TAMU Eagle wrote:Hall2012 wrote:phphphonograph wrote:Just want to get your guy's input on this. Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion? With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk about them?
First let me be clear, I am not in favor of expansion that this point. I think the Big East has a great thing going right now and I see no need to mess with it.
That being said, to answer your question of who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk about them down the road - the only answer that comes to mind for me is St. Louis. The reason being they are the only candidate mentioned here who checks off every box that isn't fixable.
- Private School? Check.
- Urban Location? Check
- Geographic Fit? Check.
- Major media (and excellent sports) market? Check.
- Big East Quality Arena? Check.
- Untapped Market for BE? Check.
School that's about to go bankrupt? Check
Terrible basketball program? Check
No fan base? Check
Big East doesn't care about schools being Private or Urban. They want quality basketball programs that will drive eyeballs to FS1 and schools with the finances to make investments in their athletics. There are currently no basketball only schools that fit this bill. Dayton and VCU might be the closest but are not expansion worthy at this time.
The college sport landscape will look very different 8 years from now. If UConn drops football, grab them. But other than that? Wait for the next round of realignment/lawsuits against football programs/safety concerns for football players to pass and see who is available. We are no rush.
Actually, the Big East does care about those things. They've made clear that they are interested in a conference of "like minded institutions." And if you would bother to read, you would see the discussion was about long term potential, not present viability. Also, if you look at my statements you cut off when you quoted me, you'd see that I said they'd need to bring their basketball program to a competitive level. It's an obvious qualification, but one they're in control of, and if they do that, the fan base will follow. The financial situation is also something that they can get under control.
The points you mention obviously make adding SLU today a poor choice. My point, however, is that the school is basically the only one that had all of the uncontrollable aspects that the Big East is interested in. So I maintain, if SLU can bring it's basketball program to a competitive level, it has the long term potential to force the Big East to consider it should the league choose to expand.