Lenn Robbins says Memphis could get in over Temple
In case there was any question that the Big East basketball schools run the conference like a dictatorship. The Big East is reportedly poised to add Memphis, because Temple would be too threatening to Villanova's privileged status. The same Memphis that would be the third BCS conference team in a relatively small state. The same Memphis that has one of the worst football programs in the country.
I don't know if West Virginia's suit will succeed, but yeah, I think they at least have a good point that the Big East conference is intentionally wrecking football. Now everything is poised on federated members like Boise and Air Force actually joining - which probably happens, as the Big East is still far more desirable than the MWC or similar options. Stay tuned.
7 months ago
On the Banks
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And I know I keep posting the same repetitive comments, but I can’t think of any substantive to say. Before a school moves to another conference, they are mentioned in the news. Rutgers has not been mentioned as moving to another conference. There is no smoke, there is no fire.
by Daniel Joseph on Nov 1, 2011 7:57 AM EDT up reply actions
don't agree
Cuse and Pitt got in the ACC out of nowhere.
Don't give up hope.
The Big 12 still needs a 12th to partner with Louisville. BYU has unique issues that have kept then out in favor of TCU and WVU, so they might just not be a fit. The Big 12 doesn’t quite NEED to take a jumped-up I-AA Boise State, and Cincinatti can’t draw fans period. I think you guys overrate how attractive Rutgers is to the Big 10/ACC, but for the Big 12, you have to be competitive with USF, UCF, ECU, and a better pick than old Southern city schools who can’t fill a stadium like Tulane or SMU or Memphis.
The more I think about it...
….the more sense Rutgers makes for the Big 12.
Rutgers selling point to conferences is always access to the New York market. And frankly, Rutgers doesn’t deliver the New York market in a meaningful way. Rutgers may have more fans in NYC than anybody else, but that’s still not many in ESPN terms.
Sports fandom, including college sports fandom, is about group loyalties and group rivalries. And New Yorkers make fun of and look down on New Jersey. Rutgers is New Jersey’s team, and that’s enough to kill the brand east of the Hudson. See also the Nets: pre-Brooklyn, the Nets had roughly zero fans in New York, despite having had Dr. J and a great ABA legacy.
But compare New Jerseyites to Texas, or Oklahoma, and New Jersey looks a lot more like us. If marketed correctly, Texas coming east to play Rutgers could be a Big Event. I’m seeing honorary captains Rudy Guiliani and George W Bush handling the coin flip. I’m seeing a sing-off between Bruce and (maybe) Kelli Pickler when Oklahoma comes to town, followed by a duet for the National Anthem. Baptist Baylor fans coming east for the game is a reality show waiting to happen, and you’ll see one on SNY.
And this is all happening, not on Rutgers’ campus, or even at the Meadowlands, but at Yankee Stadium.
there are 9 million people in Jersey
and 18 million in the NYC metro area. obviously rutgers cant delivery everyone in the market. no one ever said they would. but they will deliver more in NJ and in NYC than any other D1 football program can. that is the main point youre missing.
given the choice (which rutgers obviously doesnt have at the moment) ACC or Big 10 are still much better options for the school than the big 12. i guess if an invite was extended it would be tough to pas up right now but i doubt anyone at rutgers is really hoping for one right now. maybe after Mizzou and ND decide what theyre doing.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
No question about Jersey. RU is #1 in NJ
But when TV people talk about the NYC market, about 2/3 of that’s not in Jersey. And when they talk about “delivering NYC” they’re talking at a level that RU doesn’t meet in NYC. No one does—NYC is not a college football town. But if you put Rutgers in Yankee Stadium once a year against Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, you have something that New Yorkers could be interested in, and start to adopt RU as “their” college football team.
The old joke is that the South has high school dropouts with college football season tickets. Most New Yorkers can’t comprehend why anyone would do that. But contrast NY/NJ to Texas/Oklahoma on a big stage, and maybe they’d start.
yeah im not arguing that rutgers owns all of nyc
on one is. once again, the point is that RU can deliver MORE of the NYC market than anyone else. they have potential. plenty of new yorkers will pay attention if rutgers competes for a national championship, just like plenty of them did when they were ranked in the top 10.
and i dont know why you think playing in yankee stadium is such a big deal. its not a good football stadium and its in a crappy neighborhood of the bronx. pass. keep playing at home and just televise them. thats why they make expensive such nice HD cameras and television sets.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
If Rutgers wants to be NYC's "home" college football team...
…then RU has to do something to counter the “Jersey” association.
The most obvious thing to do is to play one big game a year in NYC.
This is also a way that Rutgers could sell itself to the Big 12. Selling a Texas-New York clash is also the best chance anyone has of making college football relevant in New York. Texas is a credible competitor to New York. Especially in college football, which is “their” game. If Rutgers, whose recruits are mostly northeasterners, is playing Texas and is competitive, New Yorkers have a tribal interest.
They wouldn’t have the same tribal interest for Rutgers vs Ohio State or Rutgers vs Clemson. New York is not being challenged for national or world supremacy by Ohio or South Carolina. Texas, on the other hand, is big and bad and an appropriate challenge.
Um, there is no football stadium in NYC.
The closest one could get would be the Meadowlands, and Rutgers has sunk millions into expanding Rutgers Stadium in order to avoid playing there.
Texas makes no sense as a “natural rival” to Rutgers. On this score, the ACC is more appealing, as the area is loaded with (generally well-heeled) graduates of Duke, UNC and UVa. The same could be said for the Big 10, where plenty of grads of its top schools pursue high-paying jobs in the New York area. This should translate into full stadiums, albeit not 100% Rutgers fans.
by madisonmetsfan on Nov 1, 2011 8:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Yankee Stadium hosts a bowl game plus 3..
..so the infrastructure for a football game is there. It may be a lousy football stadium, but it’s physically in the city, and it has the best stadium brand available. If it’s in Yankee Stadium, it’s automatically big time, unless it’s two 7-5 also-rans in the Pinstripe Bowl.
In parts of the country where college football is big, fanbases are not limited to alumni. For Rutgers to be big in NYC, they have to reach beyond Rutgers alums. I’d say that, even for non-alums in Jersey, Rutgers is the hometown team.
New Yorkers would get interested and excited about “their team” playing Texas. That would get them to start thinking of Rutgers as “their team.” New Yorkers would not get excited about North Carolina or Duke or Ohio State, because none of those places carries as much emotional charge as Texas does. It’s not so much Rutgers U vs UT-Austin—you’re selling the Big Apple vs. the state of Texas.
i'm all for a texas vs rutgers series
but 1) texas is not going to do it, unless its home away home 2) i’d still rather do it in the meadowlands if not in piscataway. whats the infatuation with playing football in yankee stadium? i dont even like going there for baseball. the stadium and its location blows. and 3) im not sure that justifies joining the big 12. i dont think new yorkers need rutgers as a proxy to fight a dong swinging contest with texas.
i mean, in theory its not a bad idea but its not a priority over getting in the big 10 or the acc.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
New Yorkers don't NEED Rutgers at all
This is about getting New Yorkers to WANT Rutgers football.
right, and you dont need this elaborate plan
rutgers just needs to win more football games. new yorkers have already showed that they’ll watch. the rest of the branding will take care of itself.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
Yuck
How bad is this going to impact the 2012 class? If you were Yuri Wright and Darius Hamilton are you committing to Rutgers so you can basically play the same teams you beat in high school?
DJ, I cant remember was there any smoke with Syracuse and Pitt? I thought they just kind of were like “oh hey we’re in the ACC now”.
woof
well, at least its a win if theyre on the schedule.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
As distasteful as the law suit is WVU makes the point that we (most of us) can agree upon: the BE admins failed to fulfill their responsibilities to the fb school in an equitable manner vis-a-vis the parochial bb schools. As a result the fb schools are at a severe disadvantage vs. their fb peers in other conferences and must seek affiliation elsewhere or suffer significant financial lose.
If this ever gets to depositions from those “in the room” it is going to be more than interesting reading.
I looked up some numbers.
Memphis has better attendance and has won more football games in the last 10 years than Temple.
Memphis has won 50 games, Temple 34. Temple drew 20000 fans a game in 2010, Memphis 24000. So why exactly is choosing Memphis over Temple screwing the football schools?
because if the football schools were the only ones making the decision
it would be temple and not memphis. look at the trend lines for wins and attendance for both schools. they are all hugely in temple’s favor. and a memphis sell out at home against tennessee does not count. temple is a better option for maintaining BCS status in the long term.
you have a point though that its mostly an exercise in deck chair rearrangement at this juncture.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
So only the football schools should be making the decision?
This is why a hybrid conference is such a handicap.
Not to mention that bringing in Temple hurts Villanova in Philadelphia. Cry “no fair” all you want, but that’s not something a conference does. The SEC isn’t looking at Clemson, Louisville, FSU or Georgia Tech and BC blackballed UConn for the same reason. Texas is pretty much blocking any more Texas schools from the Big 12. USF was rumored to be blocking UCF from the Big East for a long time.
right - the conference blows
this is old news. thats why all the football schools are leaving. so they can make more money in conferences that care more about football.
HELLO HELLO MR WILPON... BUY THAT MANSION. WE DONT NEED A CONDO.
yes
because football brings in more money than basketball. Who cares if Nova is hurt, it helps the conference. The Big East should be solely looking to maximize net revenue.
SUN BEAST FOOTBALL
Seriously, the Sun Beast CAN’T afford to blackball anyone that could give them some semblance of football credibility right now. So what do they do? Get Memphis over Temple. Great job ’Nova, not that I needed another reason to dislike you.
But hey, at least we get that cool $10 mil a year from FedEx mirite?
Quick! To the Schianocopter
They're at least trending in an upwards direction
Which is more than we can say about Memphis
Quick! To the Schianocopter
John Bragg
Please stop posting. My brain seriously hurts from reading your posts.
by StyleKnight on Nov 2, 2011 10:51 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
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