ND - Big 12

[jdelatorre]

Chip Brown is appparently over on OB saying Texas is pressuring ND to bring non-football to Big12. MAybe Dodds can negotiate their Big 12 football requirements - a hook up on T-Day

 

[El Sapo]

The Big East has got to be feeling a little bit like this these days...

 

[nwking]

Awesome!

 

[TexasGolf]

excellent

 

[FWHORN]

Interesting. BYU is next shoe to drop I expect but ND non-football would be a very sophisticated move. Big east did it hoping to eventually lure football and never could, Big XII likely never would either but it further partners Texas with ND if move to B1G is really the final endgame for both schools.

 

[HornFan4Ever]

This is very interesting. Sounds like a lot of questions about about to get answered.

 

[general35]

Texas might be begging but I doubt they can pressure ND to do anyhting.

 

[LonghornCatholic]

Well, Mack did say he was excited about the direction the Big 12 was headed.
TCU is probably not what he meant. This story might have legs.

 

[BigEarlinBastrop]

Add BYU, ND and SMU. Change name to Evangelic Eleven.

 

[TheGallopinGoose]

It looks like the Big East is going to be the conference that implodes (Yes, it looks like the Big 12 will in fact outlast another BCS conference), so Notre Dame will be shopping around for another conference to play their non-football sports in. It looks like the main nominees would be the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12.

-The Big Ten is the best geographic fit and wants Notre Dame very badly (which means they could let Notre Dame in even if it's just in a non-football capacity at first: that gives the Big Ten a foot in the door for when ND football eventually joins a conference)

-The ACC is the best basketball conference of the three and an okay geopraphic fit, but I'm not sure if they would be willing to have Notre Dame in a non-football capacity (a deal that would have seen Texas go independent [including a deal for 4 ACC games] and play all other sports in the ACC fell through, though that may have been a bluff by Texas to get more leverage with the Pac-12, and the deal may have fallen through because of something with the LHN)

-The Big 12 is about as good a geographic fit as the ACC (maybe a little worse), but will be the most likely to accept Notre Dame in a non-football capacity. The Big 12 also offers ND the most attractive football matchups (excluding teams that ND already regularly plays) in Texas and Oklahoma if ND wants to play a game or two against Big 12 teams.

 

[3nnsang]

As much as I would like to see ND in the Big XII, even in a non-football capacity, I'm thinking that the odds are slim . The Big 10 would look like the best option, in my opinion .

 

[overseasbbfan1]

I think a lot depends on what happens as far as expansion goes. If the league ends up at 12 or 14 teams, and is split into two divisions, most of those in the East (North?) group will be a perfect geographic fit. And if the conference is at 12 they're only playing three away games against West (South) division programs each year. The above seems likely since any expansion is bound to include programs like Louisville or WVU, among others. ND plays quite a few non-regional games every year anyway; this season they face two CA and one FL team, although this time around two of three are home contests. I could see the Big12 being attractive to ND for a number of reasons, in particular if the current expansion continues as some suggest and programs in the Midwest and East are added.

 

[majorwhiteapples]

You have to ask the question from ND's perspeective.

What are they trying to get out of a conference for their Non-revenue sports?

Strong Competition?
National Prestige?
Local, ease of travel?
National Championships?
National Exposure vs. Local Exposure?
Making money or breaking even in these sports?

Many questions but understanding their perspective helps.

Does anybody know why they joined the Big East?

What are the barriers to entry or exit for ND?

 

[dthree36]

NB already plays several Big schools... Michigan, Michigan State, Perdue. The proximity is pretty close to all BIG schools. I would like to have them in the Big12 and perhaps 1 day that may happen. Who knows what will transpire in the coming years. By getting their other non football sports... that is a start.

 

[Perham1]

Why would ND go to the Big 12?

No way, imo.

If they go anywhere, in any form, it's the BIg 10.

 

[jdelatorre]

BIG isn't offering any special deals for membership. It all sports or none. Other threads have addressed the history of the BIG and ND. They may seem like a great fit for the BIG to us, but ND is NOT AAU, NOT a big flagship institution, NOT interested in regional rivalries, NOT interested in conferences championships. They seem more similar to private, religious schools who focus on quality undergraduate education rather than research. Oh and they want to be affiliated with a conference that offers quality basketball as well as other olympic sports with independence for football (an its TV rights) and hockey (and its TV rights.) They probably would like some geographic proximity for the non-revenue sports. Plus they have two BFF schools with their own "networks" with whom they may want to associate. To top it off off they need some quality football games at the end of the year, perhaps close to thanksgiving. Hmmm...

I am not predicting that Dodds can convince Swarbrick, but ND may not want to have UCF and East Carolina on the schedule either. If Rutgers and UConn leave the BEAST (for the B2 or the ACC) they have no one else of interest in the conference for football. Maybe the BIG EAST tells the they can keep the bowl affiliation and play ZERO games against conference members, but the B2 can offer 3 games - Texas, OU a neutral site game (KU/MU? in arrowhead, TCU Jerryworld, BYU?.)

and most importantly

 

[TheGallopinGoose]

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