Delaney Wants B1G Tourney at MSG and Not a Week Early...

[Hall2012]

The B1G certainly has enough money to throw around that they could give MSG a ludicrous 1 year offer for 2027 (or multi-year offer for a few intermittent seasons that the Big East could never match on a year-by-year basis. At that point, it would come down to just how much hard-ball is the Big East willing to play? If we're soft about it and agree to skip or play early every 3rd or 4th year, then the B1G could possibly be successful. But if we insist on having that week every year or we're moving on completely, I don't think MSG would forego a 10 year contract for a little extra money in year 1. The B1G and ACC both rotate too many venues to be able to go every other on MSG and fill it every season for 10 years, so I can't even see a combined offer that would top the Big East contract.

[GoldenWarrior11]

This is not a threat at all, IMO. The B1G is still very much midwestern-based, and their core embraces Chicago and Indianapolis as tournament host sites. Grabbing Rutgers and Maryland got them a piece of the Northeast market, but not the whole pie. When they held their tournaments in NYC and DC, respectively, the attendance suffered because they moved away from their core. Even by declaring this, Delaney is undoubtedly upsetting it's original and prime market. They can continue to force the issue as much as they want, but they still will never be a NE conference.

The ACC had the same problem. The core Tobacco Road and Southern schools hate having their basketball tournament up North. They, too, are upsetting their core market.

In the end, the Big East is the only conference that can get the attendance and host their tournament yearly at MSG, putting on a giant spectacle in the process. If anything, I would hope that any BE expansion candidates are putting the full court press on their basketball product in the next few years. We have a demand to increase the number of tournament games, as well as supply more fans to college basketball's greatest conference tournament.

[MUBoxer]

First of all, we're not losing MSG. Delany's quote was like a throwaway line from a delusional 70-year-old. Not happening. At most, it's a half-assed PR quote for Delany to poke at the ACC (which has unsuccessfully tried to convince everyone that Brooklyn equals midtown-Manhattan).

Besides, this is the current state of the 14 teams of the Big Ten:

At least half the conference, seven schools, are either complete dregs or are completely forgettable and irrelevant. Remember, this group has to sell itself as something way above and beyond the current local tenant (us) that's sold out MSG for what will be 43 years in 2026.

DREGS with no indication of improvement or anyone giving 2 shits about them:
- Rutgers.
- Penn State.
- Nebraska.
- Northwestern.

FORGETTABLE and/or IRRELEVANT:
- Minnesota.
- Purdue.
- Iowa.

DID NOTHING IN POST-WAR 20TH CENTURY, HAD GOOD RUN RECENTLY WITH ONE COACH WHO IS NOW RETIRED:
- Wisconsin.

HAVE BARELY DONE SQUAT IN 21ST CENTURY, LOCATED IN MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, WITH NO MOJO:
- Indiana.
- Illinois.

SCANDAL-PLAGUED TRAINWRECK:
- Maryland.

SHOULD BE GREAT BUT ALWAYS UNDERACHIEVES:
- Ohio State.

GREAT PROGRAMS WITH COACHES CLOSE TO RETIREMENT, ONE OF WHICH HAS AN ATHLETIC DEPT WITH SCANDALS PILING UP:
- Michigan.
- Michigan State.

This group of 14 has to try to displace the 10 of us. An astonishing zero national championships since 2000. Sold out only 1 session out of 7 during their MSG tourney. Think of that... the B1G can't sell out MSG while it's still a novelty and curiosity... attendance will only get worse as the novelty wears off.

Hey, who doesn't want to go to MSG to watch Purdue take on Northwestern? No one in New York or the northeast gives a shit about 86% of the conference.

First, I never said we're losing MSG, I agree it's just throwaway lines.

Second, I HATE that I have to be the voice of reason to bring us back down to earth here as opposed to blindly throwing shade because we dislike a conference... especially freaking Wisconsin. Maybe I don't understand your "current state of the B1G argument but let me put it like this:

DREGS = Have you heard of Depaul and St Johns? These programs have done about as well as them recently.
Rugers
Penn State
Nebraska
Norwestern

FORGETTABLE AND/OR IRRELEVENT = I'll agree with you however let's also not forget all three have been ranked recently and one of whom has been ranked in the top 10 multiple times recently.
Minnesota
Iowa
Purdue- Your realise they have more appearances in the NCAA tournament than all of us but NOVA and X since the turn of the century. Idk what your standard for irrelevent or forgettable is.

DID NOTHING IN POST-WAR 20TH CENTURY, HAD GOOD RUN RECENTLY WITH ONE COACH WHO IS NOW RETIRED:
Wisconsin- If your logic is that winning a championship is all that matters because they haven't won one since WW2 then realise that 7 of our programs haven't done anything ever. Or you can realise that in that run they managed to put together more FF, E8s, S16s, and tournament appearances than Providence has all time. Also that run was under two coaches Dick Bennett and then Bo Ryan.

SCANDAL PLAGUED TRAINWRECK
Maryland- won't argue here, but even they have a fairly recent championship and final four, more recent than every final four in this conference other than MU, GT, BU, and Nova x3.

SHOULD BE GREAT BUT ALWAYS UNDERACHIEVES:
- Ohio State- Yes they do, and still managed to get as many Final fours in the last 11yrs as 70% of our conference have all time. So what is your standard for great? and what do your consider the 70% of our conference if it's not OSU?

HAVE BARELY DONE SQUAT IN 21ST CENTURY, LOCATED IN MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, WITH NO MOJO:
- Indiana- Again what is your standard for doing something this century? 11 appearances, 2 s16, a runner up?
- Illinois- Actually slightly more success than Indiana.

GREAT PROGRAMS WITH COACHES CLOSE TO RETIREMENT, ONE OF WHICH HAS AN ATHLETIC DEPT WITH SCANDALS PILING UP:
- Michigan
- Michigan State
Until these two are found guilty of anything or their coaches actually retire it seems to me that that's a pretty weak argument.

Again I hate the B1G but an argument that they're a terrible conference either puts us below them or we can actually be rational that as conference we have some great history but Nova's recent success doesn't mean that we as a conference have become kings of the world.

[hoops22]

While it pains me to agree with Stever, I think he's correct that the main threat, is some type of alliance between the B1G and the ACC. I think each would ideally like to be at MSG once every three years. Who knows, they may even suggest three year rotations, with the BE included, with the implied threat if we balked, they'll take it themselves. The inflated opinion some of these conferences have of themselves is mind boggling to me. No one around here gives a rats ass about the B1G conference tournament, outside of alums in the area. Even when the Super Bowl was here a few years back, it didn't generate nearly the buzz that the Yankees do when they're in the World Series. Delaney is delusional if he thinks the City will be on the edge of it's seat because the B1G is coming to town. Nonetheless, it doesn't mean he won't pay up to play here, especially if the ACC partners up with him.

We've seen the P5 do what they can to delegitimize the G5 in football. It would be naive to think they wouldn't take their shot at us too if they can, especially after having won two of the last three national championships. While the ACC remains a southern league and the B1G a midwestern league, both have expressed an interest in broadening their appeal in the northeast, particularly NYC. Right now NYC continues to be a BE town, but I'm uneasy about these southern and midwestern carpetbaggers looking to plant their flag at MSG while hoping to delegitimize us in the process.

[gtmoBlue]

Agree Hoops22.

It would be a mistake to underestimate Delany...even as an old man. He's a crafty adversary.
Our league office should nail the MSG down at the earliest possible opportunity...to forego such anxiety caused by the B1G or ACC encroachment.

[kayako]

All we can do is to strengthen our position by winning and perhaps expand if the right candidates come knocking .

[stever20]

All we can do is to strengthen our position by winning and perhaps expand if the right candidates come knocking .

I think expansion may be an absolute must.....

I mean ACC and Big Ten have 3 more sessions than the Big East tourney has. That's pretty big. In a 5 year period that's like having 2 extra tournaments just about.

[adoraz]

Yeah this is really confusing and no clue what type of "promotional" deal they could make with MSG. Wish he elaborated a bit. Kind of messed up to put this out there when the BE still owns it through 2026. Also, BE greatly outperformed the B1G this year (albeit, during the better week) and I think that will always be the case. Aside from the B1G offering a bunch more money, what else could they do? And at what point does it being financially irresponsible?

That said, absolute worst case scenario is the Big East would host it during the week before the B1G does starting in 2027. The worst case is we just play games earlier like the B1G did this year. I'm not expecting that to happen, but aside from our pride being hurt a bit not much would change. (this is the part where Stever responds and derails the thread lol)

Shame that I respected the B1G for participating in the Gavitt Games and not destroying the BE like the ACC did. Oh well.

I would say while the Gavitt games have appeared to be good, I've said this from day 1- it's more like a double to use a baseball analogy than the homer folks have wanted to make it. And that was before Michigan St was allowed to not be in it for the first 4 years at least. It's hardly had both leagues being on equal footing.

As far as what the Big Ten could do- I could possibly see a scenario where they could team up with the ACC and have it where they for a 8 year period both leagues commit to go to MSG 4 times each. So like Big Ten in '27, ACC in '28, Big Ten in '29, ACC in '30, etc. And I think that would be the ONLY kind of thing where you would think MSG would even consider it to be honest.

Unless the AAC could get in there and steal MSG themselves [/sarcasm]

Yeah I thought i read a quote somewhere on this where he mentioned "other conferences" or something like that. I could be wrong about that.

What you said makes the most sense. However, if everyone is playing at MSG then playing there loses its appeal somewhat for each conference. Let's say they rotate between two other conferences (ACC and ...?). In that case, they'd be elevating MSG moreso than elevating the B1G/ACC/...?.

Still, even in that instance I don't ever foresee a scenario where the Big East doesn't play every year at MSG. Even if it has to be a week early every year or every other year or whatever. So my worst case scenario still seems accurate. I can't see MSG agreeing to a deal that doesn't have the Big East playing there every year. Would be really bad business to shun the one conference who A. guarantees they'll be there every year and B. has been wildly successful for them.

[Devil's Advocate]

Delaney knows all of this. Understands the entrenched nature of the Big East relationship. And he brought a supposedly new “promotional” idea.

Think out of the box. What if this is more akin to a basketball festival? What if the idea is to have BOTH tourneys at the same time? Maybe that’s crazy, and you can jump on the idea as never happening.

But what if this all started Monday instead of Wednesday. And the first session was a quarterfinal of the Big Ten and a quarterfinal of the Big East. Each session is a combo of conference games. And Saturday night is a final doubleheader with both championships. If you’re MSG you double the sessions, double the tickets, double the revenue (plus a little, because the BIG has more teams).

That might be awesome. Think of the interest. Certainly a unique promotional idea.

[Hall2012]

Even with a multi-league bid, who would be the 3rd? No other P5 would care to rotate to MSG every third year. I'm sure the A-10 or AAC would LOVE to get into that rotation, but at that point MSG would probably rather save the week to book the circus or something.