Why Not 14?

[NJRedman]

If we happen to land UConn in the next decade why not put the BIG in Big East and go to 14 teams?

My 4 would be UConn (obviously), SLU, Dayton and VCU.

You start to look like the other power conferences in size. You have much more inventory to sell in whatever format TV is being delivered in the next decade. You keep the east/mid-west split even. You get into St. Louis and Virginia for both recruiting athletes but also recruiting potential students (always a plus for school presidents). You add a legit rivalry to the league (Yes, X fans it's a legit rivalry no matter how many times you win. We all know you hate each other equally.).

I know the round robin we all love would end with anything more than 11 members, but I think the investment in 3 good mid-major programs would pay dividends in the long run. Also it's inevitable we'll have to expand to keep up with the joneses and if it's inevitable might as well get them in as early as possible to get them up to speed.

Again, this is about expanding with UConn and without them it could only be 2 since I only see 3 A-10 teams i'd feel comfortable adding. Just had this feeling the last two weeks watching these three play Big East teams and thinking they just feel right as conference teams.

[hoops22]

I'm on board for all the reasons you mentioned. Plus helps guarantee we keep MSG for BET with those additional fan bases. Helps TV ratings as we enter new markets etc etc...

[Omaha1]

Why not? Because 10 is better.

[NJRedman]

Why not? Because 10 is better.

10 isn't the future and this version of the Big East will be forward thinking!

[Wizard of Westroads]

If we happen to land UConn in the next decade why not put the BIG in Big East and go to 14 teams?

My 4 would be UConn (obviously), SLU, Dayton and VCU.

You start to look like the other power conferences in size. You have much more inventory to sell in whatever format TV is being delivered in the next decade. You keep the east/mid-west split even. You get into St. Louis and Virginia for both recruiting athletes but also recruiting potential students (always a plus for school presidents). You add a legit rivalry to the league (Yes, X fans it's a legit rivalry no matter how many times you win. We all know you hate each other equally.).

I know the round robin we all love would end with anything more than 11 members, but I think the investment in 3 good mid-major programs would pay dividends in the long run. Also it's inevitable we'll have to expand to keep up with the joneses and if it's inevitable might as well get them in as early as possible to get them up to speed.

Again, this is about expanding with UConn and without them it could only be 2 since I only see 3 A-10 teams i'd feel comfortable adding. Just had this feeling the last two weeks watching these three play Big East teams and thinking they just feel right as conference teams.

[Jet915]

If the 4 were Gonzaga, UCONN, SLU and Dayton, I wouldn't mind that.

[paulxu]

League expansion? Well...that's a new idea.

[jbarajas0490]

Would be good for the league. According to these catholic school rankings SLU and Dayton rank ahead of all big east schools except Nova and Gtown.

Website is called niche.com ranks all universities, filter for the Catholic school rankings. I can't figure out how to post a link.

Dream get would be Notre Dame and Boston College. But BU would probably be a never. Maybe Notre Dame if ACC tried to force them to join ACC football.

SLU and Dayton would be perfect fits. High prestige universities amongst the catholic schools. Interesting that Holy Cross ranks so high, but would their sports program be up to par?.

[BEwannabe]

The interesting dynamic begins in about 10 days. I was just on a golf trip with high school chums, 1 a huge Ohio State fan and told me the B1G conference games start the first week of December. The fans & more importantly the season ticket holders are happy because it ends the shiat December home schedules or at least shiat teams by school name still plenty of garbage in B1G.

It gets harder & harder to schedule quality OOC games except for these holiday events which are incredible for the players, fans & tv. UD has been fortunate to forge some relationships with SEC schools that are on the upswing but if not for that and events like Atlantis and Maui our schedule would be terrible. The 20 game schedule the B1G almost elimainates any chance of hooking up with B1G teams and that's the future.

[herodotus]

I've noticed that fans of the 5 original BE schools are much more comfortable with expansion than the 5 western schools are. This is because expansion equals divisional play, and the end of the round robin. The 5 OG schools are comfortable being in a division that contains old familiar faces, and is basically the original BE, minus a few football schools. The western division however, would become the MCC reborn, which has to be a nightmare scenario for those schools. With the exception of CU, all of those schools, including potential additions Dayton, and St. Louis, were once conference mates in the MCC.