IUALUM03

I grew up before Penn St. was added and I love this, but I also like the boardgames, Risk and Monopoly, so this probably plays into a bit lol.

Agree, schools that historically avoided each other in lieu of cupcakes now will have to play each other. I love it.

My niece played softball at IU. A majority of their season (especially the front end) was playing on road for extended treks to warm weather locations, because it was still cold in Btown. The long travel has already been happening for both revenue and non sports on the collegiate level...neutral site games, holiday tournaments, international trips, etc. were already much in play across the board. That ship sailed long before conference realignment. Regarding the question of what this is about...beyond money, this will provide a league that has brands and variety across a number of sports (more now with west coast schools bringing into play beach volleyball, more gymnastics, etc.) to give content that is very much desired into their own network along with other avenues. I for one will love the opportunity to turn on the B1G network and not see contrived programming or replays more often than not. They should be able to provide competitions through most of the waking time each day outside of summer.

If it wasn't the B1G being aggressive, then another conference would and we would be complaining about the leadership being complacent jeopardizing the conference's future. What the B1G did was nothing short of brilliant and forward thinking regardless of how you feel.

Ben Allen say hi lol

It me...

Flipping this topic a bit...How does this affect recruiting? Opens it up? Creates more competition? Obviously, for football, we now have more competition, but it also opens up more recruiting areas. Additionally, I think eventually, when the B1G and SEC are the two conferences, it consolidates talent into only those leagues, as players will want to play in the best conferences.

I feel like their issue was Pacific Time. It didn't mesh with the rest of the country, like Eastern and Central time do to get views.

The same could be said about National Championships in some regards. Once again, I look at this more PAC and B1G merging versus realignment. So you can still have multiple (or at least 2) sub-leagues under the B1G banner with some cross league plays, then play it out in the post-season prior to the larger national championship events.

I want Stanford and Cal strictly for Academics and San Francisco/Silicon Valley, although Stanford is no slouch at sports (including Football) and Cal could be built up more with right investment a la Rutgers. Bonus would be them helping attract further Notre Dame. Arizona appears to be only a vote away from joining little 12, although they would have been nice with the Phoenix area. With all of this, I also love that it will provide B1G with almost all day content regardless of timezone and up the ante in Baseball and some of the Olympic sports.

They really don't have a choice and it will still be more than they would have received in the PAC or Little 12. They will have to wait until the next deal to get fully vested, unless some conversations are allowed prior to new media contract being up.

Why two? I like the idea of 3 division, maybe four depending on final number, but if three, do the champions of each with a wild card, the you can do a two game football championship for the conference and then get even more creative with the basketball maybe doing a mini march madness.

I still want Stanford and Notre Dame, but this may create a more attractive conference for at least ND to join, since it will cover all of the geographic regions in the US and allow ND to be "National."

I kind of feel like when it is all said and done, it might return closer to the original conferences than one might think. This is all about content and viewers, so what is to say that there isn't a West Coast BIG sub group, Midwest, Northeast, etc., then those feed into league championships and some "interleague" play. I don't think 20 is the number any longer, but something more around 26 - 30 with there also being sport specific members like John Hopkins is for lacrosse and academics. Think more in the terms of consolidation versus relalignment.

Boo hoo. With all do respect, the model was unequitable anyhow. There is plenty of money they could give up to build more infrastructure in the system to stabilize college sports. The problem is they are hoarding it at the top and within the Athletic Departments and coaches, especially Head Coaches, were fine with it when all the rules worked in their favor and against everyone else, including mostly players and assistants. They were always free to move to greener $$$ pastures without any regards on how that affected others around them, get endorsements/shoe money, etc. Now it is a problem because the athletes can do that as well? Give me a break.

So with Colorado leaving the PAC, what’s the next move? I think the AZ schools follow CO and the B1G adds Stanford, Oregon, Cal, Washington, then finds a more surprise 5th…maybe Notre Dame with USC joining.

I just don't see how the government, state or federal, should have any say on a player leaving x college to go to y college. Also, treat them like independent contractors and call it a day. They are not public officials, so they shouldn't have to disclose their income to anyone other than the IRS.

Makes no sense and anything involving Tuberville I don't take seriously. Regardless of political affiliation, he is an idiot. People should be able to move freely, if they want and there are takers. I don't necessarily disagree with NIL disclosures, but at same time someone's personal income shouldn't be anyone's business outside of the IRS. Lastly, our government should be focusing on so much more stuff and leave this to the NCAA, conferences, etc.

I agree, but the infrastructure is going to be there. The only hinderance would be the academics, but as Fitz showed, it is possible for NW to be a strong, consistent winner with top of conference finishes sprinkled in. On another note, I would love for IU to enclose the stadium eventually similar to this. They have improved it dramatically over the last decade, but want them to take the final step and run what they have on both entryways around the sides as well to create more of a cohesive fasade and enclose the internal structures (i.e. concession, seating, etc.)

Pretty sure it came out it had to do with Crean's style and also not bringing together the old guard more in the mix.

This is not a comment for or against religion, but you might want to look at history. Religion of all types doesn't have the best track record.

The Adidas ball in the pic is interesting.

This is why they will still get some looks in addition to being in Chicago, reasonable expectations, and being in the B1G.

They are trying to model basketball in the same manner as soccer/futbol. Their goal is go global eventually, so this would tie into something similar to what they do in Europe with the Champions league, different cups, etc.