Archived Topic

Big East Ultimatum to Notre Dame

by Mars · 6/6/2010

Mars

6/6/2010, 6:01:10 PM

On a different board, I read a suggestion that the Big east should make an ultimatum to Notre Dame: Join the conference in all sports or leave. Which made no sense at all to me at first. Then I thought about it.

Either the Domers accept (good for BE football), or they leave and join the Big Ten. And if Notre Dame asks to join the Big Ten, they're in. Once the Big Ten is at 12, has a championship game, and has the Notre Dame presence in the north-east (including New York), would the conference school Presidents really vote to expand further, taking Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, etc? There's no way. The BE would save themselves from a raid. And if the Big Ten stays at 12, likely the SEC and ACC will as well.

Also, losing Notre Dame gives BE football schools an 8-7 voting advantage over the basketball-only schools. They can vote to split the conference. That gives them the ability to pick up any Big XII leftovers down the road, like Kansas.

Mingjai

6/6/2010, 7:58:38 PM

From the Big East's standpoint, it's a pretty good strategy, because I don't think the Big Ten wants to expand beyond Notre Dame.

The real question that could undermine the strategy is if Notre Dame can survive as an independent in all athletics. I'm guess the answer is no, so the next question is would ND be willing to join the A-10 or C-USA in other sports. Probably not. Or the other alternative is for Notre Dame to round up the non-football members of the Big East--e.g., Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette, St. John's, etc.--and start a new, non-football conference. This alternative is more realistic.

That said, imagine the Big East with Kansas instead of Notre Dame--that would be even more of a killer basketball conference than it already is.

CougarPeasant

6/6/2010, 8:15:18 PM

Notre Dame would be better off joining the Big Ten and be done with it. The problem is that ND still thinks its a dominate player in college football, but other than one close loss to USC, its done nothing the past ten years to merit its BCS standing. Even when it made it to the BCS bowl games, it was embarrassed and never should have been invited. Its so bad that ESPN now lumps ND with the rest of the NonAQ programs in its reporting.

Further, ND would stand to make alot more money as a member of the Big 10 than it does with its exclusive TV deal with NBC. Yet, ND clings to that independence not because they expect more money, but because always being on TV gives ND extra marketing exposure that more than compensates for the lost revenue by not joining any conference for football and only being on TV 2-4 times a year, instead of the 8-9 times they currently are. (The away games with Mich and Mich St are always nationally televised, as is the game with USC.)

Notre Dame could put an end to all this crazy talk about super conferences by joining the Big 10, then that brings us back to the PAC 10 wanting to get to 12 teams and their only recourse would be to add ewetah and Colorado, which would then create an opening in the Big 12 for BYU, so we are right back to where were were two weeks ago.

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