UPDATED: Tech denies Big Ten rumors
Amidst rumors and reports that Georgia Tech has applied and been approved for membership into the Big Ten, the school denied their veracity.
“There is no truth to the rumors,” Institute spokesman Matt Nagel said in an e-mail Friday afternoon.
In his conversations with school president G.P. “Bud” Peterson, acting athletic director Paul Griffin said that Peterson “has told me there’s been no communication (with the Big Ten), nor does he expect any.”
Griffin spoke from Charlotte, N.C., where Tech will play Florida State for the ACC football championship Saturday. Griffin said in addition he was not aware of any communications between Tech leadership and the Big Ten or any other conference.
Wednesday, on a teleconference with news media following the ACC accepting Louisville as a member, commissioner John Swofford said that the nature of conversations he had had with Peterson in the past 10 days regarding Tech’s future “has been emphatic in terms of their commitment to the ACC and Georgia Tech’s future.”
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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252 comments Add your comment
USMC DAWG
November 30th, 2012
6:05 pm
Supersize, I really liked your post earlier in the blog. I was thinking…”here is a GT fan that actually has some intelligence!” LOL! Just kidding!
I am tired of all of the HATE talk btwn our schools. They are both special in their own way. TECH needs to be back where they belong. If you read up on why Tech left the SEC, you will see that it was a poor decision by triggered by Bobby Dodd and you can blame Bear Bryant and Alabama as well; just stupid egos posturing.
Go Dogs!
Techman
November 30th, 2012
6:15 pm
Good let’s stay in the aCC where we can continue losing ground to the SEC and the dwags. Maybe we can even lose 11 of the next 12 to the Athens scum. The ACC has really been terrific for Tech in our efforts to close ground on enemy #1.
DublDawg
November 30th, 2012
6:17 pm
I believe that Nagel is telling the truth.
The Big 10 is desperate, but it is not THAT desperate. It already has plenty of teams that cannot beat anyone of gravity.
ole yeller
November 30th, 2012
6:19 pm
Without an athetletic director who is doing research on this move? Do we have a committe already, or is Peterson now calling all the shots for Tech atheletics?
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
6:21 pm
@ USMC DAWG……thanks again. And you’re right, Dodd was STUPID to pull out of the SEC, and, like you said, Bear had a lot to do with it happening.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
6:22 pm
@ ole yeller……for better or worse, like has happened many times in the past, I would imagine that Taz Anderson is calling all the shots
BobbyGodd
November 30th, 2012
6:23 pm
Agree Techman. The ACC has closed ground in basketball with Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse so we might start winning the ACC/BigTen challenge again but in football (even in a terrific year for the ACC) we will still not get above 4th between the other conferences. And most years we will be 5th. Football drives the money train and we will continue losing ground to the other 4 conferences. Doubt even Notre Dame joining the ACC in reality – not the farce entry they are now – could get the ACC into the top 3 much less the top 2 or 1st. Just go top 12 ACC verse top 12 SEC this year. The ACC would likely lose all 12 football games!
atler8
November 30th, 2012
6:26 pm
ChrisN
You are incorrect on so many levels in your 4:05 posting that all I can do is laugh.
I’ll only rebut here with the fact that the Atlanta tv market is huge & a desirable one & in Sept. it was ranked as the 9th largest in a Nielsen estimate. By comparison, metro D.C. was 8th ranked in market size & had only 30,000 more households
You are probably unaware that there is very large Big Ten population living in metro Atlanta & that if the cable companies see $$$ in a Tech/Big Ten combination, there will no laughing done in Jim Delaney’s face. Quite the contrary, actually. But you apparently are too smug to see beyond those blinders you must be wearing.
beezit
November 30th, 2012
6:27 pm
I love all of the interesting commentary surrounding the ACC Championship game you’ve presented here on the eve of the conference contest…
You’ve really hit it out of the park…
Way to go…
DAWG-61
November 30th, 2012
6:28 pm
It all boils down to the almighty dollar as expressed through a large TV market. Atlanta is the 8th. largest TV market in America and that would make any conference drool. However, the way the Tech program has fallen in recent years Big TV Market or No Big TV Market won’t make any money for the Big Ten.
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2008/09/10/nielsen-local-television-market-universe-estimates/5037/
ole yeller
November 30th, 2012
6:29 pm
I thought the same Super, but needed to ask. For those who want to know why Tech really left the SEC read this.
http://blog.al.com/bn/2008/02/southeastern_conference_charte.html
atler8
November 30th, 2012
6:31 pm
DublDawg
Oh boy..here we go again!
This time it’s you with, “…The Big 10 is “desperate”.
I can assure you that there is hardly anything further from the truth.
Jeesh, where do some of you people come up with these opinions?
bjohnDawg
November 30th, 2012
6:31 pm
SEC Make it a super conference with 18 teams and two divisions and a 4 team two game playoff to decided a champion. For the other teams that dont get the playoff game(s) let them match up in the 12 game head to head. 3rd place team in East plays 3 place team in West and so on down to 9th place teams. East teams are home one year, West teams home the next year.So then they get that 12th game.Revenue split 60/40 to the home/away team. And dont say it cannot be done. Fans travel to the SEC champ game on a week’s notice.
Gus in Marietta
November 30th, 2012
6:33 pm
I hope this is all just blogosphere wishful thinking, as I don’t want to see GT leave the ACC (mostly because of stability). But, if we are going to leave, let’s go back to the SEC where we belong. Our traditional rivals are UGA, Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, UF, etc. I actually enjoyed our independent years more than our ACC years. The Auburn series was fantastic fun, for us and them. UT was always a big game. I can’t get excited about playing NC State (or even UNC) or most of the ACC teams.
Call me traditional, but if we change conferences, let’s go back home to the one we left….
Gus in Marietta
November 30th, 2012
6:37 pm
One more thing: GT owns 5 of the first 30 SEC championships.
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
6:42 pm
I’m beginning to think we shud go to BIG for money. We can’t win ACC in either FB or BB. We, like UGa, rarely make NCAA tourney. Just show me the money. Or we can just tee it up/toss it up with Miss State, a similar engineering school,
ole yeller
November 30th, 2012
6:53 pm
Gus I agree with your wishes to play the past rivals once again as a SEC member. I don’t know if you read the link I posted why Tech left the SEC in the first place. Those conditions still exist and if Tech were to be competive they would need to go back to the same practices they originally left for. Second unless the Ga. BOR allows some releif to Tech on courses and degrees they can offer, Tech cannot recruit the same players as other SEC schools. Tech cannot be competive with the football factorys in the SEC unless some of the restrants are loosened on the school. I would not want to see Tech looked at as the doormat of the SEC.
rw
November 30th, 2012
6:54 pm
Not saying that Tech will go, but everyone denies being in conversations with another conference until just before they call the press conference announcing that they are leaving.
From the Big Ten’s perspective, adding TV sets for the Big Ten Network means money even if the team draws mediocre ratings. On my cable system, the Big Ten Network is on the sports tier (relatively few subscribers) – if Tech gets it bumped to the standard tier, then the BTN makes money off subscriber fees regardless of the ratings. Let’s face it – it’s not like Maryland and Rutgers draw huge ratings.
VPI97
November 30th, 2012
6:55 pm
alter8 – The B10 network is already available in Atlanta (as is LHN and BYUTV). Any B10 fans living in Atlanta that care enough to get the Network already have it…adding GT to the B10 means very small (if any) increased revenue for the conference. You talk as if the TV market here is saturated with GT fans that would instantly increase B10 TV ratings & subscriptions. It’s not. No cable company would see $$$ from a GT/B10 combination.
ramguy68
November 30th, 2012
7:15 pm
I guess Ohio St needs another patsy on their schedule….lol
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
7:18 pm
” No cable company would see $$$ from a GT/B10 combination.”
That would be pretty easy for the Big Ten to figure out. Track the ratings on the Georgia Tech games in the viewing area. If they are satisfied with the info, they would take that into consideration.
rw
November 30th, 2012
7:20 pm
VPI97 – I get what you are saying, but I think the same was probably true of Maryland and Rutgers. From what I’ve read, it’s getting the Big Ten Network moved off a sports tier onto a standard tier that makes the big difference, both in terms of subscriber fees and ad sales. Mind you, I think sports business analysts are divided over whether the Rutgers/Maryland additions were good ones from a business perspective.
PLAY ORWIN
November 30th, 2012
7:25 pm
SO WHEN DO WE JOIN THE BIG TEN? AFTER WE WIN THE ORANGE BOWL? GO JACKETS
VPI97
November 30th, 2012
7:38 pm
rw – You’re right, that’s the only situation where there would be any benefit.
Right now the B10 makes money in the Atlanta market based on existing sports tier subscriptions since their network is already available in the market (their cut would probably be a how many ever cents per existing subscription). Would adding GT to the conference raise sports tier subscriptions enough to compensate for an additional seat at the overall pool of money…I think we both see that as being very unlikely. So then, as you said, the only big increase would come from forcing the ATL stations to put B10 network on basic…then the conference gets a cut from the overall number of subscribers of basic. That would be some decent money.
But look at it from the cable providers perspective…do you think that they’re going to be willing to fork over that money to the B10 network for nothing? Why would they voluntarily do that? If this were UGA, you may have a point…the comments and complaints from the public about having to spend $5 a month on the sports tier to see their Dawgs may force the cable companies to add B10 network…but this is GT we’re talking about. That’s like saying adding Rutgers to the B10 will force the companies in NYC to add B10 to basic and that’s just insa… Oh yeah.
docsbro
November 30th, 2012
7:44 pm
Thank you Jacket UP. The idea that Tech athletics is “stable” financially is laughable(as displayed by the fact Hewitt could not be bought out). To succeed you need money LOTS of money!! The SEC could give two winks about GT as well, they don’t need us and never will. They OWN the state of Georgia(including Atlanta, remember where their Championship game is tomorrow) and that won’t change anytime soon.
The only place for us to go is the Big 10 and I hope it comes true otherwise we will continue to become a non-factor(and NO it isn’t about the coach as much as it is $). Reading this blog makes me sad to be a Tech fan sometimes, the fans are so delusional, the ACC will be a fine conference but cannot compete with SEC money in football heck nobody can right now as evidenced by their 5 straight NC’s.
Stinger 1
November 30th, 2012
7:54 pm
Supersize: You mentioned the fact that Dodd would never take Tech to Ole Miss or MST. I being a GT fan since 1952 can also remember that he would not take the team to Clemson. Frank Howard was smart enough to take the big paycheck to play in Atlanta every year. I believe that Dodd did agree to play Ole Miss once in the Sugar Bowl (1954 or 1955) I think.
Danny Ford
November 30th, 2012
8:07 pm
Coach Richt & his staff at Georgia are hoping Tech bolts the ACC. What with two openings, they should be able to move to that conference in hopes of easing up their schedule.
SmittyATL
November 30th, 2012
8:09 pm
As a Maryland alumnus and Atlanta resident, I look forward to Ga. Tech joining the Terps in the B1G!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
8:17 pm
@ Stinger 1……I had forgotten that Tech never played AT Clemson, but back then Clemson had a tiny stadium in the middle of a pasture. Howard was smart enough to come to Atlanta every year, even though he almost always got beat. Of course, there was a BIG difference in playing Ole Miss in New Orleans than in Oxford. He didn’t object to playing them or Miss State; he just objected to going there to play them.
wreckbone
November 30th, 2012
8:21 pm
Why is this even a story. We jabber the Acc championship and all we hear all week is about Acc alignment and no coverage on the football . We are inn the championship game could care less about stupid reasons the big ten bailed out a horrible Maryland program. Let’s hear about football. Then I appreciate article about tech hoops but the paper had no coverage the night of the game. Ken you have done excellent these two years. How about more articles on the game. If the ajc cared about the Acc so much it wouldn’t hurt to cover Acc hoops or the Acc big ten challenge
Rick James
November 30th, 2012
8:37 pm
@GT Joe
Georgia State doesn’t fit the B1G academically.
——————————————————————
Nor does Georgia Tech football..
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
8:54 pm
@ wreckbone…..Ken will start covering the basketball games after tomorrow night. The ajc only gives Tech one writer, and he can’t do everything. Just be glad he does what he does so well. In my book, he’s the best !!!!
Nole13
November 30th, 2012
9:11 pm
I read where Ga Tech was going to join the Div II, Peach Belt Conference. Is this true?
JoeFan
November 30th, 2012
9:15 pm
Somebody is not being completely honest here as a Michigan website “Chatsports” is reporting that GT will join the B10 on Monday December 3. Guess we will see as the weekend unfolds.
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
9:20 pm
Somebody tell me what in hell has Tech brought to ACC? Pls, get the hell out. Quit whining and just leave. Take FSU, Clemson, and VaTech with you.
LACX
November 30th, 2012
9:20 pm
Big 10 is NOT one bit better than ACC in any way ! Academics ??? NO WAY !!!!
Heck ACC is heads and shoulders above sec, in everything, except football, sec basketball is not much !
UNC to big 10… HA Ha Ha , and NVER play Duke again… Even the Carolina crowd would not stand for that… I can just see those BIG rivals, GT and Iowa… Oh Boy !!!!
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
9:26 pm
Rick James – That’s part of the issue. It appears that none of the ACC schools can recruit well enough to compete with the SEC, in part because they are not members of the SEC. The kids from the 2 big recruiting areas of Georgia and Florida want the national attention that the SEC gets. Georgia Tech faces the additional difficulty of not having curricula that appeals to the broad part of the bell curve of Georgia and Florida high school graduates. Would it be different in the Big Ten? Maybe. The school systems of the footprint of the Big Ten are better than public schools in Georgia. If Georgia Tech gains inroads into areas where a higher percentage of academically better-qualified high school athletes are available, it would be a positive. The basic literacy rate of industrial states is higher than in Georgia and the rest of the deep South. Those are fundamental differences between an industrialized society and a largely agrarian one that predates the Civil War. We are into the third generation since World War II, when the Greatest Generation members from the South gained their first real experience in heavy industry. The first 4-lane in the deep South was built to serve the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta. The shipyards in Mobile and in Mississippi caused a population explosion of immense proportions. The first of the following generations (my on) still attended segregated schools. I had a poor education compared with the other members of my units in the service. It is a very slow process of change.
playmeortrademe
November 30th, 2012
9:33 pm
I laugh at anyone who thinks academics has anything to do with anything. Tech’s standards keep them from competing? The B1G wants Tech for the academics? No and no. The B1G is going after TVs. If Tech was smart they would jump to the Big 12 with F$U and Clemson where they might actually stand a chance of competing in football and basketball and go to the Sugar Bowl and NCAA tournament. How is Tech going to get any decent kid from this state to play for a mid-level B1G program where half of your games are in the freezing cold far away from home when there are a dozen better FBS programs within a day’s drive in the SEC and ACC.
Please
November 30th, 2012
9:39 pm
Buckeye-
Aren’t you the putz who suggested recently on a Falcons blog that a win would help them gain home field advantage over the Texans????
If you like Ohio and the rest of the rusted wasteland otherwise known as the Big Ten so much, why don’t you go back? My guess is that it’s because your employer moved their headquarters here from some hell hole and you came with them.
Go back and take Tech with you. Idiot.
11 of 12
November 30th, 2012
9:40 pm
Supersize who do u think u guys will target for the new DC after tomorrow or the bowl? Heard Ellis Johnson mentioned earlier today and I thought that might be a decent move only downfall is his age.
OldGold1964
November 30th, 2012
9:44 pm
Fact #1: “social networks” are nothing more than rumor and fantasy. Fact #2: see fact #1 for reinforcement. Simply because couple of rival school representatives may have shared a cab ride from airport, or lunch table at Waffle House, that is no reason to assume discussion of conference changes is afoot.
IMHO: GT would be making huge mistake if they decided to switch. With no true AD in place, and no serious President, AD, Alumni, and state board of regents member having put in place a REAL examination of possible scenarios, nobody outside of the Insitute should be discussing, much less publishing, rumors.
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
9:49 pm
Tech is like a woman on the rag. Didn’t like the SEC; it leaves for independent status, and doesn’t like that. Then it joins the ACC, now it wants out. I think Tech is a malcontent.
Toadster
November 30th, 2012
9:50 pm
Sorry Delbert, you are trying to educate an idiot. Rick James has the IQ of a turnip. He’d never understand what you are talking about. His responses it that The Georgia Institute of Technology has never done anything worth mentioning. I really hate to say that but it is the truth. I’m sorry you are so stupid Rick. Maybe you could get your daughter or one of your fry guys to explain it to you. No guarantees, I doubt you are all you claim to be. Bragging on an anonymous blog is certainly a clue. Most people that are wealthy don’t brag about it. Maybe you could refresh all readers how great you are? I forgot about all your self proclaimed accolades and accomplishments. If I remember correctly you drive around in a Bentley. Must be nice. Are you going to be at the dog game tomorrow?
Nole13
November 30th, 2012
9:51 pm
I think the Peach Belt Conference would be the perfect fit for Ga Tech. I think Ga Tech could be at least near the top every year. Look for an announcement soon.
Bill from Dacusville
November 30th, 2012
9:51 pm
Fire Pitiful Paul
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
9:51 pm
I’m older than Ellis Johnson, and I think he’s lost a bit in his intellectual capacity. I’m not as old as Al Groh, though. Tech needs to go for a younger guy, and one that is potential head coach material.
Toadster
November 30th, 2012
9:53 pm
Prometheus does not get much female companionship. You always have a sock puppet. Which hand is hairy?
Clyde
November 30th, 2012
9:57 pm
I’d rather GT return to the SEC, not sure the GTAA is very pleased with the ACC bowing down to Notre Dame. There are a lot of GT fans in the sticks (I’ve met plenty in my job field) and they’d show up so see traditional rivalries with SEC teams again. A lot of GT fans just have no interest in seeing ACC teams play GT.
Jacket Man
November 30th, 2012
10:00 pm
Peterson “has told me there’s been no communication (with the Big Ten), nor does he expect any.” TODAY (while at the ACC Championship Game weekend)…ASK ME AGAIN MONDAY…
11 of 12
November 30th, 2012
10:00 pm
On a side note our basketball team could be worse than auburn was in football this year. Tech looks like they have a pretty good team this year and will destroy us next week.
I would welcome tech to the SEC but not sure what it would do for the rivalry. Can’t see it hurting anything for Gt and it would prob help tech in recruiting.