The Big 10 To NYC?

[TheHall]

That's another thing. For the B1G to take over New York I feel like Rutgers (which, as we all know, isn't actually a NYC school) would have to become absolutely dominant in either basketball or football. It's the only thing I can see bringing loads of fans out to games. That's just unlikely. Which current B1G school is going to stumble and allow Rutgers to take their place? Ohio State? Michigan? Michigan State? Hell, Wisconsin? I don't see that happening in the near future. The B1G absolutely has a large alumni base in New York City, but way more wind up in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati. A lot even wind up right here in Milwaukee (trust me, I have to deal with them all the time). Even after a decade of alienating Midwest fans to build a fanbase in NY, what hapens when they want to rotate every other year with Chicago? Or every 3 with Chicago/Indianapolis/NY all in the mix? Seems like pissing money and the goodwill of fans down the drain for very little gain. Then again, what is conference realignment if not an abandonment of tradition in pursuit of short term gains?

I think you are on to something with RU. The ACC & the B1G are 2 totally different types of threats to the BE IMO. The B1G I believe wants a "strong" presence in the NE while the ACC would love to take over the NE. Going after RU allows for a stronger while not dominant presence. I compare the B1G getting RU, to the BE getting Depaul & Marquette (possibly SLU). Strong presence moves but not a true threat to the balance of power b/n conferences.

While the ACC going after SU seems to highlight their attempt to take over. I do believe there is room for a bigger presence for the B1G in the NE as long as it comes at the expense of the ACC and to a lesser degree the AAC & A10. The ACC is a different story. The BE has to fend them off and to date the BE seems to be doing pretty well in that front.

[JOPO]

I think MSG wants longer commitments than the B1G would be willing to give. And no, the B1G can't abandon the midwest for a decade, the bulk of the fanbase would freak out.

Not to mention that Rutgers doesn't even show up for their own home games. Anyone looking for BET tickets prior to their departure knew they could always reach out to RU and South Florida and be able to get seats. I don't see the Big 10 pissing off their entire conference to pacify a school that doesn't travel well and doesn't really belong in their conference to begin with.

(this post is not directed at you, you just got me thinking with this)

That's another thing. For the B1G to take over New York I feel like Rutgers (which, as we all know, isn't actually a NYC school) would have to become absolutely dominant in either basketball or football. It's the only thing I can see bringing loads of fans out to games. That's just unlikely. Which current B1G school is going to stumble and allow Rutgers to take their place? Ohio State? Michigan? Michigan State? Hell, Wisconsin? I don't see that happening in the near future. The B1G absolutely has a large alumni base in New York City, but way more wind up in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati. A lot even wind up right here in Milwaukee (trust me, I have to deal with them all the time). Even after a decade of alienating Midwest fans to build a fanbase in NY, what hapens when they want to rotate every other year with Chicago? Or every 3 with Chicago/Indianapolis/NY all in the mix? Seems like pissing money and the goodwill of fans down the drain for very little gain. Then again, what is conference realignment if not an abandonment of tradition in pursuit of short term gains?

If the Big Ten is banking on Rutgers being relevant in anything other than losing the Big East has absolutely nothing to worry about! And you are right, RU is NOT a NYC school, they are a central Jersey school halfway between NYC and Philly and neither market is exactly fighting to lay claim to them (much like another central Jersey school - Monmouth University, no offense to Hawk fans).

[DumpsterFireA10]

JOPO,
I'm finding your posts quite fun to read. Keep it up sir.

[78 friar]

The Big East conference is under contract to MSG until when, 2025? With the recruiting that's been done by our teams, the recruiting that will be done in the future, the coverage and PR provided by Fox, the cities that we have, etc., etc., its going to take an awful lot to displace the Big East from MSG. The interest level is soaring here in Providence despite a few personnel setbacks, and I seem to sense the same thing from other schools as well, both new and old to the conference. Nearly 12,000 attended opening night despite the fact that the game was televised, was at an inconvenient time, and for the most part, snuck up on the average fan. The opportunity is there to do what the Big East did for ESPN 30 years ago with the Monday night games, Wednesday night games, etc. Before the Big East, ESPN was looked at as as some sort of Network joke. The Big East legitimized ESPN and the rest is history. Hopefully the same thing happens with Fox Sports. Old habits are die hard but it doesn't take much to watch Fox instead of ESPN for sports news and programming. Again, we are all small schools that need the cities and states to support and back the schools. The Friars owned Rhode Island, St. Johns owned NY, Villanova owned Philly, Seton Hall owned Jersey. Win these cities and states back and the there's no way to go but up. Somewhere it was written, the City is the Game and the Game is the City.

[whiteandblue77]

The Big East conference is under contract to MSG until when, 2025? With the recruiting that's been done by our teams, the recruiting that will be done in the future, the coverage and PR provided by Fox, the cities that we have, etc., etc., its going to take an awful lot to displace the Big East from MSG. The interest level is soaring here in Providence despite a few personnel setbacks, and I seem to sense the same thing from other schools as well, both new and old to the conference. Nearly 12,000 attended opening night despite the fact that the game was televised, was at an inconvenient time, and for the most part, snuck up on the average fan. The opportunity is there to do what the Big East did for ESPN 30 years ago with the Monday night games, Wednesday night games, etc. Before the Big East, ESPN was looked at as as some sort of Network joke. The Big East legitimized ESPN and the rest is history. Hopefully the same thing happens with Fox Sports. Old habits are die hard but it doesn't take much to watch Fox instead of ESPN for sports news and programming. Again, we are all small schools that need the cities and states to support and back the schools. The Friars owned Rhode Island, St. Johns owned NY, Villanova owned Philly, Seton Hall owned Jersey. Win these cities and states back and the there's no way to go but up. Somewhere it was written, the City is the Game and the Game is the City.

Sweet! Way to get everyone pumped up Friar, I think you have a lot of great points, and one big improvement FS1 has over espn is Raf leading the broadcasting charge.

[Bill Marsh]

Not to mention that Rutgers doesn't even show up for their own home games. Anyone looking for BET tickets prior to their departure knew they could always reach out to RU and South Florida and be able to get seats. I don't see the Big 10 pissing off their entire conference to pacify a school that doesn't travel well and doesn't really belong in their conference to begin with.

(this post is not directed at you, you just got me thinking with this)

That's another thing. For the B1G to take over New York I feel like Rutgers (which, as we all know, isn't actually a NYC school) would have to become absolutely dominant in either basketball or football. It's the only thing I can see bringing loads of fans out to games. That's just unlikely. Which current B1G school is going to stumble and allow Rutgers to take their place? Ohio State? Michigan? Michigan State? Hell, Wisconsin? I don't see that happening in the near future. The B1G absolutely has a large alumni base in New York City, but way more wind up in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati. A lot even wind up right here in Milwaukee (trust me, I have to deal with them all the time). Even after a decade of alienating Midwest fans to build a fanbase in NY, what hapens when they want to rotate every other year with Chicago? Or every 3 with Chicago/Indianapolis/NY all in the mix? Seems like pissing money and the goodwill of fans down the drain for very little gain. Then again, what is conference realignment if not an abandonment of tradition in pursuit of short term gains?

If the Big Ten is banking on Rutgers being relevant in anything other than losing the Big East has absolutely nothing to worry about! And you are right, RU is NOT a NYC school, they are a central Jersey school halfway between NYC and Philly and neither market is exactly fighting to lay claim to them (much like another central Jersey school - Monmouth University, no offense to Hawk fans).

Actually Rutgers is not half way between NYC and Philly. It is exactly 36 miles from MSG and 72 miles from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. Technically it's much closer than that to NYC since it's only a few miles from Staten Island, the 5th borough of NYC.

But that's not the real issue. The location of the campus is irrelevant. Rutgers is the flagship university for the entire state of New Jersey. Interest comes from all quarters if the state, regardless of where the main campus is located.

The real issue is not that the Big Ten is trying to market Rutgers to NYC. They are trying to market the entire conference to enough households in the region to convince the cable providers to carry their network. It doesn't matter where the Rutgers campus is physically located. The importance of Rutgers is that they provide the Big Ten with a base of operations that is local enough. Rutgers provides them with a platform within the market from which to operate.

Rutgers provides the Big Ten with a whole different basis for a conversation. This is not the ACC trying to convince anyone that they have a local franchise with a private school 250 miles away from the city. This is the flagship state university playing in the same vicinity of the state as the New York Giants and the New York Jets. They are a foot in the door for the Big Ten. The Big Ten really doesn't care if the clamor for carriage on local cable providers comes from Rutgers alums, or from Penn State alums living in the NY/NJ area, or from Ohio State alums, or from Michigan alums.

The fact that the Big Ten is talking about opening an office in the City indicates they are serious about competing in this market. They will do whatever it takes to accomplish that whether it's playing in the Pinstripe Bowl or playing a conference basketball tournament here. Of that I have no doubt. They will be a competitor.

[JOPO]

Honestly, the Big Ten doesn't need Rutgers to get people in NJ to watch Big Ten football. People were already doing that before. I personally prefer SEC football but would occasionally tune into a Big Ten game to watch maybe Penn State or watch Michigan get hammered. Now? Forget it. I have no interest in the Big Ten and probably won't watch any of it. The Big Ten basically added a 1AA school, who wants to watch that on a regular basis? It's fine if you want to watch a 1AA league but I expected better from the Big Ten because they typically are not a 1AA league.

Yes, it was fun to watch Appalachian State kick the crap out of Michigan but that isn't going to happen on a regular basis and Appalachian State has no delusions about their place in the football pecking order and aren't joining the Big Ten anytime soon. Do you really want to see weekly match-ups between the Big Ten and Appalachian State? Don't you think there is a reason the Big Ten will no longer allow their schools to schedule 1AA schools? Because they just admitted one for all sports!

[Bill Marsh]

Honestly, the Big Ten doesn't need Rutgers to get people in NJ to watch Big Ten football. People were already doing that before. I personally prefer SEC football but would occasionally tune into a Big Ten game to watch maybe Penn State or watch Michigan get hammered. Now? Forget it. I have no interest in the Big Ten and probably won't watch any of it. The Big Ten basically added a 1AA school, who wants to watch that on a regular basis? It's fine if you want to watch a 1AA league but I expected better from the Big Ten because they typically are not a 1AA league.

Yes, it was fun to watch Appalachian State kick the crap out of Michigan but that isn't going to happen on a regular basis and Appalachian State has no delusions about their place in the football pecking order and aren't joining the Big Ten anytime soon. Do you really want to see weekly match-ups between the Big Ten and Appalachian State? Don't you think there is a reason the Big Ten will no longer allow their schools to schedule 1AA schools? Because they just admitted one for all sports!

What you're saying about Rutgers would certainly have been true 10 years ago, but Rutgers football in the past decade has been anything but I AA.

It's not about getting people in NJ just to watch Big Ten football. They'll do that with an ABC game here or there. It's about getting them to care about the Big Ten. Right now, the Big Ten is the out-of-towners in NJ. Starting next year with Rutgers in the league, it will be a whole different conversation. The Big Ten thinks long term, so they see Rutgers as a good investment for the future. With a relevant Rutgers athletics program, they see the opportunity to sell the Big Ten cable network to local affiliates. That never happens if viewers in NJ are simply catching an occasional Big Ten football game between Michigan and Ohio State or Penn State and Wisconsin.

[ChelseaFriar]

Time Warner Cable in NYC has been carrying the Big Ten Network for a number of years (before Rutgers joined). I actually didn't know until someone told me when the Rutgers news came out, despite the fact that I've had Time Warner NYC for a decade. I've never watched a game on the network.

[Bill Marsh]

Time Warner Cable in NYC has been carrying the Big Ten Network for a number of years (before Rutgers joined). I actually didn't know until someone told me when the Rutgers news came out, despite the fact that I've had Time Warner NYC for a decade. I've never watched a game on the network.

How many subscribers does Time warner have?