And more expansion rumor (this time GT!)

[DeRRtyTree]

What does $90,000 dollars have to do with anything???

 

[DeRRtyTree]

PS my will be in a new motion picture soon, possibility new and better pictures, and a new sig as well.

 

[kevinw33]

Why hasn't this been brought up before?

I laughed at this. This was funny.

 

[GiveEmHellJackets]

Inside source tells me that the SEC will hold emergency meeting today to address the serious threat presented by StingTalk discussions of GT going to the Big Ten. Looks like BOR was right.

 

[aeromech]

Thanks for clearing that up. The big hypothetical question is: If Tech is a prospect for the BX and the SEC, and gets an invite for both, where will they go??

Let's see, our AD came from a SEC school, and has been working hard to get SEC teams on our schedule since he has been here... I think he would prefer the SEC; but as another poster has said it probably comes down to what deal is offered. I wonder if the SEC invite will come as a package deal: either all four teams or none at all?

 

[gth816f]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5257088

 

[ramblinwise1]

I can see why Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and/or Louisville would want to do this.

What I can't see is why the SEC would want to do it.

Because the SEC doesn't want anyone competing with their TV packages. If there is a marquee BX game at the same time in the Atlanta market as the SEC games, they lose viewers, and if they lose viewers they will eventually lose $. They only compete with the ACC in Florida.

I guess the implication of all this is as these conferences start selling TV contracts that the nationally televised games will become less prominent unless someone pays big for the rights.

Supposedly ESPN bought up the SEC rights but CBS still had an SEC game every saturday at 3:30pm. Were these old contract that will play out or do CBS buy the rights to these games from ESPN? Anybody know?

Supposedly the BX network is a cable only network with dedicated channels on cable systems. Our cable doesn't have a dedicated SEC channel but show a lot of SEC sports on FSS.

 

[ND_jacket]

Supposedly ESPN bought up the SEC rights but CBS still had an SEC game every saturday at 3:30pm. Were these old contract that will play out or do CBS buy the rights to these games from ESPN? Anybody know?

CBS and ESPN each have their own contracts. CBS gets first pick each week. They provide one primetime standalone game, two double headers (one noon/1530, the other 1530/2000), and the rest at 1530. ESPN controls all the rest. Linky on ESPN Linky on CBS

 

[beej67]

Thanks for clearing that up. The big hypothetical question is: If Tech is a prospect for the BX and the SEC, and gets an invite for both, where will they go??

Of the two, I think I might rather go BX now that I've been thinking about it. Lots of BX transplants in Atlanta, and the BX is always over rated. We could do very well in that conference.

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing UGA lose some recruits to Penn State.

 

[The Jackette]

All of this expansion talk will make me die young.

 

[SoCal Jacket]

Please, would someone (who knows) clarify this point? Often the Big 10 payouts are discussed as being much larger (IIRC about $22 M+ per school) than the SEC per school distributions. However, when I mentioned this to a SEC school official, he responded that the SEC allows their schools to negotiate their own local media deals outside of the conference contract that makes up the difference between Big 10 and SEC payouts. In fact, he indicated that the SEC was unique from most other conferences in this regard.

To compare apples to apples between potential conference offers, does anyone have a firm grasp on issue? Thanks.

 

[ND_jacket]

Please, would someone (who knows) clarify this point? Often the Big 10 payouts are discussed as being much larger (IIRC about $22 M+ per school) than the SEC per school distributions. However, when I mentioned this to a SEC school official, he responded that the SEC allows their schools to negotiate their own local media deals outside of the conference contract that makes up the difference between Big 10 and SEC payouts. In fact, he indicated that the SEC was unique from most other conferences in this regard.

To compare apples to apples between potential conference offers, does anyone have a firm grasp on issue? Thanks.

I would imagine that even if that's the case, there's only a couple of schools in the SEC that could negotiate a local deal to bring in $5 million+. What would even be included in such a local media deal? Maybe sports outside of football and basketball? Color me skeptical.

 

[gth816f]

I would imagine that even if that's the case, there's only a couple of schools in the SEC that could negotiate a local deal to bring in $5 million+. What would even be included in such a local media deal? Maybe sports outside of football and basketball? Color me skeptical.

Replays of the games and coaches shows are the two things that spring to my mind. But you're right on all those points.

 

[ND_jacket]

Replays of the games and coaches shows are the two things that spring to my mind. But you're right on all those points.

I haven't paid enough attention to see if coaches shows are on BTN. Replays make sense, but it wouldn't be unique to the SEC to allow that, unless the ACC is managing it for us and I don't realize it.

 

[AE 87]

I stand corrected.....a guy on Scout says it is SEC w/ FSU, Miami, and Clem or Louisville.

I'll believe it when I see it!

Does anyone else laugh a little inside with the thought of the SEC inviting GT, FSU, Miami, and Louisville?

I'm not saying it's the best solution, I'm just saying I'd love laughing at Clemson being left behind.

 

[ND_jacket]

Does anyone else laugh a little inside with the thought of the SEC inviting GT, FSU, Miami, and Louisville?

I'm not saying it's the best solution, I'm just saying I'd love laughing at Clemson being left behind.

This is random nonsense, but what sort of vote would be required to vote a team out of a conference? USCe hasn't done much since joining the SEC, so maybe the SEC is holding out on Clemson in order to kick USCe out and replace them with Clemson.

(Yeah, not going to happen, but amusing thought nonetheless.)

 

[cyptomcat]

Big 10 says the timeline might get shortened now!

"Obviously we are moving through a process, we had targeted a timeline as long as 18 months, it's possible that the timeline may be altered, but not the process," Simon said.

http://www.freep.com/article/201006...g-Ten-officials-discuss-expansion-at-meetings

 

[georgia_tech_swagger]

I have literally no interest what-so-ever in playing the Big Ten based on the Orange Bowl. I watched an offense that would make even Chan Gailey giggle with it's unimaginative, vanilla, precocious play ... which is bad enough before we bring Wommack's epic fail into the equation. Most of the Big Ten plays that way.

Until the first half of student-athlete becomes something other than a laughable fraud in the SEC, I have a very very hard time imagining GT being able to compete for SEC championships with any sort of regularity. Sure GT has done well against the SEC under Paul Johnson. But he hasn't played LSU yet. Or Bama. Or Florida. Moreover, I would refuse to go to the SEC without bringing Clemson along. They're my favorite rivalry.

At the end of the day I'd rather stay in the ACC and help it become the Pac-10 of the east coast than join the SEC and either throw academics out of the window or be a mostly also-ran. If we're destined to move to this super-conference BS, let's have the ACC go on the offensive instead and pick up USC-e, UF, Cuse, Pitt, PSU, etc.

 

[ND_jacket]

I have literally no interest what-so-ever in playing the Big Ten based on the Orange Bowl. I watched an offense that would make even Chan Gailey giggle with it's unimaginative, vanilla, precocious play ... which is bad enough before we bring Wommack's epic fail into the equation. Most of the Big Ten plays that way.

Maybe we're the team to force them out of the doldrums. GT and Mizzou would bring some offensive approaches not present in that league. Could be very interesting. (Yes, we would all die of boredom waiting for the old guard there to stop playing not to lose, but Tech would probably get lots of Rose Bowl appearances.)

Until the first half of student-athlete becomes something other than a laughable fraud in the SEC, I have a very very hard time imagining GT being able to compete for SEC championships with any sort of regularity. Sure GT has done well against the SEC under Paul Johnson. But he hasn't played LSU yet. Or Bama. Or Florida. Moreover, I would refuse to go to the SEC without bringing Clemson along. They're my favorite rivalry.

I see you share my selective memory.

At the end of the day I'd rather stay in the ACC and help it become the Pac-10 of the east coast than join the SEC and either throw academics out of the window or be a mostly also-ran. If we're destined to move to this super-conference BS, let's have the ACC go on the offensive instead and pick up USC-e, UF, Cuse, Pitt, PSU, etc.

The issue is that the Tobacco Road Mafia and their man Swofford won't do this. They're happy with what they have and would be happy losing four schools, picking up the good basketball teams from what remains of the Big East, and moving on. The ACC and the Big 12 are pretty similar in their passivity to this whole process. Really, I can't even imagine Swofford issuing an ultimatum about declaring allegiance to the league if, say, FSU and Clempsen started to be talked about very seriously as SEC targets. (They're clearly SEC targets if they decide to expand, the question is more about how serious is the SEC about expanding.)

 

[SoCal Jacket]

While trying to research my SEC v. Big 10 revenue question from above, I came across this Columbus (Ohio / Ohio State) article from back on May 23. However, I have not seen it mentioned and it points out Georgia Tech's AAU membership and the strategic importance to the Big 10. Also, the end of the article lists all AAU members by conference.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...academic-coalition-is-key-but-what-is-it.html

Big Ten expansion: Academic coalition is key, but what is it?


Sunday, May 23, 2010 2:59 AM

By Bill Rabinowitz



THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In the five months since the Big Ten announced it would explore expansion, one organization has seen its profile raised more than perhaps any other group.

The irony is that the organization - the Association of American Universities - has nothing to do with sports.
"My Google alerts for 'AAU' have gone up considerably," said Barry Toiv, the AAU's vice president for public affairs.

"Every story about Big Ten expansion mentions the AAU now. It has certainly put it on the sports pages, where I don't think it's ever been before."
​

That's because membership in the prestigious AAU is considered almost essential for any candidate for the Big Ten.

"I think it's very important to our presidents and to our league," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said last week at the Big Ten meetings in Chicago.
​

The only exception is probably Notre Dame, whose academic reputation would probably earn it a pass.
All 11 Big Ten schools are AAU members. No other league has all of its members in the AAU, which comprises 61 U.S. universities and two in Canada.
Until recently, the only AAU many sports fans recognized was the unrelated Amateur Athletic Union, which trumpets itself on its website as the "real AAU."

Though college basketball coaches rely on the Amateur Athletic Union as a pipeline for recruits, the Association of American Universities serves as a conduit to a more important end. Among other things, it acts as a forum to discuss pressing educational matters and as a lobbying presence to push for federal research funding for all universities.
"These are all major, well-known universities," Toiv said. "When you bring them all together on behalf of an issue, that's pretty powerful."

One issue the AAU tackled recently was the fight to raise the amount of Pell Grant money available to low-income students. In part because of AAU support, the maximum Pell Grant is scheduled to rise from $4,360 in 2008 to $5,975 in 2017.

"We all would be working on that (issue) on our own, but when we can work together, that's eight states (working together)," said Richard Stoddard, Ohio State's associate vice president for government affairs. "There's nothing that the political world likes better than a common approach (saying), 'This is important to us and this is who we all are.'"
​

Presidents from AAU schools meet twice a year. Provosts and other counterparts down the hierarchy also meet regularly.

"These conferences are more than athletic conferences," Stoddard said. "The Big Ten Conference has a lot of joint activities in Washington on policy issues."
​

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith spoke of the possibility of expansion as a way to increase the conference's research synergy "to do some things for our country and our world that need to be focused on. Imagine the schools with cancer centers that could collaborate even better to ultimately find a cure for cancer. There are a lot of different things there."

Adding a non-AAU school would adversely affect the academic culture of the conference. Of the schools most often mentioned to be under consideration by the Big Ten, six are AAU members: Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers.

Georgia Tech is the newest AAU member. It was admitted last month, the AAU's first addition in 10 years. Given Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany's statement Tuesday that the population shift to the South is a driving force behind the consideration of expansion, some eyebrows were raised by Georgia Tech's admission to the AAU. Could the AAU's invitation be a precursor to a Big Ten invitation? If so, it would be strictly coincidental. First, membership to the AAU is by invitation only. Schools cannot apply for consideration.

As for interest in or by the Big Ten, a school spokesman said Georgia Tech has not been contacted by the conference.

"If we receive a call or are approached, we'll consider it at that time," said Jim Fetig, associate vice president of communications and marketing.
​

There was no such indecisiveness when the invitation from the AAU came.
"There were a lot of handshakes, a few backslaps, a lot of brows that were wiped," Fetig said. "There was a sense of euphoria."

That might sum up how membership in the AAU is viewed in the academic community.

"It's being told by your peers that you are among the very best," Fetig said. brabinowitz@dispatch.com Association of American Universities

​

63 MEMBER SCHOOLS (WITH YEAR JOINED)

BIG TEN (11)

Michigan 1900
Wisconsin 1900
Illinois 1908
Minnesota 1908
Indiana 1909
Iowa 1909
Ohio State1916
Northwestern 1917
Penn State 1958
Purdue 1958
Michigan State 1964

IVY LEAGUE (7)

Columbia 1900
Cornell 1900
Harvard 1900
Princeton 1900
Pennsylvania 1900
Yale 1900
Brown 1933

PACIFIC 10 (7)

California 1900
Stanford 1900
Washington 1950
Oregon 1969
Southern California 1969
UCLA 1974
Arizona 1985

BIG 12 (7)

Missouri 1908
Kansas 1909
Nebraska 1909
Texas 1929
Iowa State 1958
Colorado 1966
Texas A&M 2001

ATLANTIC COAST (5)

Virginia 1904
North Carolina 1922
Duke 1938
Maryland 1969
Georgia Tech 2010

BIG EAST (3)

Syracuse 1966
Pittsburgh 1974
Rutgers 1989

CONFERENCE USA (2)

Tulane 1958
Rice 1985

SOUTHEASTERN (2)
Vanderbilt 1950
Florida 1985

OTHERS (19)

Chicago 1900

Washington University 1923

McGill 1926
University of Toronto 1926
Cal Tech 1934
MIT 1934
Rochester 1941
New York University 1950
Case Western Reserve 1969
Carnegie Mellon 1982
UC San Diego 1982
Brandeis 1985
SUNY-Buffalo 1989
Emory 1995
UC Santa Barbara 1995
UC Davis 1996
UC Irvine 1996
Stony Brook 2001