big ten expansion candidatesbig ten expansion candidates

Sign up for the Hawkeyes Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. 34 media market in Kansas City. No other potential. Penn State, added in 1990, and Nebraska, in 2011, were natural-enough fits: big, public Midwestern1 research universities with good academics and excellent sports. The Big Ten has twice pursued the Fighting Irish over the years, but to no avail. This score is determined by rating each school from 0 to 10 in a number of subcategories, each of which has a multiplier based on its relative importance.5 Those scores are calculated based on the schools placement relative to the nations highest and lowest values in each category.6. Stanford. Every program is fair game so long as they arent already in the Big Ten or SEC. The method used has a long explanation that you can check out for yourself, but basically, its based on athletic performance, fit, and market in both football and basketball among 38 Power Five schools that are taken into account. There are several problems: The Bay Area has low interest in college football, and these programs have little following outside that region, even as compared to schools like Fresno State and Oregon (not to mention incoming Big Ten members USC and UCLA). Ralphie running wild in the Big Ten. Wait, what? All current Pac-12 schools except UCLA and USC. : Daily Cavalcade North Carolina is a big state and getting bigger, UNC has improved on the gridiron to the point where its at least usually making bowl games, and its excellent in the non-football sports. Oklahoma and Texas shook the foundation of the college athletics world in July of 2021 when the pair formally notified the SEC they were seeking an invitation for membership. Big Ten expansion candidates - College Football News Celery?!? It actually has a lower fit rating than Clemson. NADIA ZOMORODIAN /NEWS-JOURNAL / USA TODAY NETWORK. 13), the Orlando market (No. North Carolina would bring in some solid TV markets, too, including Charlotte (No. It likely would have to join simultaneously with some distant singular program. $1 for 3 months So who could be next on the list to join the Big Ten? Sure, a good bit of that can be attributed to big ratings draws against both Oklahoma and Texas, but that wouldnt really be any different in the Big Ten against say Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State. The Horned Frogs are right smack dab in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro and thats really their biggest expansion calling card. Could it add any other schools in college conference. Football independents Notre Dame and UConn. Join the conversation today. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren made remarks last week that the league is eyeing eventually expanding to 20 members, and the new mega-media rights deal worth over $7 billion reportedly includes . Notre Dame feels like the other fairly obvious one. https://hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com/lists/2022-big-ten-expansion-candidates-top-25/, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. We need to be thinking 2-3 steps ahead. If the Big Ten wants to get B1GGER, who are the most attractive candidates for expansion? The case for: You know the drill with Kansas. Until now that is. This university has everything the Big Ten would want in a member. July 2, 2022 8:19 am ET There are officially no limits on schools that can be considered expansion candidates for the Big Ten after extending invitations to join to USC and UCLA. August 1, 2022 7:00 pm CT. Last week at Big Ten Media Days, there was naturally plenty of conversation about the upcoming 2024 additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. For the purposes of this Big Ten expansion conversation, any program that isnt currently a member or set to join the Big Ten or SEC has been included as a potential expansion candidate. The case for: Just like with Florida State, youre adding massive Florida media markets if you bring in the Miami Hurricanes. Big Ten Expansion: Ranking the 10 Best Candidates for Potential Big Ten Although they havent been able to hold onto their coaches for long, the Ducks have played some fabulous football over the years, including their participation in the initial College Football Playoff final. The SEC appears to be attempting to create a "super league" that could very well split off from . The best wrestling conference in the NCAA would just become stronger. 47). Are Pac-12 schools ASU, Arizona a package deal in college conference realignment? Big Ten Football: Best expansion candidates according to TV viewership Big Ten expansion reactions: Zingers, warnings fly Purdue's way - IndyStar 24) and Greensboro (No. The other depended on where the school fell between the highest- and lowest-rated candidates. With Texas and Texas A&M obviously accounted for elsewhere in the SEC, why not get what is currently the best program in the state of Texas? Why does that matter? Follow Phil Harrisonon Twitter. 5 market is something the Big Ten has to consider. Who else thats out there can match this and squeeze their way into the Big Ten? They could end there, but it would make more logistical sense to make it five (more on that later). For example, the University of Cincinnati only gets half-credit for Cincinnatis metro population because the Big Ten already features another Ohio team, Ohio State. Im a coach in my other life and Ive embraced the new-age analytics of whats going on inside the numbers of the game, and it makes sense to take into account here. For the best local Iowa news, sports, entertainment and culture coverage, subscribe to The Des Moines Register. 35 nationally), SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK, 2021 average weekly viewership: 1.58M (No. Mike DeCourcy wrote of Washington: "If youre already on the West Coast with the two LA schools, would it make sense to bring in UW and Oregon as a package? Split into a First Division and a Second Division. Washington is typically one of the Pac-12s best football programs and they bring with them the Seattle market, which ranks as the countrys No. Seattle is the nations No. The case for: Louisville has been an exciting football program. 12 media market. Arizona State is a well-rounded candidate in a state with a growing population; its case is pretty similar to Utahs, though it isnt an AAU member or a flashship university (but does bring the Phoenix market). No, not really. Other state flagship universities with strong academics follow just behind it: Washington (83 points), North Carolina (73) and Virginia (73). AAU member? 25 nationally), 2021 average weekly viewership: 1.74M (No. College Football Expansion: Potential candidates to swap conferences 15 market. Sign up for the Hawkeyes Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. Oregon and Washington reportedly reached out to the Big Ten to gauge the leagues interest in adding the two programs to pair with USC and UCLA and further the conferences western footprint. . 7, while Baylor was ranked No. The Wolfpack are very good in that area. was supposed to deliver the New York metro market to the Big Ten, reportedly preferred the Big Ten before joining the SEC, SEC probably wouldnt care too much about losing, clearly be head-over-heels for Notre Dame, added up the total number of football games, adjusted to account for projected population growth, compared to schools like Fresno State and Oregon, pretty clear from Google searches in the state, TCU's Fairy Tale Was No Match For Georgia's Tour De Force, Georgia Is A Clear Title Favorite But The Odds Havent Mattered To TCU Yet, Mike Leach Remade Football In His Pass-Happy Image, The College Football Bowls You Should Watch, According To Our Highly Scientific Ratings. 30 nationally), 2021 average weekly viewership: 616,000 (No. If you know anything about the Big Ten, you probably know what that means, and thus I will not bore you with the details here. Clemson hasnt been discussed much in the context of Big Ten expansion, probably because its a more intuitive fit for the SEC. Everybody elses top target, too. The case for:Boston College probably looks like a better fit than others on this list. In tallying revenues, I used the highest recent revenue year in each sport, so schools arent punished based on one-off factors like COVID-19 or scheduling difficulties. Texas was rumored to be. Kevin McGuire wrote: "Notre Dame is the biggest exception to the Big Tens ideal list of expansion candidates. I already discussed some of the characteristics that describe current Big Ten schools. The only question is which side of the battle lines your school lands on if its invited to the fight at all. Reports have surfaced that the SEC plans to stay put at 16 teams right now, and it has been quiet since the Big Ten bombshell. Join the conversation today. The Big Ten is adding UCLA and USC, making it a 16-team conference as of summer 2024. Its just B1G. For that reason, I think Florida State, Clemson and Miami arent realistic options (though it wouldnt be the first time Ive been surprised). Let us know your thoughts, comment onthis story below. I think the North Carolina State Wolfpack are the team everyone is overlooking. Before we proceed further, theres a twist that affects all of the ratings in this category: Theyre adjusted to account for projected population growth through 2040.9 Conference-building is a very long-run process: Though it doesnt always work out that way, youre hoping to keep schools together for decades (consider that the current Big Ten was founded in 1896). 15 market. Television market: N/A. Iowa State isnt joining the Big Ten and, in fact, theyre not in the top 25 pool of candidates either. Although several current Big Ten schools (such as Ohio State) have strong sports programs across the board, most expansion candidates excel at either football or non-football sports, but not both. While it was vacated, the Cardinals won the 2013 NCAA mens basketball tournament. Which players might be next to commit in the Iowa Hawkeyes' 2024 class? And they appeared in the 2017 Final Four and have continued to excel in mens basketball under Dana Altman. Rutgers is 38 miles from Point Pleasant Beach. So, for instance, if a school is averaging 1 million TV viewers a game and their states population is expected to grow 20 percent between 2020 and 2040, I treated that as 1.2 million viewers per game. All of them make sense for their own various reasons. Miami is another option, a historical football superpower who brings in a lot of big names and a large fan base. If so, the Jayhawks would bring one of the pillars of college basketball into the conference. Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports, Dec. 29, 2021; San Antonio, Texas; The Oregon Ducks mascot on the field during the second half of the 2021 Alamo Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Alamodome. The case for: Cant you just see it now? Another nice add to expand the leagues footprint further west and add familiar opponents for USC and UCLA. Meantime, when it comes to athletic fit based on success in sports, Oklahoma State ranked No. 7 min read The Big Ten is set to add USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 in expansion for the conference. And different parts of the country are expected to grow at much different rates. I also considered a rating of 50 to reflect what the Big Ten probably thinks of as its replacement level. All Big Ten members except Rutgers and Northwestern are above this line, and Northwestern was always sort of a weird fit (of course Id say that as a graduate of the University of Chicago, Northwesterns academic rival). 76 nationally), Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK, 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 747,000, 2021 average weekly viewership: 1.219M (No. So unless the Heels want to pay an exit fee and receive no money for athletic media rights for 14 years or unless theyve got some magical formula no one else has discovered being part of the ACC would appear to be the Tar Heels future. The Big Ten is an athletic conference that finds its origins in the year 1896. Heck, we evengot into the action once I got my sea legs back on dry land. Thanks to Zach Millers hard work over at Medium, fans got a glimpse of where each college football program ranked in terms of average number of TV viewers per week from 2015-19. 10 media market in Boston, but theyre not one of the first choices from the ACC. Having given up on the Big Ten being a Midwestern conference, Im actually on board with its newest additions: UCLA and USC. 40 nationally), 2021 average weekly viewership: 985,000 (No. Football has rarely been good, but youre not worried about that if youre looking in the Blue Devils direction. OutKick had the report. Well measure them in three broad categories sports, fit and market using a series of quantitative metrics. Does the conference risk brand dilution if its in every nook and cranny of the country, or is that exactly what it wants? Big Ten's poaching of USC, UCLA brings more questions than answers. If your school isnt on this list, sorry, youre not joining the Big Ten conference now or in the future. Maybe it doesnt directly add the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, but a piece of the nations No. 24), Norfolk-Portsmouth (No. Big Ten Expansion Top 5 Candidates: Possible Schools To Join USC and UCLA. Follow all of your favorite Ohio teams at Buckeyes Wire, Browns Wire, Bengals Wire and The Columbus Dispatch! Now, the latest shockwaves in college realignment happened last week when USC and UCLA delivered a haymaker to the Pac-12s future by announcing they would be joining the Big Ten in 2024. The Big Ten would take Notre Dame in a heartbeat. Stanford and Cal rate lower than I would have expected. I dont think thats a risk with these four schools. If you want to get away from the Big Ten, those are your spots. Big Ten Expansion: Kansas Ranks as Top Fit According to 538 Specifically, well evaluate: Thats a total of 38 schools. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports, Dec. 3, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Utah Utes helmet pictured with rose following the victory against the Oregon Ducks in the 2021 Pac-12 championship game at Allegiant Stadium. Notre Dame (despite not being in AAU) Votes: 148 62.4% Iowa State (and my penis is an inny and I have the AIDS) Votes: 20 8.4% Kansas Votes: 45 19.0% Missouri Votes: 45 19.0% Georgia Tech or Vanderbilt (not both) Those two will be announced soon as the 15th and 16th Big Tenners, and the conference all but literally will stretch from coast to coast. Please check your email for a confirmation. North Carolina. The case for: Poor mans Georgia. ", Steven Lassan wrote of Oregon's potential fit in the Big Ten: "The Big Ten now has a national conference that spans from coast-to-coast. Plus, a look at their 2021 numbers. Notre Dame is too valuable to dismiss. What it also has is a contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference that grants its media rights to the league until 2036. When the Irish flirted with Big Ten in 1999 before ultimately declining to join, it was believed the hard feelings that lingered from that episode would prevent the league from ever. Im a huge sports fan whos been living in New York since 2009, and I have had exactly zero conversations about Rutgers sports. Is that a logical list of schools to want? Here, then, are the sports ratings for every possible expansion candidate. Going back to the Aaron Rodgers days, Cal football made eight bowl games in nine seasons. Jacob Keppen February 10, 2023 3:50 pm CT Before the season, the landscape of college football was rapidly changing. Its why he convinced Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff that they were on the same team, and then turned around and poached his leagues two biggest assets. James Snook-USA TODAY Sports, Sept. 28, 2019; Tallahassee; Florida State Seminoles symbols Osceola and Renegade during the game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Doak Campbell Stadium. Adding the Ducks means bringing in the Portland media market, which ranks as the nations 21st. The Big Ten is known for Midwest football, and has two blue bloods in its conference (Ohio State and Michigan). Join the conversation today. 22 nationally), Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK, 2021 average weekly viewership: 1.27M (No. As a school, they have 24 National Championships, most recently this past year in Co-ed Skiing. The college football realignment rollercoaster appears to still just be getting started. The SEC's addition of Oklahoma and Texas has scrambled college football's offseason, and all of the power conferences are. 12 min read Enough talk about who fits in academically with the Big Ten through their Association of American Universities ranking. And that is why we love FiveThirtyEight. For the best local Iowa news, sports, entertainment and culture coverage, subscribe to The Des Moines Register. More: ASU's Michael Crow slammed for 2019 Pac-12 comments amid college conference realignment, More: Ranking Big 12 expansion candidates: Best fits to join conference amid college realignment, VOTE: Which remaining #Pac12 schools are the best fits for the #BigTen in conference expansion? If the Big Ten wants to get B1GGER, who are the most attractive 47 nationally), 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 703,000, 2021 average weekly viewership: 525,000 (No. Some teams could also earn immunity from relegation if, say, theyd made the College Football Playoff Top 25 in two of the last three seasons. What does the future hold for Notre Dame? BENDER: Big Ten's poaching of USC, UCLA brings more questions than answers. The case for: Maybe its an overreaction to Baylor unseating Oklahoma and capturing the 2021 Big 12 championship. However, I did consider rivalries against current (and newly incoming) Big Ten schools, which are geographically driven to some degree. Jun 6, 2023 INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 06: Vonn Bell #11 and Joshua Perry #37 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate after their team defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 59-0 in the Big Ten. Here's a look at the top 25 expansion candidates based on average TV viewership from 2015-19. Its a lot of crazy to unpack. 38 nationally), 2021 average weekly viewership: 2.57M (No. However, its one thing to eyeball the situation and offer an opinion, its another to use analytical data to try and figure it all out. Then again, its market rating is well above the current Big Ten average, which probably matters most for the league. Plus, they are a natural addition for USC and UCLA. Could it add any other schools in college conference realignment? Robert Bondy. Since joining the Big Ten, the football teams conference record is 12-58. 17 media market in Orlando. 61) markets. What does anyone really know about all of this besides those on the inside? And maybe it will get B1GGER, if it can find members who fit the conference profile and add to its athletic reputation in the same way as UCLA and USC. So, here are five (sort of) teams that I think would be a fun addition to the Big Ten. The lowest rating (42) belongs to, of course, Rutgers, so well call this the Rutgers Line.. Candidates for Big Ten Expansion | Panther-lair.com Specifically, the penalty is based on dividing the metro area population by the number of Big Ten schools that there would be in the state if the new school were added. In their history, they have 25 conference titles (RMAC eight times; Big Seven five times; Skyline five times; WAC twice; MWC four times; Pac-12 once, in 2021). Now, adding a dance partner or two for the Trojans and Bruins makes sense, but only if it enhances the league members per-school payouts. The obvious answer is Notre Dame, but with recent signals that they will extend their deal with NBC, a move to the Big. If the Big Ten adds some other football powers and wants to pair them with a basketball blue blood, why not Duke? Oregon has the lowest U.S. News ranking and the smallest enrollment of these schools, but the best sports program. They are a good geographical fit, though with the addition of west coast schools that seems to matter less and less now. In a world where Texas and Oklahoma would jet off to the Southeastern Conference for greater television income, the Bruins and Trojans were just sitting there as obvious as the HOLLYWOOD sign offering a presence in the second-largest media market in the nation along with a football program that has claimed 11 national titles (USC) and a mens basketball program that has earned 11 (UCLA). At this point, its a big game of Risk with two superconferences, and the Big Ten is playing for keeps against the Southeastern Conference. 3. The conference has already made a big statement that it wants to go coast-to-coast and expand the overall footprint. I wanted a search term that wasnt highly seasonal or cyclical as a common denominator, and celery fits the bill: Its not like theres a celery season. It also tends to have about the same overall magnitude of search volume as many Division I football programs. 1. Big Ten Expansion Top 5 Candidates: Possible Schools To Join USC - MSN Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Contact/Follow us@BuckeyesWireon Twitter, and like our page onFacebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. This is one that could make sense, if its location is not an obstacle. The mere threat of not being able to play them on a regular basis could be one of the factors that tips the Irish off the edge of football independence. Adding Syracuse would enhance that. (Ranking candidates: https://t.co/rYJBLxVjOE) @azcentral, azcentral sports (@azcsports) August 1, 2022, Of the Cardinal's potential candidacy to join the Big Ten, Ryan Kay wrote: "The Big Ten, as mentioned many times before, values academic standings of universities that they are thinking of adding more than any conference outside of the Ivy League. 46 nationally), Bryon Houlgrave/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK, 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 1.495M, 2021 average weekly viewership: 907,000 (No. 42 nationally), 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 730,000, 2021 average weekly viewership: 222,000 (No. Where Should The Big Ten Expand Next? 2 min read The world of college football was thrown into a frenzy on Thursday with the "alliance" seemingly breaking by USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big. Finally, there are some candidates in Tier 5 that fell below the Rutgers Line: Theres not much to see here. 46), Greensboro (No. Another program that typically rates well regardless of how good or bad they are. However, admitting schools that arent members has been a non-starter culturally in the past and will most likely remain so, besidesNotre Dame that is. It put California, Kansas and Stanford in a "second tier. Before the season, the landscape of college football was rapidly changing. The Cougars won 19-13. 44 nationally), 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 856,000, 2021 average weekly viewership: 994,000 (No. 11 nationally. Really, theyre just not a doormat, which is kind of all you ask for power hoops programs. For that reason, I wouldnt focus too much on the differences between schools within tiers, but the distinctions between tiers should be pretty solid. Given the comments made recently by conference commissioner Kevin Warren, its not unrealistic to think more teams that will get added in the future. Every college sports fan knows what happened from there. No current Big Ten members have a religious affiliation. Yes, as far as Im concerned as a Midwest maximalist central Pennsylvania is in the Midwest. Recently, Athlon Sports published a look at the teams who could potentially replace USC and UCLA in the Pac-12. Nov 3, 2018; Pullman, Washington; California Golden Bears helmet sits during a football game against the Washington State Cougars in the second half at Martin Stadium. The Knights had three 10-win seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and have won 50 games overall since the start of 2017. 37 nationally), 2015-19 average weekly viewership: 909,000, 2021 average weekly viewership: 483,000 (No. Its the Show Me the Money rankings. What is: No other possible expansion candidate lacks a natural partner. Prior to 2011, Utah was a Group of 5 school, dominating the Mountain West. Can this program be a sleeping giant?