Jim Delany spoke to the nation and specifically the Nebraska family yesterday saying,
"We're a better conference today than we were yesterday as a result of Nebraska..."I think the question now is, what does the next tomorrow bring?
Well, we all know the candidates for expansion that have been out there since the get-go. Rutgers, Pitt, and Missouri have had scenarios, time-tables theories thrown around that included them...and more-recently, we've heard about Maryland...but Delany hasn't shown his hand or said anything that he hasn't needed to say. In fact, as other conferences have scrambled, he's sat back and let the others make statements without backbone (read as anything from Dan Beebe) and ambiguity-filled statements about how great the next announcement will be (read as anything from Larry Scott)...But for 10 days, as the media clamored for info and many fans waited nervously or excitedly, Delany stayed silent.
But, he's not the only one staying quiet right now. UND's AD Jack Swarbrick has clammed up a bit, and Brian Kelly isn't saying too much these days either. A few months ago, both talked regularly of how they didn't want to be part of the BT or any other conference
According to Swarbrick, one of the best parts of independence is playing all over the country. On March 9, he said,
"It’s great when you look at the schedule and see games all over; at Yankee Stadium, at USC"
Regarding that specific game versus Army in Yankee stadium, he also said, "On a personal level, the anniversary date aspect of it, with the 1913 game, would be great, but if there’s going to be college football in Yankee Stadium, I’d like to be the first one.”
So when I read this today, I couldn't help but wonder if UND is now part of Delany's recent pregnant silence. The UND v. Navy game at Yankee Stadium, that was recently regarded as historically-significance and personally-important for Swarbrick has now been canceled because it doesn't "work" for Notre Dame.
Hmmm.
Seems to me that as things have been changing in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 10, UND's perspective on joining a conference may have also changed.
If nothing else, all of the silence is deafening.
11 comments:
Dan Beebe needs to work on building his resume. He will be out of a job pretty much by Tuesday.
Am I the only one that absolutely doesn't want to see ND in the Big Ten? I hope we poach the few *GOOD* teams from the Big East, and leave ND to join the scraps of the Big East and become even further irrelevant.
I find it hard to picture a scenario other than joining a conference that would involve Notre Dame not being able to play a service academy.
No matter which conference they join, I would guess some combination of USC, Michigan, Stanford, Michigan State, and Purdue (roughly in that order) would stay on their schedule. Obviously they can't play all those teams, and that doesn't include either Army or Navy.
I have always thought that ND would be a good fit for the Big Ten. It's a geographic fit, huge fanbase, and a good school. I dislike ND and their fans, but I also don't care much for IU or OSU. To me it's all the same.
Brad, I would love to see ND hung out to dry. With all their talk about playing a "national brand" of basketball and loving the freedom of an independent football schedule, nothing would make me happier than to see them go home alone after prom to stir their own echoes. How many chances do you really get to literally tell an entire school to go screw itself?
Adding Nebraska and forcing the destruction of the Big 12 is all part of the plan in forcing ND's hand.
You're in the minority Brad. ND means a lot more eyeballs for the BTN and a lot more revenue for each school as a result.
I don't think television revenue is Notre Dame's strongest selling point in this situation. Unfortunately for us, the people most likely to be drawn to the BTN if Notre Dame joins the conference are scattered: the South Bend market is about the size of Iowa City's market and is (presumably) part of the footprint anyway, thanks to this awesome school that's just a bit to the southwest. The "subway alumni" who become more likely to watch aren't easily quantifiable and don't add a lot of money outside the footprint.
ND does add revenue by providing more events to cover, but then so does any other school that competes in the sports the network televises. There is much more revenue to be found by adding schools in larger markets not part of the footprint (because of the higher amount the BTN charges per subscriber within the footprint; adding the school thus extends the footprint, which is why Rutgers keeps coming up).
There may also be a question of cost in terms of getting out of the contract with NBC, although I suppose that may be a match for penalties that schools leaving a stable conference would have to pay.
Everything I've been hearing points to the two prizes of expansion as being Texas and UND. If that's the case, then Delany is pushing hard to get UND since it looks more and more like the Pac 16 will have Texas.
Of course you've probably all seen this by now, but at least at this point, those "sources" were completely wrong. (Or perhaps not ... I wouldn't be surprised if some people were deliberately planting rumors in both directions.)
Apparently the Big 12-2 has hit a television jackpot and will magically create revenue out of nowhere, which will definitely help the 10 remaining schools ... well, except that it isn't divided evenly, so in all likelihood, Texas is staying to get a larger slice of the pie and to wait for the BTN to grow even larger before deciding to leave.
And how funny would it be if the Mountain West invited Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, and Kansas State, and they all accepted?
The question I've gathered from the Former Big 12 is that what does OK or OK State add to a pie. Missouri being separate adds more than those schools combined, so did Nebraska apparently.
My assumption is that all eyes are on the PAC 10/11 as they are the ones to add 1 to 5 teams to make the uber/super/mega/gigantic conference first.
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