College Football News: Iowa State to Big Ten

ChosenChildren

ChosenChildren

Well-Known Member
College Football News is running an article by Pete Fiutak (a pretty good writer, IMO) predicting an 18 team Big Ten Super Conference including Iowa State in Iowa's division. The Super Conferences then lead to a national playoff. I thought this was an interesting concept. Before you laugh it off, consider this:

1. It cements the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry game and takes it to a new level.
2. Iowa State is a very strong academic institution, and therefore a good fit.
3. Iowa State is a natural border rival for Nebraska and Minnesota.

It seems far-fetched, but maybe not so much when you consider that the Big Ten is going to keep expanding. The article mentioned that the other teams would be Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Missouri (all very logical, IMO).

I think the flaw in the article is that Iowa State doesn't bring a lot of new TVs to the conference, but that is probably not so important if those other teams come in.

I'm not sure it would be a great thing for the Hawks, but we compete against them in recruiting anyway (remember, they are a member of a very good Big 12 conference), so perhaps it would be at worst a "neutral" for Iowa.

I'm interested in what others think. Jon Miller, what do you think of this article (sorry, I'm computer illiterate, so I don't have the link; just Google College Football News and you'll see the article as the lead today).
 
Must have been a slow day for Pete! I, too, have Google Maps and can make up lists of teams that make sense for some reason or another if I get bored at work. However, only one reason really matters. $$$

Pitt brings nothing to the Big10. No added market, and very few fans.
Rutgers is access to the NY city market. But, do they have any fans?
Syracuse is access to the NY state market, which is shrinking.
Notre Dame make great sense, but they have zero interest.
Missouri makes sense, locks up StL and adds KC to the footprint.

Iowa State makes less sense than any of the other five. They bring nothing. Pete just lumped them in because he realized that if Mizzou and Nebraska are in the Big10, Iowa State is going to need a new home too. He should have just stuck them in the MAC.
 
Iowa State, Rutgers, and Syracuse bring nothing to the B10. These programs aren't competitive in their respective conferences and will be more uncompetitive in the B10.

Pitt could be competitive but that is all they bring to the mix. They add nothing market wise or recruiting wise.

Missouri makes sense. But would the B10 want to increase to 13 or 14 teams unless its big name like Notre Dame? I don't think so.
 
And IF the Big10 moves to 20 teams maybe UNI will be invited?

The Big 10 is not going to invite a team unless that program has something to offer other than a hungry mouth. Iowa easily already attracts the majority of fans in Iowa. Does this guy really think the Big10 would invite the clowns just to "cement a rivalry" and a rivalry that basically is incredibly one sided. So what would the clowns have to offer? Not a football program.

The Big 10 is not going to offer an invitation to a school if that school is going to hurt one of the present schools. Plus Iowa would never vote for it...not in a hundred years.

Iowa would have everything to lose and the inept clown program everything to gain. It would make absolutely no financial sense whatsoever to invite the clowns.

The Big 10 is all about getting into new markets to MAKE money, not invite teams where the market is already dominated by one team. There are many other teams that the Big10 would invite, LONG before it invites the clowns.
 
I have been an advocate of the superconference model since it first came up.

I have gone back and forth with the 16 or 18 number. At 18, you would have to add a team or 2 that doesn't really belong. At 16 you leave at least a couple of borderline teams out.

By borderline, I mean teams with the fan and booster support to contribute financially.
 
Here is a key statement made by the Commissioner of the SEC regarding adding a new team, "If we can make more money from our TV contracts, we're probably going to expand."

The Big10 is no different, they are not going to add a team unless that team adds wealth to the coffers. Iowa State would not add or bring anything to the table for the Big10, except again as a hungry mouth to feed.

IF ISU were not already a member of the Big12, and hypothetically, if the Big12 decided to expand, does anyone really think ISU would considered for membership? ISU weighs down the Big12 and adds nothing to the Big12 today. I don't believe that if the Big12 were inviting teams to join their conference, they would not invite ISU...again, why would they? The ISU football program is SO bad and has been historically bad ever since that program was developed.

If the Big 12 would not invite ISU, the Big10 is not about to. Why would the Big 10 invite a perennial decades old doormat?
 
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One thing you need to consider is that a superconference model would leave some teams out of the picture. This would invite legislation. So, you need to have a clear baseline criteria to keep teams out.

Competitiveness is a hard criteria to employ. Because a Boise or SMU that cheats their way into being competitive will always emerge. Particularly if the stakes are this high. I mean why wouldn't you go Boise if it meant you got a permanent seat at the table. Even if, like Boise, you were caught, it would be too late for the NCAA to do anything.
 
I find it very very difficult to believe that the Big10 will go to 18 teams. THAT would destroy the Big10 as a conference. There is absolutely NO reason for conferences to go to 18 teams...none whatsoever.

I also find it difficult that a school like isu could go to court and force a conference to take their sorry a$$.

Any good lawyer could argue to the court about how worthless the clown program is and has been. The courts would laugh the clowns out of town trying to force a conference that wants nothing to do with them, to take them, just because they might be left out.

How about Conference USA, the MWC, or the WAC, even the MAC, do ya think they could go to court and force the Big10, SEC, Big East, or Pac10 to take THEM because THEY might be left? Some schools are just going to be left out if conferences go to 14 or 16 teams.
 
All of those reasons they mentioned is why Iowa State wants to join Big Ten. But what does Iowa State bring and do for the Big Ten?
 
Criteria would have to be overall financial and fan support, and size of onsite student body, etc.

People need to take off their sport fan hat for a second. Some teams that are not all that competitive will have to be included.
 
Is something like this happens with Superconferences across the country, the names will be nothing more than an homage to the past. You're basically talking about Regions for a playoff system (similar to the way the NCAA bball tourney is set up).

Iowa State will never be invited to join the BIG TEN as we know it. But if a Midwest superconference is put together, it may include all the BCS teams in our region.
 
CAARHawk said:
Criteria would have to be overall financial and fan support, and size of onsite student body, etc.

People need to take off their sport fan hat for a second. Some teams that are not all that competitive will have to be included.

Also, New Mex Hawk, you need to understand that you would be talking about a closed monopoly whereby teams outside the superconferences would be locked out. Courts don't look upon that sort of thing lightly. You would have to prove that you have a system that is not merely based on subjective criteria. For instance, why let in Duke or Wake Forest, or Indiana for that matter and not an ISU when it comes to football?

Even if the courts didn't overturn the system, you can bet there would be some legislators that would try to get involved. So, you would need to have pretty tight criteria.

This whole thing would have to be constructed in a way where the Ball States', Arkansas States', and such would also benefit. Perhaps a revenue system where the non-superconference leagues shared some of the massive profits such a system would offer. Or, perhaps NCAA negotiated regional television contracts.
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The NCAA would have to step in and force conferences to take teams in order for this to happen. I just cannot see the NCAA doing this.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
Is something like this happens with Superconferences across the country, the names will be nothing more than an homage to the past. You're basically talking about Regions for a playoff system (similar to the way the NCAA bball tourney is set up).

Iowa State will never be invited to join the BIG TEN as we know it. But if a Midwest superconference is put together, it may include all the BCS teams in our region.
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Yep, you are right - to an extent.

The NCAA basketball tournament is set up after the regular season. This system would incorporate the regular season. You would play your regular regional competition for the right to make it to the championship.

I would expect two divisions in each conference with the winner of the championship game for each conference heading to the four team two-tiered bowl system to come up with a champion.

So, unlike the meaningless regular season in basketball, the football regular season would be extremely important.
 
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ssckelley said:
The NCAA would have to step in and force conferences to take teams in order for this to happen. I just cannot see the NCAA doing this.
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The NCAA would cease to exist for D1 athletics (might exist for 1AA, D2, and D3) as these "super" conferences would break away from the NCAA and form their own governing body. So the NCAA wouldn't have say in anything.
 
hawkeyescott said:
The NCAA would cease to exist for D1 athletics (might exist for 1AA, D2, and D3) as these "super" conferences would break away from the NCAA and form their own governing body. So the NCAA wouldn't have say in anything.
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If that happens, those schools can kiss their tax-exempt status goodbye, I think. That'll be a pretty big deterrent to going BIG.
 
tm3308 said:
If that happens, those schools can kiss their tax-exempt status goodbye, I think. That'll be a pretty big deterrent to going BIG.
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True, but when you factor in how much money can be made from a football playoff and March Madness that they would get to keep it just might be worth it.

Even losing a tax exempt status schools can still make a lot more money then they currently are.
 
hawkeyescott said:
The NCAA would cease to exist for D1 athletics (might exist for 1AA, D2, and D3) as these "super" conferences would break away from the NCAA and form their own governing body. So the NCAA wouldn't have say in anything.
Click to expand...

You realize the teams in the superconferences would basically run the NCAA, right? Kind of like they do now.
 
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