Rumors floating everywhere tonight.....

B

BigDaddy

Well-Known Member
....that Pitt will be announced as joining the Big 10 on Thursday, Feb. 4th. I've seen nothing concrete, but a lot of Big 10 forums have a post on the subject. The Pitt boards are littered with this subject.

I think it is a good addition. Good teams in football and basketball. Natural rival for Penn State. Beyond that, I am pretty ignorant on their school, so some more info would help.

Thoughts if it happens?
 
I want ND first, then Texas, then Rutgers...then maybe Pitt. Their programs are ok,but do not add much to the Big Ten coffers. It would set up the east with PSU,Pitt,Mich,MSU,OSU,and IU leaving the West with PU,NW,Minny,Wis,Iowa,Ill...equal in bb,but not so much in football ...good for the Hawks.
 
BigDaddy said:
....that Pitt will be announced as joining the Big 10 on Thursday, Feb. 4th. I've seen nothing concrete, but a lot of Big 10 forums have a post on the subject. The Pitt boards are littered with this subject.

I think it is a good addition. Good teams in football and basketball. Natural rival for Penn State. Beyond that, I am pretty ignorant on their school, so some more info would help.

Thoughts if it happens?
Click to expand...

I did my undergrad at Pitt. Wonderful city. Would make a great road trip for anybody coming from IC. Also, the academics fit the Big Ten. Pitt is a solid research institution.

Fan following: non-existent. Anybody that went to the Iowa/Pitt game in '08 may have noticed a fairly empty stadium and student section. That is normal and has been since Marino graduated.

Personally, I think it would be the wrong team for the Big Ten. Yes, there are advantages, but what does it really bring to the Big Ten? New fans? New Market? No, to both of these. As has been consistently said about Pitt, they are the ideal 12th team for a 12th team's sake.

That said, I can't imagine the Big Ten would have moved this quickly to secure a 12th team.
 
I'm not buying it either, the Big Ten announced a few short weeks ago it was going to take 18 months to look into the situation, which would be in keeping with this type of decision. A pick this quick just doesn't make sense.
 
Point already covered elsewhere but for the sake of repeating ND is happy where they're at as long as they can keep their TV contract. If Kelly can turn them around that contract is safe.

Texas practically owns the BXII and controls a huge chunk of league revenue, absolutely no incentive to drop that to come to the B10 to share with 11 other equals.

Rutgers would be interesting, and my first choice, though I have no idea how they feel. Missouri has not been happy with their bowl matchups in the BXII system, would bring the StL and KC TV markets, and has upgraded all of their facilities.

Then Pitt, as mentioned earlier a good 12th team for the sake of having one.
 
It would be interesting to add 5 teams, including Missouri, Nebraska, Pitt, Rutgers and ND. It would start the domino move to 4 16 team super conferences. Colorado, BYU , Utah and Boise State could head to the Pac10. Then use your imagination on the South and East/SE conferences. Not good for Iowa State, but I'd love to have complete control of the state similar to Nebraska. Let's have the Big10 lead the way into the future.
 
I don't buy it.

First of all, there is NO WAY they would make a decision this quickly. They said 18 months and I believe them.

Secondly, for as much big $$$ that joining the Big Ten would give Pitt for joining, the Big Ten would gain little in return. Penn St. already dominates Pennsylvania and its TV sets. Pitt has a small fan base when compared to other Big Ten schools.

I honestly don't think the Big Ten is going to just add any team (unless it is Notre Dame or Texas) just to get to 12 to get a championship game. Yes, that brings more money and exposure, but not enough to balance out the BIG money and great exposure a team like Pitt would get in return. Adding Pitt alone would be just adding any team simply to get to 12. Not gonna happen.

If they are going to add 3 teams to get to 14, THEN I can see Pitt making sense. They have salty teams and it is a good school. Otherwise there are other schools that make so much more sense if we are only going to 12: Texas, Missouri, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Rutgers, UConn. If Pitt was coming in alone it would say to me that all of these other teams had turned us down, and I don't see that happening. As I said before, I think Texas and Notre Dame would be they only teams that would get an invitation if only one were being offered.

As with most unsubstantiated internet rumors, I will believe it when I see it come true.
 
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18 months is about the time that Pitt would start playing football. Perhaps that is what they were referring to. Nothing is going to happen for next fall, but September 2011 would be the right time frame. If they start this now, there should be no issue having them ready by then. If they wait much longer you're probably going to have to wait until 2012 due to scheduling problems.
 
BigDaddy said:
....that Pitt will be announced as joining the Big 10 on Thursday, Feb. 4th. I've seen nothing concrete, but a lot of Big 10 forums have a post on the subject. The Pitt boards are littered with this subject.

I think it is a good addition. Good teams in football and basketball. Natural rival for Penn State. Beyond that, I am pretty ignorant on their school, so some more info would help.

Thoughts if it happens?
Click to expand...

Personally, I'm against the idea of expansion altogether. I hate the idea of two divisions in football. You move farther and farther away from determining a true champion with each additional conference team that you don't play. I liked KF's idea of dropping a non-conference game and adding a game to play all conference opponents.

I guess if we are going to expand, Pitt wouldn't be too bad of an addition, but I chalk this up to pure rumor at this point.
 
I'd kick a team out (NW) and play nine conference games before I'd expand. I'm sure that won't happen. There wold be extra revenue from a championship game.
 
The Bleacher Report article claims multiple sources, but only alludes to twitter entries about Pitt athletes going to a meeting. Its a pretty big step to go from Pitt student athletes meeting with administrators, to saying that a deal is in place and will be announced this week.

Wouldn't Penn State try to "block" Pitt from getting into the B10 anyway? They don't want their little brother getting bigger and stronger and sharing the same revenue pie. The commish of the B10 wouldn't go for that.
 
Pitt just does not seem to bring much to the table. No new tv's, a blah fan base. I don't see why the Big 10 would want to feed another mouth, and get nothing in return. I'm not buying it.
 
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