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ESPN at it again

I think Russ may have been referring to Maryland's prior AD, Debbie Yow. However, I believe that Kevin Anderson (the current AD) was already in place when all of this was going down. Also, at the time, Maryland had a new President that came from the University of Iowa and was very familiar with the B1G.
No, I was referring to Kevin Anderson. No doubt the President at Maryland coming from Iowa helped them. I thought Julie Herman was at RU during all of this. I got the time line wrong
 
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This.......Maryland had leverage and Rutgers did not. When the ACC raided Cuse and Pitt, and subsequently ND, the Big Ten became very concerned about the lack of presence in the DC Metro and NY Metro areas that they had been looking at.

Maryland was very upset that their "natural rival" selected by the ACC was Pitt. They would have preferred it to be Duke, UNC or even Virginia. That move was a slap in the face to Terp Nation. With the expansion of the ACC they knew there would no longer be the "home and home": with Duke or UNC. Maryland had just cut a few sports a year or 2 earlier.

When the B1G came calling, Maryland made its move. The Maryland fans I spoke to were livid for a week or 2 but when stepping back saw that they were treated as an "outcast" by the ACC and the B1G was showing them the love. The AD said that the objective is for them to never cut another sport and in fact they want to restore the ones that were cut in the future.

I'm a Maryland guy and this is pretty accurate from where I sit. The Pitt thing was infuriating -- they weren't even a league member yet when that happened.

I know it's fun to come up with conspiracy theories, but personally I don't see why ESPN, the B1G or anybody else would be so interested in seeing Rutgers fail. In football Maryland is in a relatively similar place that Rutgers is in --near the bottom. Maryland fans don't blame the B1G or ESPN for that. Neither do the people at the school. They're too busy trying to get better.
 
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I'm a Maryland guy and this is pretty accurate from where I sit. The Pitt thing was infuriating -- they weren't even a league member yet when that happened.

I know it's fun to come up with conspiracy theories, but personally I don't see why ESPN, the B1G or anybody else would be so interested in seeing Rutgers fail. In football Maryland is in a relatively similar place that Rutgers is in --near the bottom. Maryland fans don't blame the B1G or ESPN for that. Neither do the people at the school. They're too busy trying to get better.
Can't argue with logic...trouble is we don't have the $$$ yet ...
 
This.......Maryland had leverage and Rutgers did not. When the ACC raided Cuse and Pitt, and subsequently ND, the Big Ten became very concerned about the lack of presence in the DC Metro and NY Metro areas that they had been looking at.
Maryland was very upset that their "natural rival" selected by the ACC was Pitt. They would have preferred it to be Duke, UNC or even Virginia. That move was a slap in the face to Terp Nation. With the expansion of the ACC they knew there would no longer be the "home and home": with Duke or UNC. Maryland had just cut a few sports a year or 2 earlier.
That's a nice spin for the fans but it all boiled down to money. Maryland believe it or not was in worse shape financially than RU when it came to athletics. They ran up huge tabs and used creative accounting tricks to not have all the figures fall squarely on the athletic subsidy. They needed a boost in pay because the ACC is pretty much maxed out until they get a network.
 
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I'm a Maryland guy and this is pretty accurate from where I sit. The Pitt thing was infuriating -- they weren't even a league member yet when that happened.

I know it's fun to come up with conspiracy theories, but personally I don't see why ESPN, the B1G or anybody else would be so interested in seeing Rutgers fail. In football Maryland is in a relatively similar place that Rutgers is in --near the bottom. Maryland fans don't blame the B1G or ESPN for that. Neither do the people at the school. They're too busy trying to get better.
Those who have money usually come to this conclusion. Tell me again why the B1G refuted our overtures for an advance, all while Delaney sat through a rain delay at an indoor women's volleyball game. But gave Maryland an interest free loan and an advance in payment. It's easy to be busy trying to spend that money and get better when somebody is giving it to you. It's tough to try and get better when you have nothing to spend. What did you guy's get again from the B1G I forgot, RU received just over $10 mil.
 
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I'm a Maryland guy and this is pretty accurate from where I sit. The Pitt thing was infuriating -- they weren't even a league member yet when that happened.

I know it's fun to come up with conspiracy theories, but personally I don't see why ESPN, the B1G or anybody else would be so interested in seeing Rutgers fail. In football Maryland is in a relatively similar place that Rutgers is in --near the bottom. Maryland fans don't blame the B1G or ESPN for that. Neither do the people at the school. They're too busy trying to get better.

Well, as a Maryland fan you are not expected to have any feeling at all about this ESPN/Rutgers thing.

ESPN made sure the ACC did not expand with Rutgers in order to allow the NYC market to be wide open for whatever game they wanted to show. Most teams get broadcast in their home markets.. and Rutgers home market is NYC and Philly. Rutgers would only become an asset in such a conference they "control" if it became a national name.. and that is a long way off still, if it ever happens.

Even a good Rutgers football team would only have local interest.. and despite being in a huge affluent TV market.. the problem of Rutgers "stealing" eyeballs in these markets from the games they want to broadcast with more national appeal.. that is a problem they would prefer go away.

Of course now that is BTN's "problem". And BTN stealing eyeballs in NYC from ESPN?ABC is not a "problem" at all.

For the long time that ESPN controlled the exposure Rutgers got on TV when they controlled the Big East TV deal... we know they hid us away on ESPN3 far too often for a team that sits in a huge market and was playing well under Schiano. Never had College Gameday come see us.. the place where college football started.. not once.

As the President would say, Believe me! ESPN treated Rutgers unfairly.. BIGLY.

As for the OP story on that graphic.. that is nothing compared to the big things.. like controlling ACC expansion. That graphic was probably made by some Rutgers-hating underling.. probably from NJ.. that attended Syracuse or UCONN.
 
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Well, money or not, Rutgers is in a good league and has its coach now in both revenue sports. As the teams get better, which they most definitely will, I'll bet everything else starts falling into place.

Go Knights!
 
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That's a nice spin for the fans but it all boiled down to money. Maryland believe it or not was in worse shape financially than RU when it came to athletics. They ran up huge tabs and used creative accounting tricks to not have all the figures fall squarely on the athletic subsidy. They needed a boost in pay because the ACC is pretty much maxed out until they get a network.

It's pretty well documented that it was Debbie Yow, Maryland's former AD, who did the overspending. She concocted accounting so creative that her contract wasn't renewed so she "left" to go to NC State. She's ruining their athletics department now. Just head over to PackPride to get a sense of what she brings to the table. The current Maryland regime is fixing her mess -- and in shorter a time than anticipated thanks to the Big Ten.
 
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