In the aftermath of what I expected would happen yesterday...I feel like there needs to be a few words said about the historic events that transpired yesterday.
THE HOT LIST:
1. Nebraska officially in the Big 10: Feelings and future conference divisions
1. This post is strictly dedicated to Nebraska's Harvey Perlman and Athletic Director Tom Osborne steering Nebraska into the Big 10 conference. Yesterday HUGE pieces of information came out about the process of how Nebraska came to get into the Big 10 Conference. It was really interesting to hear that at the Big 12 meetings last week, Nebraska was called out by the commissioner and by the other members of the conference to stay in the league....What was very concerning was the way the other members of the conference responded when Nebraska fired out questions about them staying in the league if Colorado and Missouri left the league...all of the members were unable to definitively state that they would remain in the league if that happened. What was especially interesting was when Harvey Perlman asked each member if they would sign over their media rights to keep the conference together...only Texas stated that they would not concede their media rights. Ask me this question again if Nebraska really was the culprit for breaking up the Big 12 when clearly its most powerful member refused to do what it needed to keep the league together even after its President publicly stated would do whatever was needed to keep the Big 12 together...clearly as you can read between the lines, Texas is operating on a whole different agenda than what they are telling the country.
After the meetings concluded I applaud the work of our Chancellor and our Athletic Director after they realized that there was no long term stability in a league that simply can't get all of its teams on board. When they were given the ultimatum to commit to the conference till 2016 or else...Nebraska looked at them with a look of disgust for the events that they have endured in 14 years of being a member of this league. I also don't see what the special interest in the Pac-10 really is...yes they do wanna expand to get a conference championship game going likely in the Rose Bowl for the first year to generate some more revenue for the league...but what is the point of going to 16 teams? Clearly money is driving this decision to be that big of a conference, so you can generate you own network and reap the rewards of the money it brings in. Texas does hold the key for what the Pac-10 future expansion could be...get them in and they'll likely take OSU, OU, and Tech with them. What should also be considered in this whole idea is the thoughts of their true-real rival in Texas A&M. The Aggies have expressed the notion of joining the SEC conference and really have no plans to become a member of the Pac-10. Remember that lawmakers in the State of Texas absolutely simply would not let the two most powerful schools leave for different conferences. Texas will have a meeting of its Board of Regents on Tuesday this week, with the state government requesting Texas' presence at a special joint meeting on Wednesday. I can almost guarantee that the meeting will likely tell Texas that you can't leave without Texas A&M. The Aggies would love to irk their rival in anyway that they can by staying in the Big 12. That should be interesting to see.
Back To The SKERS:
If you look at the benefits of the Big 10...it is vast and great for both the academics and athletics for Nebraska. Nebraska stands to add 150 to 200 million dollars in research money along with added TV revenue from the Big 10 network. Now all Nebraska athletic events can be seen on the Big 10 network...connecting all Husker Fans from all over the country. If you look at the culture, the climate, and the fact that Nebraska now feels like its in a conference that will allow it to have an equal voice on high priority matters...its a perfect fit. As I've said to many people both personally and publicly on the radio...I'm excited to be greeting fans of the Big 10 next season not just in Football but in all sports. Nebraska now has stability it needs to grow for the next 100 years that simply put by our Chancellor "the Big 12 can not do that for us." We will not be held liable for the Big 12 falling apart...that will be on the hands of Texas...they know it...and now one else will ever convince me not...Nebraska deserves this and will succeed for the future with this epic and historic conference switch.
I propose divisions set up like this:
East: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Penn State
West: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern
Pretty fair and balance with each school keeping some of its major rivalries like Michigan-Ohio State, Indiana-Purdue, Northwestern-Michigan State, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Nebraska-Iowa, Penn State-Illinois
Most are huge...some are mediocre...we shall see what the Big 10 does...very exciting and awesome to finally have all this talk of where we are going to go behind us.
No comments:
Post a Comment