cicero grimes

Rutgers fan checking in here and want to welcome you to the B1G. Glad you guys and the Huskies found a landing spot although I will miss the PAC. Enjoyed playing both Washington schools in the past and look forward to you guys coming to NY/NJ and tailgating with some of you folks. Looking forward to getting out west for some road trips. We have a great tailgate scene here and despite our reputation we are a pretty friendly bunch to out of towners. Just come into this conference with your eyes wide open. Everything in this conference is done with the best interests of Ohio St. and UM first and foremost. Nebraska and Penn State found that out. USC will find that out. They are probably already learning that if the rumors were true that the B1G promised them they would not take you guys in future expansion. The people in Chicago at the league offices are pretty ruthless. They don't take prisoners. The ACC will find that out next. If you and the Huskies are coming in at half shares as the media is reporting, it will set you back in terms of resources and competitiveness during the life of this contract. It hurt Nebraska, it hurt Maryland and it hurt us. Maybe the impact wont be as severe for you guys with Phil Knight in your corner but the Huskies are probably going to feel the pain. The math is pretty daunting. If you come in at 40 million per and OSU and UM are at 80 million, you are starting well behind the 8 ball over the life of the ramp up to a full share. The B1G got you cheap because they knew you had to say yes or get left behind. They got us the same way as we had nowhere to go after the BE broke up and even though the carriage fees from adding us and Maryland made the B1G and its network enormous amounts of money, we were getting far less than what we brought in. They got Maryland the same way because they were in dire straights financially and had to agree to an advance against future payments from the league to get out of the red. Nebraska did not get a full share to start either because they were desperate to get away from Texas and the B12 conference and accepted less. On paper USC and UCLA got a better deal financially but they were more useful to the conference because they brought the LA market in prior to the next round of TV negotiations and started the destabilization of the PAC. In my opinion, once those dominoes fell, the TV execs knew it was a matter of time and did not have to deal fairly with the remainder of the PAC because the only two schools they wanted were poached. They also knew the only desirable left over properties were you and the Huskies and eventually they would be able to land you guys down the road. I think it just happened sooner than expected due to the aggressive actions of the the B12. The B1G probably would have preferred to add you and the Huskies in 5 years when they re-opened the next round of TV negotiations. One benefit of doing this now was that USC did not get a vote since the are not officially members until next year. Lastly the key to success in this league is line play and depth. The sheer physicality of the league wears you down on a weekly basis. You have great skill position players but to succeed you are going to need to get bigger on both sides of the line. Teams in this league will play you like Stanford used to play you when they were good, a fist fight in a phone booth, and this will be week in and week out. You need really talented lines and deep ones. You guys will be fine but there will be an adjustment period, just be prepared for that. So again, happy you guys are in and look forward to competing with you and sharing some adult beverages at a tailgate. Welcome to the machine.