My bad. You were there.

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My Maserati does 186.

How far the mighty have fallen when no one give a shit about the U when it comes to football conference realignment.

This whole thing is ridiculous. Now teams that are new to the Big East want to bail out and go back to the Mountain West:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ources-say

I'm a huge CFB fan, but a part of me really wants to see college football "eat itself" in the chase for these TV dollars - and then they can start the system over again with something that makes a little more sense. This is stupid.

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Lot of people who get paid a shit load of money could not see the Big East was going to collapse and wasted their time leaving the MWC.

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OK, maybe that's true. But how does going back to the MWC fix that for them?

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MWC has same chance at BCS game as Big East or even MAC does in the new TV deal.

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Right. So now they are gonna pay (again) to leave another league without improving their status?

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And save a shit load of money/time traveling cross country for games.

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I think it's gonna take quite a few years of playing west of the Mississippi to recoup two exit fees in addition to any other $$ they've already spent on the transition(s).

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Or maybe that's why they want to go back? To save money long term?

Or maybe there fucking retarded?

Or Maybe the Big 14 needs to add NIU?

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There you go. Bring it! The board needs more angry conns!

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I'm actually quite content right now.

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Here's the question now - do you have to pay the exit fee when you announce you are leaving or when you formally leave? I'd assume they pay when they go and at this point, none of these school would be on the hook for it.

If 7 or 8 teams leave the Big East, they are going to find it nearly impossible to enforce a buyout on any of them. They'll likely settle out of court for some money because I think most of these buyout clauses have exceptions for a failing league and the Big East easily qualifies for that given the bowl/television irrelevance they now have.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

After living in Manhattan for 6 years, I'm still not convinced that Rutgers really gives you much. College football is literally about as big as women's lacrosse on the East Coast. Not sure they are gonna get the viewership they think they'll get.

Maryland actually makes alot of sense. Maybe not in "football tradition", but they are a top notch research institution and have a great history in a variety of sports. It does have a decent following in the Mid-Atlantic.

Rutgers is a top notch university. And just the fact that the BTN will most likely be standard on cable in that region because of Rutgers makes this worth it. If people like women's lacrosse, they can watch that on the BTN, too!

College football is much bigger than women's lacrosse here. NYC is just like Chicago, lots of alumni, but no real team they all rally around. The Big Ten fills the void the Big East left with a better product and more interesting matchups that should attract more viewers. This isn't about Rutgers dominating NYC. It's about the Big Ten dominating NYC in both football and basketball.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm not sure I'm really following you, BR. Somehow all the Big East fans are going to migrate to B1G fandom because of Rutgers? I'm not sure I really agree.

If you are suggesting the NY/NJ are a potential market, but just never had a product to root for, I'm not really buying it. Just because you are close to a market, doesn't mean you can capture their eyeballs. Only look at Northwestern for that issue (doh! I just criticized my own team!).

Over the long term, they will. Now, if you are a Connecticut alum, or a Syracuse alum, you aren't giving up on them. You'll likely have a second team, it may be Rutgers, or Penn State, or Ohio State just like a lot of Eastern Illinois people root for Illinois or Indiana. Rutgers will see a bump too, but it's not like NYC becomes Rutgers territory unless Rutgers becomes national title worthy.
That happened in Pennsylvania and Nebraska. Why not New Jersey and Maryland?

It will be interesting to see just how much the Big Ten pushes things to this area. I forsee games at Yankee Stadium, MSG, the meadowlands, and Fedex Field. It will take a while, but the Big Ten will likely overtake the ACC in this area. They may lose New England, but who cares about New England?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Maryland, maybe. But never in NY and NJ. They just have too many other sports outlets. You are Joe SixPack and you're gonna by a jersey... you buy a NFL team. Same thing in Chicago... much to Northwestern's dismay.

But I could be wrong. Perhaps the college game is growing so fast in popularity that it is inevitable that Rutgers and Northwestern can capture a small percentage of the market. Hopefully that happens, because I'd love to not see Nebraska home games at Ryan Field again.

The difference is that Western PA and the state of Nebraska were rabid college football fans prior to being in the Big Ten. Rutgers is on a nice little run, but not exactly what Nebraska or PSU brought as a fan base, and Maryland is.......well, yet another Big Ten team that NIU has beaten.

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Huh? Chicago is considered a big college football town. It's just not dominated by one specific team. If NYC becomes similar to that, this was a grand slam for the Big Ten.
Remember when you lived in NYC? Did you know other Northwestern grads? Did you know Penn State and Ohio State grads?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

That's clearly the hope... but its not that way right now. There are certainly B1G alums in NYC... but not sure enough to consistently fill Rutgers stadium. But we'll see.



Sure... but once again, I'm just not convinced there were enough to really matter.

My point comparing Chicago to NYC is that you kinda were implying that the B1G being in NYC/NJ would turn unaffiliated fans into Rutgers fans. I just dont see that happening. Just like NU hasn't really had much success (much to my lament) in converting unaffiliated into Cats fans.

This has less to do with filling stadiums than it does with TV money. It's all about TV and advertising.

This is absolutely horrible. I hope the whole thing collapses soon.

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Git on back there.

ACC has sued Maryland to make sure they get their $53M

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8683350/maryland-terrapins-sued-acc-exit-fee-big-ten-departure

So the ACC will swap Maryland for Notre dame plus get $50M+?

Not a bad deal for them.

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Actually, ND was already there. They are going to be getting Connecticut or Louisville to replace Maryland.