(05-13-2014 01:32 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  Not really an odd way of thinking. You act like Rutgers was added for something beyond its geography. The only projection that Delany cared about by adding Rutgers was the NY market. If Rutgers underperforms in that regard, then all you really did was add decent football recruiting grounds. I doubt Delany will be content with that.

Yeah, but there's a difference between "not being content" with that and going for a money losing expansion in the face of pushback from the academic snobs.

There's nothing about Rutgers underperforming that increases the prospective incremental media value of UConn to well over 1/14th of the current media value of the Big Ten.

One other point that could be of interest with UConn into the B1G is Basketball. Basketball drives the Bus in much of the Northeast. That is the biggest Go to sport in NYC. College Football not nearly as much. Football is mostly NFL Fan friendly in the Northeast. I'm not talking about PSU as Tradition has kept that Football interest very much Alive. Syracuse has a large following in Football and Basketball. I can see UConn Basketball very much adding to the B1G s Marketing strategy. Even though some riffs are there with UConn and some ACC schools UConn probably is still on the ACC radar as well as Cincinnati should the ACC need to get to 16 and ND remain Independent.

(05-13-2014 01:39 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(05-13-2014 01:32 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  Not really an odd way of thinking. You act like Rutgers was added for something beyond its geography. The only projection that Delany cared about by adding Rutgers was the NY market. If Rutgers underperforms in that regard, then all you really did was add decent football recruiting grounds. I doubt Delany will be content with that.

Yeah, but there's a difference between "not being content" with that and going for a money losing expansion in the face of pushback from the academic snobs.

There's nothing about Rutgers underperforming that increases the prospective incremental media value of UConn to well over 1/14th of the current media value of the Big Ten.

I don't think the B1G takes a short term view when it comes to expansion. Fact is, for the next few years they really don't have to do anything. If the B1G truly does buy the argument that basketball drives the bus in the northeast, that may be reason enough to look elsewhere. In any event, with respect to UConn, the only history we have is that they weren't driving anything, much less a bus, until they got into the Big East, and the jury is still out whether they will be able to continue their basketball success, this year's championship notwithstanding, in the AAC.

The Huskies haven't exactly been burning up the recruiting trail since Calhoun left. If they slip back into mediocrity, just how strong a pull will they continue to exert in the fickle New York media market? Only time will tell that, and the B1G can take all the time it wants to let that play out.

(05-13-2014 01:24 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(05-13-2014 12:40 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  Most UCONN fans (among others) don't believe Rutgers will be able to get the kind of pull Delany wants in NY. Time will tell...

Rutgers hasn't done anything since the expansion to make the Big Ten happy about the invite ... but its an odd way of thinking of things that if Rutgers underperforms on projections, then the Big Ten should throw good money after bad by adding another school likely to water down conference payouts to schools. At least there is an upside in playing in New Jersey that New Jersey offers decent football recruiting grounds.

Pretty much covers it. Though I'd add a few things. NJ is better than decent its your at worst 3rd best football recruiting grounds now after PA and OH. NJ is also a monster talent pool for basketball (both men's and women's), wrestling, soccer and to a slightly lesser extent lacrosse. (And again for soccer and LAX both in men's and women's.)

IF NJ were a DMA, it would equate the 4th largest market in the country. Delany isn't stupid and knows Rutgers on its own even with Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State backing it up isn't going to deliver New York City. West of Hudson it gives it a very viable and growing presence in the largest market in the country. Adding UConn in isn't going to magically be the critical mass point either. I'm not sure adding Notre Dame, Syracuse and UConn together on top of Rutgers would do that. The reality is New York is too big and too diverse in its interests to become as into college football as much of the rest of the nation is. That being said even if you have a small (and likely growing) piece of the region in to your product (Big Ten football and basketball) you're definitely growing your audience and exposure.

There's also the fact that institutionally Rutgers looks exactly like its new partners in the Big Ten. A very large, high-end public research university that is the state flagship and like many Big Ten schools is a land grant institution. Rutgers and most if not all Big Ten schools have collaborated on research initiatives for decades.

The reality is for Rutgers (and the Big Ten by extension) to start making the in-roads desired in New York, we need to be competitive in virtually all sports as soon as humanly possible. Wrestling, Women's Basketball, Women's Gymnastics, Soccer, Track and Field all look like sports that we will be instantly competitive in. In the longer run we need to start competing for league titles and NCAA postseason tournaments/major & CFP bowls, because if there's something that the New York area loves it's a winner.