Big 10 going conference only

I read that in addition, Big Ten teams will have to travel by bus, anyone know about that?  I guess if the buses have wifi, students can do their schoolwork while driving from Iowa to Rutgers?

Saw the tweet, haven't seen an article anywhere so I'm wondering if they're going to frame it as a virus issue or a money issue.

If it's a virus issue I would want to know if the football season is going to end after the B1G championship or if they're going to be allowed to participate in bowl games/CFP.

If it's a money issue, well it's a terrible look for a major conference

I just want to know why Maryland can go 1200 miles to Nebraska or Minnesota, but can't play Georgetown, Richmond, VT, UDel, etc. If the bus travel is true I don't even know how that would work. 20 hours on a bus cross country? We're going to spend two days traveling on a bus?

All I know is the Big 10 has really dropped the ball. Botched football season, no basketball schedule out yet, and now conference only baseball.

Most Big Ten states have plenty of D1 schools, and so whether it's money or virus (I could believe either one), I don't see why they don't play only local D1 instead of conference games.  Does having conference baseball games really make the schools any money?

20-hour bus rides make no sense at all.  But then, I've always thought that non-local conferences make no sense anyway, I felt the same way when the ACC decided to go Boston-Florida.

Conference games make more money from TV.  That maybe why in conference only.

My opinion is it's about money and poor planning.

From what I understand conference only games are because they can assure that all the kids are following the same protocols but there are huge holes in their justifications and decisions (and even the kids are calling them out on it). We have had some calls/conference calls with the coaches and school leadership and the recent upticks have set everyone back on their heels. Northwestern is supposed to start games late this month/early Dec. No spectators. SEC teams started releasing schedules this week. Is suspect Big 10 will follow shortly. They are actually almost always later in releasing schedules even in non-COVID times.

Sorry, to be clear, talking basketball here which is obviously not the same but is a predicator...

@anotherparent posted:

Most Big Ten states have plenty of D1 schools, and so whether it's money or virus (I could believe either one), I don't see why they don't play only local D1 instead of conference games.  Does having conference baseball games really make the schools any money?

20-hour bus rides make no sense at all.  But then, I've always thought that non-local conferences make no sense anyway, I felt the same way when the ACC decided to go Boston-Florida.

BC joined the ACC for the sports revenue. The school was going bankrupt. They’ve had trouble competing in football and baseball. They haven’t been good in basketball for several years. Football goes 3-6 plus three cupcake wins to make it to 6-6 and play in toilet bowls.

A new state of the art training facility should improve football and basketball recruiting. Nothing will change the weather for baseball. At least the new field doesn’t have wind blowing across an almost frozen reservoir towards the stadium.

Under normal circumstances BC baseball flies to their away series. The nearest school is UVA, 550 miles away.

Conferences used to be regional. Now it’s about coverage of the country for tv exposure and revenue. Even the SEC, which looks connected on a map has a 1000+ mile spread. I remember when the powerhouse Southwest Conference was seven Texas schools and Arkansas. The conference that makes zero geographical sense is the AAC. It runs from PA to TX. Two CA schools are associate members.

The Southwest Conference was awesome and made a lot of sense geographically. The only conference series that required a plane flight was going to play at Arkansas. And having so many Texas schools made for lots of good rivalries. You can thank all your burnt orange friends in Austin for the demise of what once was a great and storied conference.

https://longhornswire.usatoday...onference-a-rebirth/

I am a fan of conferences realigning.  The next few even more years is gonna be tough financially.

So I read an interesting article the other day about a B10 school heading into financial trouble. A HUGE drop in attendance was a big reason.

Movement to move basketball January?-May:

https://www.espn.com/mens-coll...w-start-date-madness

Not sure that anyone listens to Rick Pitino, but it's not just him, according to ESPN.  If they lose basketball, that's a lot of lost money for athletic programs.

This isn’t meant to be political in any way, but some schools may not have a choice to play if states shut down again. Shut downs may not impact baseball as much (I hope), but it will certainly interrupt the end of football and beginning of hoops.

@TPM posted:

https://longhornswire.usatoday...onference-a-rebirth/

I am a fan of conferences realigning.  The next few even more years is gonna be tough financially.

So I read an interesting article the other day about a B10 school heading into financial trouble. A HUGE drop in attendance was a big reason.

Yep, this, exactly, they should all do this.

@TPM posted:

https://longhornswire.usatoday...onference-a-rebirth/

I am a fan of conferences realigning.  The next few even more years is gonna be tough financially.

So I read an interesting article the other day about a B10 school heading into financial trouble. A HUGE drop in attendance was a big reason.

A lot of schools have put statements out. Most range in the 150 million dollar loss range, the highest I've seen is 250 million. I would assume the fact that they're almost all public schools does factor into that. Kids can defer for a semester/year and take classes at jucos or online as many have joint programs and reenroll when they need to.

I did see that our local juco has attendance up by 25%.