Interesting piece by Teddy Greenstein in the Chicago Tribune today with his thoughts about who would be the best fit for the conference.
Teddy cites the following factors as being important in his view:
1) Revenue. Football stadium size, basketball arena and (most importantly) TV market
2) Geography to keep travel costs down
3) Academics
4) Recruiting (fertile recruiting area)
The winner, according to sources?
The consensus among Big Ten sources, officials from other conferences and TV executives is that Rutgers offers the best package. Missouri is second and Pittsburgh third.
Why Rutgers? It doesn't hurt that the New Brunswick, N.J., campus is less than 40 miles from midtown Manhattan. Or that the state of New Jersey alone would be the nation's fourth-largest television market -- after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The New York market has 7.5 million TV homes, and the Big Ten Network would love to get them on expanded basic cable rather than forcing subscribers to pay extra via a sports tier.
Rutgers just completed a $102 million renovation of its football stadium that added more than 12,000 seats, 1,000 club-level seats, a $5 million recruiting lounge -- and earned the ire of opposition groups. Capacity is up to 52,454 with an option for building a third deck.
Rutgers will play the first ever major-college football game (vs. Army) at the new Meadowlands Stadium, a $1.4 billion facility that will open for the Jets and Giants this fall. Think there's be any trouble selling out the 82,500-seat stadium for a Penn State-Rutgers game? Or when Ohio State or Michigan visits?
The Newark Star-Ledger reported in January that the school also plans to overhaul its outdated Rutgers Athletic Center, a 32-year-old facility that holds 8,000 for men's and women's basketball.
The New York/New Jersey area feeds the nation's top-rated basketball conference, the Big East, much of its talent.
Four other factors can't hurt Rutgers' cause:
• Newark Liberty International Airport is 23 miles from New Brunswick, making Rutgers more accessible than many Big Ten campuses.
• Rutgers calls itself "The Birthplace of College Football." It beat Princeton in what must have been a thrilling contest in 1869. Final score: 6-4.
• Delany hails from the Garden State -- South Orange, N.J.
• By leaving the Big East, Rutgers could quadruple its annual TV share to more than $20 million. Meaning that unlike with Texas and Notre Dame, an R.S.V.P would be a mere formality.
Yes, there are other schools that need to be considered that aren't being mentioned. Rutgers, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Syracuse are simply the obvious suspects.
But quite frankly I don't see too many other teams that fit the profile and would make the impact that these five would.
Frankly, I'm not 100 percent sold on the Rutgers angle just yet.
Yes, New Jersey has been a good solid recruiting area for football talent and some basketball as well.
But I still find that "New York market" argument to be weak.
Sure, the Big Ten would love to expand their footprint and get the Big Ten Network into those homes.
But I don't know if Rutgers has the pull make that happen.
College football is still a novelty in the NYC area for most folks who are NY natives.
And for college basketball, NYC is Big East country.
Yes, you might be able to capture the alums from Northwestern, Michigan and Penn State and have them reconnect with their teams.
But frankly I don't see Rutgers as drawing eyeballs to the screen on Saturday afternoons simply because they are on.
They have to win games to make that happen, and the step up in weight class would make that a daunting effort, I would say.
