The Expansion Project - Volume I

The Expansion Project – A Preface

A Preface The 13th Game My knee jerk reaction after TCU dropped from #3 to #6, which has since proven to be a mistake by the...

The Expansion Project: Building a Foundation

Building a Foundation Part 2 Prior to about five years ago, expansion was addressed very rarely.   The Big Ten stayed at eleven members for years prior...

The Expansion Project – Brand and Culture

Brand and Culture Part 3 At this point the joke is old.  There are fourteen teams in the Big Ten and ten teams in the Big 12. ...

The Expansion Project – Buyouts & Buy-ins

Buyouts and Buy-ins Part 4 The long and short with buyouts is that they are monetary compensation for the conference due to the trouble it has...

The Expansion Project – Grant of Rights

Grant of Rights Part 5 I’m not a media lawyer, but I’ve talked to a few and what I can tell you about a Grant of Rights...

The Expansion Project – Media Contracts

Media Contracts Part 6 Buyouts bind schools to conferences.   Grant of Rights bind inventory to media contracts.  So, at the end of the day, what we need...

The Expansion Project – Location

Location Part 7 As the old real estate mantra goes when describing the most valuable properties, it comes down to location, location, location.   However, no single aspect...

The Expansion Project – Desire

Desire Part 8   Of all of the factors that we need to consider when evaluating expansion candidates none is more important than desire.   In short, if you...

The Expansion Project – Structure

Structure Part 9   I would imagine terabytes of memory on the internet are dedicated to ignoring reality and making the entire world of NCAA sports boil down...

The Expansion Project – Financial Support

Financial Support Part 10 When comparing university athletic departments, few demarcation points are as cut and dry as the financial support that they receive.  It is also...

The Expansion Project - Volume II

The Expansion Project: Act II – Defining the Field

Defining the Field Act II - Part 1 The past ten articles allowed us to layout all of the aspects that define how expansion occurs within...

The Expansion Project: Brand & Culture, pt 2 – The Numbers

Brand & Culture, pt 2 - The Numbers Act II - Part 2 Within the article on Branding and Culture I discussed two ways to quantify brand...

The Expansion Project: Location Location Location

The Expansion Project - Act II, Pt 3 Location Location Location   I’m not sure if any concept facing conference expansion is avoided to make a case...

The Expansion Project II – Finances

Finances Act II - Part 4 There are many factors that come into play when comparing expansion candidates for the Big 12, should it decide to expand...

The Expansion Project – Attendance

Attendance ACT II - Part 5 As the Big 12 grows nearer to expanding back to 12 teams I’m going to continue looking at all of...

The Expansion Project – Financial Health Scorecard

Financial Health Scorecard ACT II - Part 6 This is just one article of a larger project detailing all of the important factors to consider when looking at Big...

The Expansion Project – Combined Scores

  Before getting wrapping up the analysis of the FBS schools, I’d like to point out again that this is but one piece of a...

The Expansion Project - Candidates

The Expansion Project: Memphis

The University of Memphis was founded in the early 1900s and has grown along with its namesake location.   The bulk of its students come from...

The Expansion Project: BYU

The fact that BYU is positioning itself to join a Power Five conference is an indication of where the college sports landscape is headed.  ...

The Expansion Project: Central Florida

Not many expansion candidates for the Big 12 are as young as the University of Central Florida, who was founded in 1963 to support...

The Expansion Project: Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati (UC) is an old university, much older than many of us probably realize.   Founded in 1819, it predates Ohio State...

The Expansion Project: Houston

No potential expansion candidate for the Big 12 has received more media attention over the past several weeks than the University of Houston (UH). ...

The Expansion Project: Connecticut

Every fan base points to its successes, especially in expansion pitches.  Most will talk about bowl wins or conference championships over the past decade,...

The Expansion Project: Temple

This Spring I released part of the Expansion Project that mentioned Temple as a dark horse candidate for the Big 12 and was mocked...

The Expansion Project: Colorado St.

Like many of the large schools west of the Appalachians, Colorado State University (CSU) was created via the Morrill Act, which granted public land...

The Expansion Project: Tulane

Tulane University has one of the most unique histories of the expansion candidates.  It was originally founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in...

The Expansion Project: South Florida

Like the University of Central Florida, The University of South Florida (USF) still has its “new university smell”, conceived and founded just sixty years...

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