Arkansas is not leaving the SEC, forget that, it's not happening. They know if you leave the SEC, you are not getting invited back. ask GA Tech., they have already inquired about coming back and was told NO. SEC makes more money than the big 12 even though about making. Those former SWC members arent attractive enough for them to pull out of the SEC.

As far as the Rutgers/big fish/small pond argument: money talks, and as long as there's more money in the Big Ten, my guess is bye-bye. But, really, they have to be invited first.

As far as the hybrid: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result, is insanity.

I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

i don't think anyone's questioning the future of the big east if one team leaves, as long as west va and louisville stay together we'll have the bcs tag (if it still exists), a team like memphis can replace a rutgers, losing syracuse a founding member would hurt a lot more. its going a bit overboard prediciting that conferences are going to be expanding to 14 anytime soon or arkansas is going to the big 12. even if, still a big if, we do lose a team it won't be for another 4 years, ample time for the existing big east teams to become more established. at the very least it gives me an in conference team to hate, no offense to brista and the other rutgers fans here, the smugness is more than a little grating, they should be grateful the big east didn't go temple on them. at least boston college had the accomplishments and history to back it up.

brista21 Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:Here is what Rutgers is potentially facing, accepting a Big 10 offer and never having to worry about conference affiliation or BCS issues again...huge academic gains, huge financial gains and stability in every sense of the word. Or turning down the Big 10 and hoping no one else jumps ship, more importantly hoping the Big East can find a way to survive

-- Also facing the potential of going 5-7 every year in football. RU doesn't have the resouces to compete with Michigan, OSU, Penn St, Wisconsin in football every year. They bring in 110K for football every saturday and RU may bring in 50k if the staduim expansion goes though

--The Big East offers all of our schools a chance to compete at the big time level without having the big time resources. Its not the worst thing in the world to be a big fish in a small pond. Is being the Northwestern of the East sound appealing?

Jackson

Exactly the first expansion which by all accounts is a go if this season goes well, will bring us to 53-55K by the start of the 2008 season over the 41,500 permanent capacity we have now (44K if you count the not so temporary bleachers). Even if we're selling out thats half as much we're bringing in compared to the big dogs over there. Personally I like being one of the bigger fish in a smaller pond.

Exactly, which is why the Big East needs to split off and build our own All-Sports Conference. We can potentially build this smaller pond into a bigger pond, making ourselves a bigger fish along the way.

gdayre Wrote:Arkansas is not leaving the SEC, forget that, it's not happening. They know if you leave the SEC, you are not getting invited back. ask GA Tech., they have already inquired about coming back and was told NO. SEC makes more money than the big 12 even though about making. Those former SWC members arent attractive enough for them to pull out of the SEC.

You are 100% correct. Georgia Tech kind of hoped their rivalry with Georgia could push them into the SEC but it didn't. That's why they probably hoped that South Carolina would return to the ACC when the ACC inquired about them during expansion. But South Carolina wants no part of the ACC.

Fanatical Wrote:As someone who grew up in Big Televen country, I find the idea of Rutgers joining it beyond hilarious, and the definition of delusional

That sums it up nicely. You should be careful with the common sense and sanity thing though.

Truth is always stranger than fiction and most often it is not driven by commonsense! Folks anything could happen and soon.

True. But you shouldn't ask for common sense, Wilkie. You know it isn't common at all. It's a very rare commodity.

Just remember... Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Obviously, thinking about Big 10 expansion is technologically beyond the capability of the average BEast fan.

army56mike Wrote:

CatsClaw Wrote:Personally, I think we should start working on the Big East right now. I don't think anyone in the Big East is getting an invite from the Big Ten. So instead of thumping your chest and talking about how great you are because an article claimed that a school would make a good Big Ten fit we should work together to make this conference better. And that starts with splitting into an All-Sports Conference and having complete control of our own destiny.

Wow, your words sound so erie! It reminds me of what other conferences, like C-USA use to say. Remember those days when we thought if we just stuck together and worked hard, the BCS would reward us? As a matter of fact C-USA is still saying those things.

I must say I agree with you though. We need to just keep on keeping on. I think we have a pretty nice conference, and yes, if we were a 9-12 team all sports conference, that would be great. Some day some worthy candidates will stand up and grab our attention.

Those days simply didn't exist in CUSA at least not from Louisvilles perspective. Jurich said from the moment he took the helm at Louisville that we were looking to get out and made no bones about it. Hell, Swain and Olsen openly admitted that CUSA was a holding ground to prepare for a move to another league from the instant we joined! We were loathed by many of our conference mates for not being satisfied with that peer group, they thought us haughty when we only wanted others to show the same commitment we were making to our athletics programs. You do see that call from lots of programs in CUSA and you did see it before but mostly you saw it from those who might be left behind. Personally I don't care if Rutgers or Syracuse go to the Big 10. Louisville regardless of the situation will land on it's feet somewhere. If it's the Big East reformed around us, fine, if its some other BCS conference fine. As my sig demonstrates our athletics department is in good enough shape not to be ignored. The expanding football stadium and college centric world class basketball arena only makes that belief more certain.

Bull Daly Wrote:I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

Why would the doomsday media come out? Losing Rutgers is, well, like losing Rutgers. Losing one 3rd place finish in the league and a couple of bowl games in 120 years isn't reason bail on the conference band wagon.

L-yes Wrote:

Bull Daly Wrote:I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

Why would the doomsday media come out? Losing Rutgers is, well, like losing Rutgers. Losing one 3rd place finish in the league and a couple of bowl games in 120 years isn't reason bail on the conference band wagon.

At last!!! A voice of reason...

Absolutely agree losing Syracuse is actually much more serious as they're basically the face of the Big East in many ways. That being said I'd rather be poaching PSU, BC, Maryland, and Memphis.

I don't think the Big 10 could take Syracuse if they hope to open up a New York City market. I'd bet most New Yorkers (I grew up in NYC and graduated from Syracuse U.) don't even know Syracuse is in the state.
Rutgers proved they can capture NYC. Here is the simple reason Rutgers (a New Jersey school) is more NYC than Syracuse:
Syracuse is a four hour drive from NYC.
My understanding is that Rutgers has three campuses, one in Newark N.J., Camden N.J. and New Brunswick N.J. Newark is 30 minutes outside of NYC. Camden is less than 2 hours. New Brunswick is less than an hour away. I once walked to Newark from NYC. If I still lived in NYC I can go to a Rutgers game and still have dinner in NYC.
The Big 10 can only look at Rutgers if they are looking for a NYC market. Syracuse may as well be on the moon.
IF the Big East loses Rutgers, I'd say University of Centeral Florida is the best replacement. It gives us both USF and UCF, two schools in the talent rich state.
I'd stry from Memphis and ECU for a while and develop the eight teams league we have. Those schools will always be there for the picking- I believe their fans want the big east to jump and grab them now but they don't bring instant clout to the BE. I'd talk to BC (Benedict College) and Maryland first. Outside of Florida, I'd stick to the north east.

L-yes Wrote:

Bull Daly Wrote:I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

Why would the doomsday media come out? Losing Rutgers is, well, like losing Rutgers. Losing one 3rd place finish in the league and a couple of bowl games in 120 years isn't reason bail on the conference band wagon.

Ditto

Top to bottom, the BEast may be as strong as the SEC this year. We're just smaller, is all.

L-yes Wrote:

Bull Daly Wrote:I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

Why would the doomsday media come out? Losing Rutgers is, well, like losing Rutgers. Losing one 3rd place finish in the league and a couple of bowl games in 120 years isn't reason bail on the conference band wagon.

OK, so now everybody wants to dump on Rutgers...aren't you the same people that were saying thank goodness RU has stepped up a few months ago? I think most RU fans would prefer to stay in an Eastern based all-sports conference, we all know the issues involved with this hybrid conference and like many have said on this board ANY Big East school would jump at a chance of getting an invite to a more stable league. If you guys want to be pissed at somebody be pissed at Tranghese.

Pissed at MT? Thats a joke.Because he kept the bcs for the BE?Because he got a better tv contract for the BE?Because he got ND to play 3 BE schools in football?Or is it because he does not want to split and merge with cusa leftovers?

RUmojo Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

Bull Daly Wrote:I am not really too worried about what might happen because the BIG EAST is stronger from top to bottom more than ever before in my opinion. I would be worried if we were going to lose 3 teams, but losing 1 team wont kill the BIG EAST. Sure, you are going to have those doomsday media come out again, but I know the BIG EAST will be fine when all is said and done. If losing VT, Miami, and BC didnt kill the BIG EAST then nothing will.

Why would the doomsday media come out? Losing Rutgers is, well, like losing Rutgers. Losing one 3rd place finish in the league and a couple of bowl games in 120 years isn't reason bail on the conference band wagon.

OK, so now everybody wants to dump on Rutgers...aren't you the same people that were saying thank goodness RU has stepped up a few months ago? I think most RU fans would prefer to stay in an Eastern based all-sports conference, we all know the issues involved with this hybrid conference and like many have said on this board ANY Big East school would jump at a chance of getting an invite to a more stable league. If you guys want to be pissed at somebody be pissed at Tranghese.

Basically though, L-yes and Bull Daly are just telling the truth with no embellishment. Until last year, Rutgers had been of little consequence in the BEast heirarchy. Until last year, Rutgers had done absolutely nothing of note. So their lost wouldn't impact as much as if Rutgers had dominated the BEast since its inception. That's it in a nutshell.