Ackerman: "Expansion isn't even on our plate"

[BillikensWin]

First time poster. Long time fan of some old/new Big East teams, ties to A-10 as well. In terms of expansion, you really have to make it "worth it", because once you move the needle to 12, you probably aren't growing anymore, and teams probably won't be jumping ship. For that reason,I think you stand pat. In terms of teams with a "newer" reputation, I think you see what St. Louis and VCU do in the near-term. They will probably not be receiving a better offer for the A-10.

The only moves you make are ones with national appeal. I think UConn & Gonzaga/Cincinnati in tandem as "basketball only" or some measure of affiliate membership (less football) are the types of teams you bring in. You can have an agreement similar to the Big 12, where they have to forfeit any TV/tournament revenue earned while a member of the concert, in addition to any exit fees if they did have to leave. UConn has a lot of rivalries with Big East teams, including Providence, St Johns, and Villanova. Gonzaga had a nice thing going against Butler last year, and Cincinnati with Xavier, obviously. Have to think big with expansion, or hold pat.

If UConn would be out there to get (no football), they'd be a no-brainer of the highest order. Great team, great tradition.
But that BCS footbal is a dealbreaker.

[Bluejay]

The only moves you make are ones with national appeal. I think UConn & Gonzaga/Cincinnati in tandem as "basketball only" or some measure of affiliate membership (less football) are the types of teams you bring in. You can have an agreement similar to the Big 12, where they have to forfeit any TV/tournament revenue earned while a member of the concert, in addition to any exit fees if they did have to leave. UConn has a lot of rivalries with Big East teams, including Providence, St Johns, and Villanova. Gonzaga had a nice thing going against Butler last year, and Cincinnati with Xavier, obviously. Have to think big with expansion, or hold pat.

I agree with everything you said above, except the part about Cincy. I don't think that Cincy moves the meter at all. Further, we've already got a team in that city now, so it also doesn't open up new markets for TV purposes.

[aughnanure]

I really don't know why we don't discuss the BYU-Gonzaga tandem. Gives everyone a travel partner out west and big name draws. The playing on Sundays is an issue (which BYU has got to give-in on a little bit at some point) along with football, but it would make the league a big draw in basketball and easily the #3 conference.

[BEwannabe]

you NBEers enthusiasm is to be admired but you need to dial it back when discussing some topics, no football school is going to consider NBE and NBE has made it clear from their side they don't want to entertain footballers.

[BillEsq]

The only moves you make are ones with national appeal. I think UConn & Gonzaga/Cincinnati in tandem as "basketball only" or some measure of affiliate membership (less football) are the types of teams you bring in. You can have an agreement similar to the Big 12, where they have to forfeit any TV/tournament revenue earned while a member of the concert, in addition to any exit fees if they did have to leave. UConn has a lot of rivalries with Big East teams, including Providence, St Johns, and Villanova. Gonzaga had a nice thing going against Butler last year, and Cincinnati with Xavier, obviously. Have to think big with expansion, or hold pat.

I agree with everything you said above, except the part about Cincy. I don't think that Cincy moves the meter at all. Further, we've already got a team in that city now, so it also doesn't open up new markets for TV purposes.

LOL face palm....

OK... I think we have covered expansion pretty much 100 times over.
First the not ins...
UConn- History nice- Plays football- 0% chance
Cincy- some history- plays football - same city as X - 0% chance
any other school that plays FBS football * except for one= 0% chance.
Gonzaga- Nice program + likeminded school - home court is on the far side of the moon = .000000001% chance
St. Mary's- not as nice program + likeminded school - home court is located further than the far side of the moon and is too small to land a spaceship on - sanctions = 0% chance
All other WCC schools = negative 10% chance
All other schools not mentioned below including recent Cinderellas, Detroit, Duquesne, Sienna, Mount St. Mary's, North Carolina A&T and Little Sisters of the Poor = 0 freaking percent.

Now the possibles...
ND- History nice + Freaking Huge Fan Base + First school so far mentioned that truly moves the meter to the casual fan + only FBS school capable of running an independent program worthy of being in BE - well they just joined the ACC - ND is the mythological unicorn of NCAA sports every league has a spot open for them in hopes of landing the obscenity that is their football fanbase juggernaut, in lay mans terms ND is meth to AD's and commissioners chance of adding 5% (with margin of error of 5%) iow the BE is too small for ND
SLU- New Big Market + Some History with BE teams + Some recent national relevance + Like minded institution + non rev contributor + new facilities- 3-4 decades of no national relevance = 80% chance for addition
Dayton- occasional national relevance + surprisingly Large rabid fan base + big facilities + likeminded institution + some history - potential shared regions with current member- years removed from programs heyday = 40% chance for addition
Richmond - occasional national relevance + likeminded institution + medium sized new market + some non rev value + location location location - smaller school- and well spiders are icky 40% chance
VCU- recent national relevance + location + some media moxie - large public institution - large public institution- large public institution - large public and .... well you know what I mean 20% chance

Ok... once again I hope that sums everything up for everyone new and old alike. This post was not to advocate for expansion or against any particular school but merely a sum up of 50,000 plus posts already repeated over and over and over again. LOL anyways i hope you all have a happy 4th and remember no matter how icky spiders are they eat mosquitos and ickier bugs do not squish unnecessarily.

[BillEsq]

I really don't know why we don't discuss the BYU-Gonzaga tandem. Gives everyone a travel partner out west and big name draws. The playing on Sundays is an issue (which BYU has got to give-in on a little bit at some point) along with football, but it would make the league a big draw in basketball and easily the #3 conference.

1. We have discussed it
2. BYU will not budge deal with it
3. BYU and Gonzaga make good travel partners like DePaul and St. Johns. Seriouslly Spokane and Salt Lake are over 500 miles apart. At some distance you cease to be a partner and your just traveling.
4. BYU has FBS football and will likely have to be keeping a pulse on the FBS changes- constant flight risk
5. Now you have to fly all your non-revs coast to coast all year round... It will cost BYU and Gonzaga 2-4 million just to participate in the league logistically. Not to mention it will set the other BE schools back 200 hundred to a million.

[redmen9194]

I think BillEsq has hit the expansion candidate nails on the heads. The reality is IF we expand, we are not likely to add more than two teams. Those two teams will likely be St. Louis and either Dayton, Richmond and VCU. If UConn announced tomorrow it was giving up FBS football, we would expand tomorrow to include the Huskies. BYU? Really? Should not even be given one thought.

[aughnanure]

I really don't know why we don't discuss the BYU-Gonzaga tandem. Gives everyone a travel partner out west and big name draws. The playing on Sundays is an issue (which BYU has got to give-in on a little bit at some point) along with football, but it would make the league a big draw in basketball and easily the #3 conference.

1. We have discussed it
2. BYU will not budge deal with it
3. BYU and Gonzaga make good travel partners like DePaul and St. Johns. Seriouslly Spokane and Salt Lake are over 500 miles apart. At some distance you cease to be a partner and your just traveling.
4. BYU has FBS football and will likely have to be keeping a pulse on the FBS changes- constant flight risk
5. Now you have to fly all your non-revs coast to coast all year round... It will cost BYU and Gonzaga 2-4 million just to participate in the league logistically. Not to mention it will set the other BE schools back 200 hundred to a million.

500 miles is scary, because why? It's an hour flight. That's the point. So when an east coast team flies across the country they can hit two birds with one stone and vice-versa.

Also, the non-revs don't have to fly "coast to coast" all year. Except for Gonzaga, they would do it essentiallyonce. And its not like the soccer team and baseball teams only travel in small geographic area for OOC games. They fly to California, Florida, etc and the track and tennis teams fly across the country to different meets regardless of conference. It's literally one extra long road-trip a year for each sport in the BE. It's really Gonzaga that has to make the decision if its worth it since they would have to do it on a much more regular basis. The extra cost to BE sports is overstated and no way does it add 2-4 million to Zaga or BYU. Do you see how far they have to travel as it is? Everywhere is 700+ miles for Zaga.

[BillEsq]

500 miles is a bit longer than an hour flight. You will actually be shocked at what havoc mountains play on flight times. The point is that Salt Lake and Spokane are not travel partners other than the fact that they are in the same time zone. and i'm not even sure if they are that.

In regards to the costs.
Figure travel times costs and ect from a BE school to one of these. For this example i chose Creighton and Salt Lake, Thats about 1000 miles. add 500 miles and now 15000 for a back again. (for those on the east coast its over 1000 miles fron NY to Omaha). So for every school not named Omaha were looking at 4-5 thousand miles for that road trip. for every team mens and womens... about 9 times a year. Thats about $128,000 per flight for $1,152,000.00 per year. rough estimates based fluctuating costs of private jets for fuel and crew are about $8,000 per hour. Now for Gonzaga it now has to truck to the East Coast 8-10 times a year for every sport. For reference it is over 1400 miles from Spokane to Omaha. The farthest distance it currently has to travel in the WCC is to San Diego at 1301 miles. So.... It will somewhere between double or triple its travel costs. using the same estimates joining the BE will cost Gonzaga more than $512,000 more just for their men's basketball team. Thats a half of million per non-rev sport. with just 3 non revs Zaga has already gone well over the 2 million dollar expense mark.

Aug... I'm with you I love Zaga... that are a great fit for the BE, if they were in Boston, Pitt, Detroit, Cleveland, or Baltimore it would be a no brainer but they really are located on the other side of the moon. So barring some completely unforeseen circumstance... 0% chance for Zaga or any other Western team.

for those still hanging on to coast to coast dreams check these sites... find your own estimates for travel costs do your calculating... its not cheap. http://www.distancebetweencities.net/ http://www.travelmath.com/flying-time/

[Jet915]

BYU and Gonzaga would be a great deal. I wouldn't mind that a bit but I think the eastern schools would balk at that. There are just no good schools on the east coast that fit the profile of a Big East school.