Expansion By The Numbers 4: Proximity

Hate to admit it, but WVU is the SEC's best option if Mizzou is not interested. It's looking more and more like that. Leatherhelmet and other blogs are saying it's a done deal. The Big Least's meeting today isn't as much to save the conference as it is an exit strategy for their football schools. If they can get out of the 27 month wait and no legal issues, it could be a done deal this upcoming week. VT, FSU and Clemson won't leave ACC and the other SEC schools don't want to compete for the same turf in their state. WVU also is one of the few universities (and States) that can throw a lot of money at their program. When you really look at, WVU is one of few remaining good options to get to 14.

How about inviting WVU an excellent idea!!!

My personal vote would be for East Carolina. If not ECU then Missouri or NC State. Of course FSU is always a possibility. Also...another Texas university would be good (but not U of Texas).

I am impressed with all the work and numbers but I feel a short list has already been compiled. I think less than 5 schools are on it and I don't believe the SEC is in a hurry to select anybody.

Well, Terry Holland is quite a salesman. Time will tell if it can be pulled off. I'll say this, I don't think ECU is going to be included in the current round of SEC expansion, but from everything I've read(and that includes more than just what you provided) I do think that ECU deserves to be in a BCS conference a lot more than many of the programs that are currently in one. There may be a chance if the SEC goes to 16 and if they are concerned with getting cable subscriptions in North Carolina rather than just money from TV sets nationwide.

I've been told that you are more likely to see ECU gear being worn in Charlotte than you are to see gear from UNC or Duke or any other North Carolina school. That seems very interesting.

ECU's academics will also hurt them in this debate. I'm sure it is a fine school and that all these ranking systems you see are relative and are incapable of giving anyone a qualitative result on the actual school, but it seems university presidents see it differently. I think ECU is ranked a good ways behind even WVU and WVU would be the lowest ranked school in the conference it they were admitted.

Who knows what will happen though.

How can Virginia Tech be closer than North Carolina, NC State, and Duke? Virgina is the state ABOVE the state of North Carolina, so to get to Virginia Tech, doesn't the trip include a trip across North Carolina? It just looks strange although the angle on the dangle shows VT closer, but not in the mind. But my mind is just a bit warped. Love your work John. You ought to have a TV show, just make sure it is broadcast in Louisiana as well.

Hey ECU fan. I have mentioned many times that if the state of North Carolina was the goal for the SEC, then ECU needs to be considered. I agree with you that UNC, Duke and NCstate are long shots at best. The only possible get out of those three without the collapse of the ACC is NCST. So for new territory schools that are possible, there are only four logical choices; Mizzou, L'ville, WVU, and ECU. Yes we can dream about VT, but with all of the political baggage that they have in state, plus all of the academic ties to the ACC, they are not coming. So out of those 4, Mizzou is the best choice, and L'ville is the least (no real new tv markets) So if Mizzou says no, you next best choice is between WVU and ECU. That is when it comes down to splitting hairs. TV markets, and population growth. ECU. Known brand name and reputation: WVU. Academics: toss up. Recruiting: ECU. To me ECU has more potential than WVU. If we are making decisions based on where a school could be 20-30 years down the road, I would choice ECU. ECU is a lot like USCe was 20+ years ago. WVU is the same as they were 20 years ago, and that is not a bad thing. Unfortunately the items that they can't control will not change - TV markets. Plus, the SEC already has met their hillbilly quota with UT.

Spoiler Alert! It's going to be 1A.) North Carolina or 1B.) NCSU based on tv markets, new recruiting grounds (Florida has dipped into North Carolina heavily in the last couple of years) Academics, and North Carolina would be a amazing get in basketball, Kentucky vs UNC for the SEC tourney crown?

No mizzou, No okie state, Clemson, or FSU... UNC or NCSTATE.

Dude! Stop with all this expansion trash. You admit that people are tired of reading about it. They are!

Whether the SEC adds Missouri (or W.V.) doesn't really matter. Neither one will ever sniff the SEC Title in football. Nobody besides UK fans care about basketball and nobody cares about any other sport.

At the end of the day, we're adding another Ole Miss/irrelevant type team that can only hope to be a spoiler.

I think this is a great project, but this catgory is the most troublesome, because distance is not just a metric, but also about perception. There is no way that people in cincy, who look down on their neighbors across the river feel closer to Birmingham than people in Raleigh, nc. Part of this is due to history, culture, but also some basic things like weather. Basically my point is, it would be easier to have a team from 800 miles away east or west, than 500 miles north. While the pac whatever have rejected this, we see the same thing in the acc.....its easier to have schools 1500 miles apart north-south than have a team from further west of atlanta. (Im not arguing that the sec and big10 dont perpetuate this idea, but that i still think it would remain)
I dont think this category should be eliminated, for it helps to override misconceptions, but because these cinceptions do exist, I think this category should be weighted less than the others....or barring that, some factor increase like multiply north distances by 1.3

Dang John, you just decided to run a "writing" marathon didn't you? You feel like you're back in college?

Nice work so far John. You guys are definitely putting a lot of thought into this and breaking it down logically. Looking forward to the rest of the series.