has to think about the ESPN low offer and voila. B.C.'s president openly spoke of ESPN's power there. ESPN realized that once Delany caught on that some of the prime Big East properties could be lost to the Big 10 and suddenly Pitt and Syracuse are in the ACC. So out of the former Big East the ACC bleeds them for B.C., Miami, Pitt & Syracuse and even land their hybrid partner Notre Dame on the same terms. ESPN has a lot more power than most posters realize. ESPN was worried about the prime properties they wanted in the Big 12 once FOX through YES bought into the BTN. In come Texas A&M and Missouri and suddenly Texas and Kansas have prime T3 deals. The only property that got away so to speak was Oklahoma who signed a tidy T3 deal with FOX. So far ESPN has come out way ahead in the realignment game. I have no doubt but what they will continue to do so.

On the Big 10 issue however, I strongly suspect that Delany will do exactly as you say. The conversation bait was "what if he doesn't". That question opens a quite different set of possibilities.

Now as to XLance's suggestion I would say this, there are presently 39 schools accounted for between the Big 12, SEC, and ACC. Why not do one of the following? Drop 4 from the Big 12 with realignment with the PAC for increased interest in that conference, add one, then divide the three conferences into 6 six team divisions under one banner and one network. Or, simply add one and break into 8 five team divisions and do the same.

Region 1 Division 1: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Region 1 Division 2: Baylor, Brigham Young, Texas, T.C.U., Texas Tech

Region 2 Division 1: Arkansas, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas A&M

Region 2 Division 2: Alabama, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Tennessee

Region 3 Division 1: Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Vanderbilt

Region 3 Division 2: Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina, Wake Forest,

Region 4 Division 1: Kentucky, Louisville, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia

Region 4 Division 2: Boston College, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse

You play the 4 schools in your division, rotate 5 from the other regions, and have 3 permanent rivals.

Now I ask you is there a bad division there? I don't think so. The network footprint would be huge as would its content. The leverage would be huge too and probably the reason this won't come to pass. Academically you would have 11 AAU schools and several privates that while not AAU are ranked quite highly.

Now regions would consist of two divisions. The division champs play down to 4 regional champions which play down to two super regional champs. Those two are automatic qualifiers for the 4 team playoff.