Given that the PAC 10 is poised to make a big splash with most of the big time programs from the Big 12, and the fact that the SEC is poised to pounce on aTm, would it be in the Big 10's best interest to go ahead and secure Kansas and Missouri so as to solidify the Kansas City and St. Louis markets? By doing so, based upon all of the other expected moves, the Big 10 would be able to go ahead and add Rutgers to capture the NY/NJ market. All of this will force Notre Dame's hand into joining the Big Ten. If they do not act to join, the Big 10 could go ahead and add Maryland to capture the DC market. Either way, the Big 10 would truly be the fiscal power broker in college football. The increased markets and television sets could reasonably bring in $30m per Big Ten program. Not to mention the money their conference championship game would bring in, and the outstanding increase in talent level of Big Ten basketball. So, my question is, is this proposal possible? What do you guys think?

Big 10 East
Rutgers
Maryland/Notre Dame
Penn State
Michigan
Ohio State
Indiana
Purdue
Michigan State

Big Ten West
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern
Iowa
Missouri
Kansas
Nebraska

I'm pretty sure it's been made known that the Big Ten is not interested in Kansas and I wonder if Missouri will be the one to be left out if the Big Ten can finallly persuade Notre Dame into joining. I think the Big Ten may hold off until next year to make their next push. I believe they're hoping that everyone else keeps moving so that Notre Dame will realize how drastically the landscape is changing and finally fall in line.

Notre Dame has too much NBC money coming in, and enough clout to hop in line whenever they stop benefiting from independence. They're so far ahead of the boat that they've got a lot of slipping before they miss it. I don't see a conference down the road saying "no thanks" when Notre Dame finally concedes.

(06-13-2010 12:39 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  Notre Dame has too much NBC money coming in, and enough clout to hop in line whenever they stop benefiting from independence. They're so far ahead of the boat that they've got a lot of slipping before they miss it. I don't see a conference down the road saying "no thanks" when Notre Dame finally concedes.

Actually, I was watching ESPN First Take this past week and they were debating how NBC had once reported that their contract with ND was actually losing them (NBC) money. Reason being, a substandard ND does not draw as many viewers as NBC had expected when they negotiated the deal. Therefore, if ND continues to compete was they are, their NBC deal will be valued way less then what they could get in the Big 10. Moreover, the more these conferences consolidate, the more they will want to contort the BCS rules to where they get multiple bid oppotunities, which will drastically decrease ND's ability to crack into the BCS unless they are like in the Top 5 to finish the season.

Actually most major over-the-air network sports deals are money losers. The networks pay a premium in order to use that time to prompt brand loyalty and promote viewership of their other programming.