BHGP brings the case against Nebraska leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten, and does so convincingly.
While the Huskers remain a national name in football, they are now more than a decade removed from their last national championship and haven’t been to a BCS game since getting trounced by Miami in the 2002 Rose Bowl…They are the equivalent of Penn State in men’s basketball. It opens up little recruiting territory that wasn’t already available. And Jim Delaney doesn’t stay up at night asking how he can break the Big Ten Network into the illustrious Omaha and Lincoln markets…Basically, the Big Ten would give Nebraska about $13M per year, for which Nebraska would give the Big Ten a championship game, bad basketball, Mike Nobler, and Runza sandwiches.
All true. Nebraska’s not the first option. The first option, far-fetched though it might be, is Texas, followed by Notre Dame, and then Pitt from the Big East. Failing those, however, you begin to slide into the less appealing but still viable candidates: Kansas, Colorado, and yes, Nebraska. Note that the conversation about expansion involves a whopping four teams from the Big 12, something that has not escaped the notice of K-State blog Bring on the Cats.
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I will give you UT and ND...
but there is no way Pitt is a better match than Nebraska. Nebraska would draw the 4th biggest viewing audience at worst for the Big Ten. And something tells me when the Big Ten network can negotiate much more $$$$ when it comes to sell their product to companies like Comcast.
Not to mention, for an Iowa blog aligned with a university that has smaller endowment than Nebraska and in comparing average ACT scores of 25 for Neb and 25.5 for Iowa, (Pitt is 27 btw), methinks that the BHGP blog post did a very poor job of giving reasons for Neb shouldn’t be in the big ten.
by meatybob on Feb 16, 2010 5:41 PM EST reply actions
I agree with the majority of what you said.
I think that Nebraska is a more viable option than Pitt, but only because Pitt shares Pennsylvania with Penn State. Athletically, Nebraska is light years ahead. Academically, however, Pitt is a fit in the Big 10 (many times more-so than Nebraska).
The Big 10 is in a position to pick and chose the second tier schools (Read: whoever isn’t Texas and ND), because of their TV money and the mountains of cash that go with CIC membership.
Nebraska has a better athletic department than a good portion of the current Big 10 members, but it gets hamstrung on academics. Why add someone that would be among the worst endowment, academically and research dollars wise in the Big 10?
Does Nebraska add enough tv sets? I know that Nebraska has a national following that would put a third mortgage on their house to watch their ‘skers play, but is it dense enough? If I’m a cable company, why do I pick up the Big Ten network outside the state of Nebraska? Because a few die-hards in Dodge City want to watch it? Is that really worth my time? No.
Pitt runs into the same problem. Does it add any new tv sets in PA? Not many.
So the question isn’t if Nebraska is a better school or program than Iowa, it is if they have more to offer than the average Big 10 school. Do they? No. Do they solve the population and political shift from the Midwest problem? No. Would it be a great addition under certain conditions? Yes, but not as a stand alone.
by Gopher86 on Feb 18, 2010 12:36 AM EST up reply actions
OK
No offense, but there are no potential candidates with strong followings that would be interested in joining the Big Ten that are also from states enjoying large population and economic growth, that is just reality for the Big Ten. On the density argument, irrelevant. The Big Ten network can charge accordantly for markets like Omaha/Lincoln. You are assuming that the same rate must apply to all markets, not true. Besides, I would think that the KC cable operators would only be more than interested in hosting the Big Ten network with the addition of Nebraska. I haven’t even touched upon Ad dollars, of which tv ratings are important. Like I said, at worst, Nebraska would be fourth at driving ratings, and its significantly better product than some of the other schools. So when it comes to the Big Ten network, Nebraska does drive dollars, much more so than the demographics indicate. So yes, in sum, Nebraska does offer more than the median Big Ten program
Sure, I understand Nebraska academic position. At the same time, I believe you are giving it too much weight. The CIC is a pooling of research dollars, it is not like there is ten of millions available to a new Big Ten member. That new member, I confidently assume, would be pooling their resources with everyone else. Beside, the big ten is a collection of large state schools, schools that, except for NW and Mich, are much closer to Nebraska than they are Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard.
Having said all that, no way Nebraska joins. Right now, Nebraska is showing population growth at 5% with a economy growing slighter more than the US average. The bell cow states in the Big Ten are showing zero population grow with contracting economies. Aligning oneself with a conference that is slowly dying is not good business sense. Not to mention that Nebraska’s connection with Texas helps greatly with recruiting, considering for any school, the biggest revenue generating process is winning. Lastly, there is a dearth of recruits in the Big Ten and of what there is, schools like UT and Nebraska are taking them away.
by meatybob on Mar 8, 2010 6:57 PM EST reply actions
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