P*****t
发帖数: 4978 | 1 Maryland and Rutgers are in advanced discussions with the Big Ten about
joining the conference, multiple sources have told Yahoo! Sports.
Nothing is official yet, but tentative plans for announcements from the two
schools that they are leaving their current leagues could come early next
week, sources said. Maryland is a founding member of the Atlantic Coast
Conference and Rutgers has been a member of the Big East since 1991.
Their movement would increase Big Ten membership to 14, and would come not
long after most college sports observers believed the conference realignment
carousel had stopped spinning. Notre Dame’s announcement in September that
it would join the ACC while remaining independent in football was thought
to be the end of a two-year spasm of realignment that significantly altered
the college landscape. Big Ten leadership last spring said it was
comfortable with its current 12-school alignment.
But that might no longer be the case.
A move to the Big Ten would be costly for Maryland. After the Notre Dame
addition, the ACC voted in September to increase its exit fee to $50 million
in an attempt to solidify membership. Two schools voted against the fee
increase: Maryland and Florida State. Maryland president Wallace Loh told
the Washington Post at the time that his vote against the fee was on "purely
legal and philosophical" grounds.
Rutgers would face a $10 million exit fee from the Big East, provided the
school gives 27 months notice. If Rutgers were to leave before that time,
the exit fee could be as much as $20 million. West Virginia paid that amount
when fleeing to the Big 12 last year.
And neither school is flush with money at the present time. The Newark Star-
Ledger reported in Dec. 2011 that Rutgers' athletic department lost $26.8
million in 2010-11, forcing the school to divert millions from student fees,
tuition and state tax dollars to balance the budget. In July, Maryland
dropped seven varsity teams in an attempt to cover what the Washington Post
reported was a $4 million deficit.
What Maryland and Rutgers lack in cash and football clout – neither has won
a BCS bowl game and only Maryland has appeared in one – they potentially
make up for in massive TV markets. Rutgers brings with it the New York
market, and Maryland has Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. However, neither
is considered a prime TV draw in markets saturated with pro sports.
Maryland and Rutgers both had been rumored candidates for the Big Ten in
2010, when the league added Nebraska, but that did not come to fruition.
Instead of expanding to 14, the Big Ten held at 12.
"I would not be surprised, because [Maryland and Rutgers] was always the
next step," said one prominent college athletic director. "And [it would
explain] why Maryland voted against the $50 million withdrawal fee.”
Conferences have largely abandoned geography as a defining element of
membership, but this would be a fairly significant stretch of what had been
a Midwestern footprint for the Big Ten. Rutgers is roughly 1,300 miles from
Nebraska, the westernmost school in the league. Maryland is roughly 1,100
miles from Minnesota.
Rutgers and Maryland both are members of the American Association of
Universities, a point of academic prestige that is important to Big Ten
presidents and chancellors. | b**j
发帖数: 20742 | 2 这.. RU可以理解。Maryland掏5千万来B1G合算吗？
two
realignment
that
【在 P*****t 的大作中提到】
: Maryland and Rutgers are in advanced discussions with the Big Ten about
: joining the conference, multiple sources have told Yahoo! Sports.
: Nothing is official yet, but tentative plans for announcements from the two
: schools that they are leaving their current leagues could come early next
: week, sources said. Maryland is a founding member of the Atlantic Coast
: Conference and Rutgers has been a member of the Big East since 1991.
: Their movement would increase Big Ten membership to 14, and would come not
: long after most college sports observers believed the conference realignment
: carousel had stopped spinning. Notre Dame’s announcement in September that
: it would join the ACC while remaining independent in football was thought
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