Big East long term future

[104pleasant]

With the shifting sands of conference realignment occurring I wonder what my fellow Hoya fans believe the Big East Conference will be when conference realignment ends.

Will realignment reduce the Big East brand?
Will the Big East be able to retain MSG for its tournament?
Will UConn be leaving the Big East?
Will the Big East expand?
How will conference realignment impact TV negotiations?
Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

[thedragon]

I honestly think it will have very minimal effect. Will Uconn leave to help their football program? Will the Big East ever convince themselves that Gonzaga is worth the geographic difficulties in other sports? That's really the beginning and end of the discussion in my mind. And Uconn or not likely doesn't change the future TV deal $$, as the new Big East has proven itself a valuable basketball property in a climate where a lot of competitors are interested in live content.

[njhoya78]

It's looking, more and more, like UConn is going to be staying put. Not that they necessarily want to do so, but the Big 12 Conference members seem more interested in expanding to fourteen teams only, bu adding Arizona (perhaps as early as Tuesday). The dreadful state of the Connecticut football team seems to be the reason why the Big 12 is less interested than it might have seemed days ago.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on the ACC. Rumors all around tonight that the Big Ten is about to poach both Clemson and Florida State.

[104pleasant]

Jul 31, 2023 22:00:17 GMT -5 njhoya78 said:

Meanwhile, keep an eye on the ACC. Rumors all around tonight that the Big Ten is about to poach both Clemson and Florida State.

It will be interesting to see how any exiting ACC teams get around the Grant of Rights.

I will be surprised if the B1G takes Clemson. 

I always thought that UVA, UMiami, and UNC would be more attractive B1G candidates than Clemson.

[hoyaguy]

I think the BE is fine and will be for awhile despite some alarmists. Uconn (who is not essential) seems like they are staying put for now as there are far more valuable schools still out there for the Big 12 to acquire, so as much as their fans want to think they can actually compete in football right now, they don't seem like they are gonna get their shot. I think their best hope in that regard is a very weakened ACC that has been picked apart. The focus of basketball is our strength and key to the stability of the league, Xavier isn't gonna suddenly decide to try to join a power conference in football and with Wright gone, the Villanova brand, at least for now, is weaker where it would not be worth it to bring them in. But also we should extend the Big 12 battle for many years as it is good for perception and schedules that we yearly do a set up battle against a conference that, while focuses on football, clearly emphasizes and is elite in basketball. I think the bigger the two "super conferences" get, they might play more league games so might as well align with the Big 12 since we share some values.

And regarding MSG I think it is secure especially with Pitino being at St John's (especially if they get consistently good again), along with Uconn and Seton hall basically surrounding NYC, it just makes too much sense compared to the other conferences especially considering the history and excitement around that tournament specifically.

Also even if the ACC implodes tomorrow, do not expand, just why even bother messing with the league in that manner. Only exception would be Duke but extremely doubtful about that. Just gotta keep doing the what BE is doing with everyone always trying to get the best coach talent possible and pushing for success.

[hoyaguy]

And regarding the Big 12, I actually kinda respect them and want them to do well, as in poaching from the Pac 12, because only having the Big 10 and SEC be the only two "super conferences" would be kind of dumb. So hats off to them if they can scoop Colorado and Arizona this Summer. Also, I am no expert, but if they stop at 14 teams, I can see that being a signal they are waiting for the ACC to come apart at some point to acquire more teams in the East such as Pitt to improve their spread for current/future (ex. WVU/Cinnci) members since after Arizona the Pac 12 would be just 8 teams and not a threat so they can play the long game to see who is available.

[RockawayHoya]

Conference re-alignment will really only end once the B10 and SEC become the two super conferences they've always aspired to be. I think at this point, it's hard to envision a path where this isn't the endgame.

The Pac-12 is basically dead. With Oregon and Washington heading to the B10 later today and Arizona/ASU/Utah B12 bound, that leaves 4 teams left in the current Pac-12: Stanford, Cal, Washington St., and Oregon St. I'm sure they might be able to sell the Mountain West on merging and rebranding as the new Pac-12, but by and large that is no longer what anyone would consider a major conference. Hard to envision some kind of partnership with the ACC considering: a) logistics, and b) the ACC is likely tearing apart at the seams too, so those 4 schools are either looking for a lifeline within the "Big 3" or will go the MWC route.

Don't think this round of re-alignment is going to impact the BE much from a brand standpoint, but the gulf between the have (i.e. major football schools) and have-nots (i.e. everyone else) continues to grow. That shouldn't be surprising to anyone, but whoever is running Georgetown NIL better realize what they are going up against in the long-term and have a plan to keep up. The Big East's best path towards survival remains focusing on the one thing it does better than arguably anyone else: basketball. Because of that, I have a hard time believing we'll expand. No one wants a watered-down product. Keep amassing talent and championships while building on the rivalries that are quickly dying out in CFB, and you'll have a product that will continue to win on and off the court. That's where the hoopers of tomorrow will get excited about and flock to. Hoping the next round of TV negotiations will reflect that. Staying on major networks will be crucial; we just saw the Pac-12 basically die because of an ill-fated deal with Apple TV that was tied to subscription rates, etc. Val and friends need to make sure that it's as easy as possible for as many eyeballs to be on our conference's games.

Will UConn leave? My gut says no, but I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong. If I were them, I wouldn't dare do it. Why go through the trouble of winning this round of musical chairs just to guarantee yourself that you'll be perpetually playing the musical chair game until you're left without a seat? Because with their football pedigree, that's exactly what will happen. It will soon happen to BC. Maybe even Syracuse and Pitt. The Big East did them a tremendous favor taking them back once. It likely will not do it a second time.

In 5-10 years, there's going to be 2 major football conferences that will look a lot like the current NFC/AFC makeup in pro football. Anyone not in that magical group of 64 or so teams better look to focus elsewhere outside of CFB if they want their AD to remain financially viable long-term. A school like Stanford, with all of its money and academic/athletic excellence, is finding out the hard way now. I do think Stanford eventually finds its way somewhere into that group of 64, but this whole episode just goes to show you how meaningless anything that isn't football is to a lot of athletic departments and universities.

[daveg023]

Football should have long broken away to be a standalone entity outside of conferences and the ncaa. The fact that all sports now are impacted by these moves is sad. The “Super 60” has long been a topic, it’s just a shame it comes at the expense of basketball and every other sport. Not sure you can put the genie back in the bottle at this point and return to rational geographic conferences for all these other sports.

For basketball purposes this is not ideal. Conference schedules will be a bear and preseason tournaments tough to figure out. Then in March does 3/4 of the SEC and B10 get at large bids now? Just a sad downstream impact of the almighty football $. It truly could have been done in isolation and not have dragged basketball down with it.

[CTHoya08]

It’s sad that this is being done “for football,” yet it’s actually ruining college football in the process.

[calhoya]

What is comical about this is that a Stanford is left out of the expansion while schools from major conferences, like Vanderbilt, Kansas, Rutgers etc. are in the so-called football elite even though these schools have nowhere near the football success as Stanford. Best case for the Mountain West is to merge with the survivors of the PAC-12. It would be a decent and improving football conference and an increasingly powerful conference in basketball and the Olympic sports.

[hoyaguy]

Aug 4, 2023 16:03:57 GMT -5 calhoya said:

What is comical about this is that a Stanford is left out of the expansion while schools from major conferences, like Vanderbilt, Kansas, Rutgers etc. are in the so-called football elite even though these schools have nowhere near the football success as Stanford. Best case for the Mountain West is to merge with the survivors of the PAC-12. It would be a decent and improving football conference and an increasingly powerful conference in basketball and the Olympic sports.

Yea it is pretty funny to see a lot of people clowning on Stanford for being stuck up about the "academic status" of the Pac 12 as reason to reject various schools that could've helped the Pac's survival. Now the shoe seems to be very much on the other foot and Uconn football fans have to wait a little longer before running to another conference to get stomped lol

[Lethal_Interjection]

[hoyaguy]

Aug 4, 2023 17:34:43 GMT -5 Lethal_Interjection said:

None of the above unless Syracuse stays consistently good in basketball and they sign on with a big poison pill along with the media deal actually being bumped up enough. Other than that, why expand more? Especially now that at least for the time being, Uconn is staying put so the 20 game round robin is staying which I like. 

[thedragon]

If I'm Val Ackerman I'm doing due diligence on Gonzaga to see how the Financials work for low revenue generating sports and then just sitting back and letting this football carousel play out.

Would it shock anyone if the end result was:

UNC. Virginia. Clemson. Florida State. to get SEC to 20.

VA Tech. Pitt. Louisville. Miami. To get Big 12 to 20.

Stanford or Cal and Notre Dame to get Big10 to 20.

That would leave Cuse. Duke. BC. Wake Forest. NC State. And Georgia Tech with a very interesting decision. Join a Frankenstein American Conference that is basically the Pac-12 and ACC leftovers with the current American teams to make their own 20 team Conference. Or create a smaller football only East coast league and go Big East in everything else.

I dont think this scenario is nearly as far fetched as it feels typing it out.

[hsaxon]

Jul 31, 2023 20:50:56 GMT -5 thedragon said:

I honestly think it will have very minimal effect. Will Uconn leave to help their football program? Will the Big East ever convince themselves that Gonzaga is worth the geographic difficulties in other sports? That's really the beginning and end of the discussion in my mind. And Uconn or not likely doesn't change the future TV deal $$, as the new Big East has proven itself a valuable basketball property in a climate where a lot of competitors are interested in live content.

I hope UConn leaves.

[3xhoya]

I am going to preface this by stating I hate football. It is the worst of our major sports. 3.5 hours plus for 10 minutes of action and an arrogant fan base that belittles every other sport.

I can’t stand how money has ruined college sports by chasing the almighty football dollar. At the end of all of this we will likely wind up with two super conferences. The sad part is the same 6-8 teams will compete for a championship each year and this movement will mean nothing. Meanwhile everyone else will be digging in their claws just to get the scraps from those teams.

The UConn admin knows they will never compete with Alabama, OSU etc. They just want their paycheck and they don’t care at all about the non-revenue sports and the detrimental effects these moves have for them.

[BeantownHoya]

[DanMcQ]

[Bigs"R"Us]

One day Syracuse, BC and Duke will be in the Big East ✌🏼

[hoyaatheart55]

Would absolutely take Syracuse back. Make the rivalry actually mean something again. Both teams getting good again is of course the first step towards that.