Almost lost in the shuffle of the bowl season was an announcement that could have an impact on the conference expansion movement and the University of Louisville.
Spokesmen for the Big Ten and the PAC 12 conferences said in late December they had agreed to form a “collaboration” between the leagues that will result in rearranging future football, basketball and non-revenue schedules to include games between the 24-member schools.
While not a merger, the move is an innovative approach to expanding the clout of the conferences without litigation, exit fees and the loss of long-standing rivalries. What it means is they will be playing more out-of-conference games with each other in upcoming seasons. So much for U of L and Wisconsin playing football any time soon.
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In the process, of course, the conferences will enhance their attractiveness to the TV networks, especially for the PAC 12, playing more games during waking hours.
“It doesn’t mean you can’t expand one day,” said Jim Delaney, Big 12 Commissioner. “It seems to us this is an intelligent way to get stronger and do so with zero collateral damage”
One has to give credit to the Big Ten officials for being involved in such a creative approach. If the idea had occurred to them a couple of years ago, however, the damage to other conferences, specifically the Big East, would have been minimal, possibly preventing losses of schools to the ACC and the Big 12.
We’ll never know now whether Big Ten could have achieved greater financial benefit with a similar agreement with the Big East. A couple of years ago, remember, they were floating the idea of inviting Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh or UConn. This would have enabled the Big Ten to dominate the more lucrative East Coast TV markets while securing the future of the Big East.
Instead, the Big Ten sat on its hands for months, before deciding to snatch Nebraska from the Big 12. The SEC, not to be outdone, grabbed Texas A&M and Missouri from the same conference. The Big Ten’s action/inaction led to all the realignment that followed.
Any move the Big Ten makes apparently has an effect on the course of action for other conferences. For example, would the SEC and the Big 12 consider a similar collaboration? The SEC and the ACC? The ACC and the Big East, never.
The only certainty is that the new Big Ten-PAC 12 arrangement gives the Big 12 reason for pause, almost certainly prolonging and heightening the anxiety of Louisville fans hoping for an invitation.
I’m not sure why you keep referring to what would have been if the Big Ten had hooked up with the Big East. If you think about the history of the Big Ten (or B1G,as they now like to call themselves) and the PAC-12, you would realize there was no other option for these two conferences but each other. The fifty years of Rose Bowl ties has led to informal scheduling ties in football and many Olympic sports. This new agreement, while clearly innovative and solving several problems for both parties, is really more of an evolution of a relationship than a groundbreaking relationship. With both conferences now having their own networks, the need for programming inventory is high and a relationship that creates a guaranteed set of games for each conference sponsored sport also creates guaranteed inventory and makes the network presidents very happy.
Good points, sportsbiz. The Big Ten did a pretty good job of getting some Big East schools excited a couple of years ago, then left them dangling while creating further chaos in the realignment picture.
I can’t wait for CRP to share his thoughts.