What was the point of adding Rutgers to the B1G. I know that the reasoning given was to attract eyeballs on the east coast. However, does Rutgers really have that big of a following on the east coast? How many people on the east coast tune in to watch a Rutgers vs Northwestern game?
Conference realignment question
- Thread starter moralvictories
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There are a **** load of Mich - OSU - PSU - Wisc alums on the east coast that tune into those big ten games
Less today than when Rutgers and Maryland were added, the cable fees were a large part of the calculation of the media payouts. The Big Ten network contracts with the cable providers allowed for the BTN to be a part of the basic cable package in the market that were in the Big Ten footprint. So adding the largest market in the US adding a significant revenue stream to the Big Ten coffers.
But that is more of the advertising dollar that is paid to the networks for broadcasting. Yes it has an affect on the bottom line, but more because the networks will pay to have the Big Ten games in their inventory. The high profile games will be on in NYC regardless if Rutgers is in the Big Ten or the MAC
Besides the East coast market I think they wanted to make Penn St happy with someone close to them and Pitt wasn’t asked since they were already in the ACC
I don't disagree. However, wouldn't more people in NYC tune in to watch West Virginia vs Penn State or West Virginia vs Maryland. Honestly, I believe that West Virginia would have been a better addition to the B1G, and they would likely attract just as many if not more eyeballs on the east coast than Rutgers.
Rutgers only made sense from an academic standpoint. Even though they are in a high population region, only a small percentage honestly follow Rutgers athletics.
At the time, Nebraska was a big brand that had a large following outside of Nebraska. Even though Nebraska has been irrelevant for the past 20 years, they still have a large following.
Academics played a part but as I stated viewership has little to do with expansion. At that time it was all about population centers and cable tv. The income from the cable fees is based on nothing but Households numbers and goes directly to the league and helps pay the bills. Viewership reimburses the networks for their investment in the league tv deals.
Big brands transcend their regions. Look at Notre Dame for example. They are far more than just a South Bend, Indiana team.
Pretending that the value Nebraska brought to the conference is anything remotely similar to what Rutgers brought is a bad take. Nebraska has nationwide recognition and appeal. You can be disappointed in the performance of the football and basketball programs and still understand the blueblood credentials that Nebraska still brings to the B1G.
4th most watched football program in the conference in 2022, ahead of many of our conference members with massive population advantages:
Again, not the point of adding Rutgers. The question was specific to Rutgers not anyone else.
Maryland joined the same year as Rutgers so yes it gave Penn St some more company closer to play compared to Nebraska..
A lot of people in NYC watch Rutgers because it is on their cable system. However, if Pitt, Syracuse, Penn State, Maryland, or West Virginia were on cable TV'S in New York City, they would watch that too. Is Rutgers honestly that popular in NYC, that people were clamoring to have them on their cable TV?
The on field results have been disappointing, no doubt. Thankfully we have still produced higher viewership numbers, so I think the networks and conference bean counters are happy. Hopefully the on field results will be respectable soon.
it has nothing to do with who watches or how many
it has everything to do with BTN being included in cable packages sold to tens of millions of viewers in the NY metro - something not possible without local presence because it is regional
I am on board with getting better. Selfishly, I don't care about the conference bean counters and viewership. I have been a rabid Husker fan since the late 60's, and even though the last 5-10 years have been discouraging I am optimistic about the future for football.
Rutgers
AAU school
Huge media Market
Fit geographic footprint
Had some recent success at Group of 5 level
I think they are a good fit for the B1G. The largest alumni base in the NYC metro is Rutgers so it makes sense.
AAU school
Huge media Market
Fit geographic footprint
Had some recent success at Group of 5 level
I think they are a good fit for the B1G. The largest alumni base in the NYC metro is Rutgers so it makes sense.
Are teams like Pitt and Syracuse not regional teams as well? Wouldn't it have made more sense to get a regional team with good athletics? Perhaps Rutgers was the only one available at the time, but I think for the price teams like Pitt and Syracuse are getting in the ACC vs what they would be getting in the B1G, I think they could have been persuaded to leave the ACC much like Maryland did.
the pitt region is already included - they would add zero dollars strictly speaking in terms of media $
syracuse is not an NY metro team
you need to decouple demand (what people watch) with cable customers because the two are completely uncorrelated when negotiating these deals and thus when considering expansion
At this point a debate about adding Rutgers is moot point. I'm more interested if the B1G is done expanding or whether it's going to keep getting bigger.
Don't cable customers demand certain types of programming? Perhaps cable companies don't always listen to what their customers want, but generally speaking, it's a good idea to listen to what your customers want.
Exactly, and I hope there isn’t any more schools added 16 enough.
Going to be hard the way it is to play everyone and it will take 4 years to play everyone home and away + keeping 3 tradition rivalry games..
do you watch 100% of the channels available to you?
I'm just telling you the facts, guy