So why Maryland and Rutgers thinking B1G: It's Fox Stupid

[arbitragegls]

As promised, here is my latest update...surely not as specific as some would like, but as someone during football game indicated...dig deep arbi...so i have:

...and so it goes with $$$$ for athletics. A quick history lesson just received from my source (also indicated, stay calm and watch the outcome over next several months)...
Fox, owned by Murdoch happens to own a large percentage of the BTN (B1g Network). So what is the big deal...Murdoch has/is negotiating a significant share of YES...that is right, the NY Yankee cable system that includes the Yankees, Nets, and Madison Square Garden...as well as Fox Sports.

Importantly, YES is in 15,000,000 homes and provides significant POTENTIAL carriage for the BGN. Now why Maryland and Rutgers. First Maryland:
1. Maryland is in a poor financial position. Just dropped 7 athletic teams in olympic sports and needs an infusion of $$$ to basically stay afloat. This has been know for some time. Additionally, Maryland has Under Armour as an alumn who just recently sold $65,000,000 in shares...and could help Maryland move conferences if necessary.
--Maryland is in need of $$$$$ for its athletic teams and the B1G and BGN will provide that...it is purely a MONEY move if it happens.
--Addtitionally Maryland is a CIC institution like many in the B1G so from a research perspective it meets the core of the B1G well...
2. Rutgers wants out of the BE and needs dollars also. Rutgers is thought by Fox to provide a college sports entire to the NYC market and to the 15,000,000 Yes subscribers.

So does this go down...probably better than 50-50; especially since Maryland has not discussed much with the ACC in past month. Also, it was noted by Notre Dame no big deal if Maryland leaves...Notre Dame eventually will come in full to the ACC.

So what teams are being considered...and must indicate nothing may happen in very near future if Maryland leaves...lots of exit fee $$$ to play with as well as shaking out and determining which teams would replace/fit Maryland. Interestingly, the following suspects have discussed potential association with the ACC (not in any order of priority):
1. Navy
2. Vandy
3 Uconn
4. Louisville
5. number of other universities...several in other major conferences

The feeling is that a university with a known football team is preferred in order to keep FSU and Clemson happy...and academics may have to be brushed aside a bit especially if a university is demonstrating good growth in academics that would indicate its academic image will rise over time.

Discuss!

 

[Jeepers]

If ND was going to go all-in, they'd have to do it right now. At the very least, tell UM "Sit tight, give us some time." If UM leaves and ND doesn't announce all-in like the next day (doubt it!), then watch out.

Granted, only looked at one UM board, but they seem much, much warmer to the B10 idea than people have been saying they were.

 

[Toga]

Would love Vandy. What about West Virginia?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I mean no disrespect to the service academies, but Navy has no place in a major conference.

If the ACC really is looking that way we're basically back in the Big East. :bang:

 

[cuseguy]

Would love Vandy. What about West Virginia?

Thumbs down to both. Syracuse would be stuck in the Northeast with BC and Pitt. UConn is much better fit.

 

[Noexcuse]

Sucks to be Cinci. Unless the Big12 swoops in quickly and bags them and Lousiville,

 

[arbitragegls]

I mean no disrespect to the service academies, but Navy has no place in a major conference.

If the ACC really is looking that way we're basically back in the Big East. :bang:

Easy on that..helps out Notre Dame and also brings a middling (no pun intended) football school in...better than Duke

 

[DoctorBombay]

If ND was going to go all-in, they'd have to do it right now. At the very least, tell UM "Sit tight, give us some time." If UM leaves and ND doesn't announce all-in like the next day (doubt it!), then watch out.

Granted, only looked at one UM board, but they seem much, much warmer to the B10 idea than people have been saying they were.

This^^^
Unless its already being done behind the scenes. Again, we find ourselves in a situation where ND holds the ultimate fate of an entire conference in its grubby little hands.
I see no incentive for ND to "save" the ACC, other than to hold it together so they can continue to have access as an indy. Whatever stature the ACC has or the level of the teams, ND is STILL getting what they want, so why change?
If they were serious about going "All In" (apologies to Paula Broadwell), they'd let the powers-that-be know it, so that MD could bide their time. I have no faith that thats what's going on here. :bang:

 

[arbitragegls]

This^^^
Unless its already being done behind the scenes. Again, we find ourselves in a situation where ND holds the ultimate fate of an entire conference in its grubby little hands.
I see no incentive for ND to "save" the ACC, other than to hold it together so they can continue to have access as an indy. Whatever stature the ACC has or the level of the teams, ND is STILL getting what they want, so why change?
If they were serious about going "All In" (apologies to Paula Broadwell), they'd let the powers-that-be know it, so that MD could bide their time. I have no faith that thats what's going on here. :bang:

patience is a virtue and I dont have it either...newest factoid which is depressing: It has been said that B1G will pay fee to Maryland to help defray cost of exit from ACC...this is now getting out of hand.

 

[Upstate]

Told yall he would post it later.

 

[Chip]

Thumbs down to both. Syracuse would be stuck in the Northeast with BC and Pitt. UConn is much better fit.

You vote for your local team and I'll vote for mine. Go Navy. At least mine won't be competing with us for recruits.

Actually, there are no good options other than ND going all in.

 

[Chip]

Ol' double posting tapatalk. Fun.

 

[Chris02M]

The feeling is that a university with a known football team is preferred in order to keep FSU and Clemson happy...and academics may have to be brushed aside a bit especially if a university is demonstrating good growth in academics that would indicate its academic image will rise over time.

sounds a lot like louisville to me.
navy should only become realistic add if notre dame says there joining for football in year X

 

[obliterata]

Granted, only looked at one UM board, but they seem much, much warmer to the B10 idea than people have been saying they were.

Yeah. Contrary to popular belief there are a lot of Terps who wouldn't mind leaving, it's not like 90+% want to stay.

 

[Orangefan1]

We are screwed. This conference is going to be the Big East all over again. It is also why I thought 4 years ago when this nonsense was being discussed that I said we should try to get in the Big Ten. Let the defections begin.

 

[kingottoiii]

Fraud

 

[mantonio]

This is all speculation.

I can't see the Big10 wanting Rutgers. They are NOT a NYC school ! Syracuse is more popular in the City than the Rutgirls.

They need to stay in their own state & build from there.

 

[Orangefan1]

It can't just be speculation at this point and Swofford should of known this was coming. I can't see how he didn't know it was. He should be aggressive and go for a few of the Big Twelve schools and maybe GTown to shore up the DC area. Even though GTown sucks!

 

[chakka3421]

Until the music stops, people just need to stop panicking - if Maryland is making a business decision, well good for them. For Rutgers, its a no brainer. Swofford has been a genius so far so let's just wait & see.

Orangefan1 - you don't get it - ACC is a football conference so Gtown is out of luck.

 

[omniorange]

Maybe I'm being dense but I don't see the FOX/YES connection. The BTN is a separate channel. It's not as though BTN programming will appear on YES, is it? So are you saying that YES will leave cable companies in NYC if they don't carry the BTN as well?

Cheers,
Neil

 

[orange79]

This is all speculation.

I can't see the Big10 wanting Rutgers. They are NOT a NYC school ! Syracuse is more popular in the City than the Rutgirls.

They need to stay in their own state & build from there.

They don't want Rutgers for their athletic prowess. Rutgers stepped in because of their location. 15M households where the BTN can charge more per HH than they get now. Same in the DC area.

 

[Jeepers]

Although I'm in the doomsday scenario camp, and always wanted to join the B10, I still think we'll be alright when all is said and done. We represent the great state of NY. That counts for something. Who knows. They may go to 20 team conferences some day. Just gotta keep winning and worry about us.

 

[NKR1978]

Until the music stops, people just need to stop panicking - if Maryland is making a business decision, well good for them. For Rutgers, its a no brainer. Swofford has been a genius so far so let's just wait & see.

Agreed. The more I think about it, our worst case scenario is Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia and ? to the big. UNC and Va Tech to the SEC. At that point the Pac, the third completely stable conference, has to expand and picks off Oklahoma, Oklahoma state, Texas and Texas tech.

That would leave the Big 12 and ACC leftovers and still gets you Clemson, WVU, Kansas, K State, TCU, Florida State, Georgia Tech. NC State, etc. That wouldn't be a bad conference.

Even if the Big 12 expands first it is always going to be the Pac's only possible expansion target, and it will always be at risk.

The ACC needs to take Louisville. Would be an upgrade over Maryland in every way except market, and really Virginia and tech bring in DC equally as much as Maryland does.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[omniorange]

They don't want Rutgers for their athletic prowess. Rutgers stepped in because of their location. 15M households where the BTN can charge more per HH than they get now. Same in the DC area.

The state of New Jersey is basically two DMAs, NYC and Philly. They already have Philly at a reduced rate because of PSU. So I get the thinking here that both Maryland and Rutgers with PSU could get them full price in Philly. But, for NYC, they did this analysis back in 2010 and supposedly found that Rutgers (even with PSU) wouldn't get them full price in NYC. Are they going to settle for partial price now when back in 2010 they didn't? And is Maryland truly strong enough to get the BTN on at full price in DC?

It's going to be interesting to see what happens.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[kingottoiii]

Maybe I'm being dense but I don't see the FOX/YES connection. The BTN is a separate channel. It's not as though BTN programming will appear on YES, is it? So are you saying that YES will leave cable companies in NYC if they don't carry the BTN as well?

Cheers,
Neil

Dude a guy from NC St would not know what an Australian's motives or plans for broadcasting are. In addition MSG and YES are RIVAL networks and have nothing to do with each other. MSG is owned by Cablevision. Also as you state games on the BTN are shown only on the BTN. That is the whole point of the BTN. The BTN is not like the BE Network where they produce games and then sell them to regional networks like SNY. Anyone in the know would certainly be aware of this and never claim that FOX wants to put BTN games on YES. That is laughable. And MD isn't a CIC scholl lol. It seems the more and more "info" we get from this "source" the more and more my BS meter goes off.

I still don't believe MD is leaving. Again people need to think like people in academia and not like GMs or network CEOs. The people making the decisions care first and formost about academics not TV ratings and a few extra bucks. If you are a decision maker at Michigan you need to be convinced to add MD and RU. IMO that is a very hard sell. You better be adding $5 million more to my pocket per year to even get me to the table. So does anyone care to explain how adding MD/RU will keep the ESPN contract at the same per team rate, make up for the difference of splitting BCS/Bowl money an extra two ways, make up for splitting the BTN an extra two ways, make up for splitting ticket revenue and extra two ways with two schools that average under 50k, and add an extra $100 million a year to the B1G and its member schools? I am sorry but it defies logic that adding MD/RU increases the B1G's revenues by nearly $200 million a year. If MD/RU are worth that much than why didn't the ACC add RU and cash in?