When Dave Pietramala took in Michigan’s game against Penn State this February – and spent more time schmoozing with U-M Athletic Director David Brandon than scouting the Wolverines’ lacrosse team – this move looked inevitable.
The first bird-based mascot in the Big Ten.
Today, Johns Hopkins will announce a move to the Big Ten lacrosse conference. The details have yet to be hammered out (publicly), so hopefully a lot of questions will be answered at the 11 a.m. presser. You can watch it here.
My guess is that it plays out like this:
- The B1GLAX will start competition during the 2015 season, and will earn an immediate automatic bid (no waiting period) to the NCAA Tournament.
- Maryland and Rutgers will move the same season, giving them another year each with the ACC and Big Whatever, respectively.
- The ECAC is toast. Losing Loyola, Denver, Michigan, and Ohio State in a two-year period will cripple the league to the point of dissolution.
- The Blue Jays are actually willing to give up their ESPN deal, with an agreement in place that the Big Ten Network might actually show a live lacrosse game or two (though I know all the subscribers will be really disappointed to lose reruns of Purdue Campus Programming).
The only bold prediction in there regards TV rights – and it’s possible or even likely that I’m wrong on that. Hopkins is the traditional lacrosse power, and the Big Ten needs them for a sixth team and a high-profile anchor member of the league. Still, given the way the league operates, I have a hard time seeing that special an agreement. If anything, the league would divide Hopkins’ ESPN money six ways (at which point the deal isn’t worth it to Hopkins, and they may as well just go on the Big Ten Network for their TV coverage).
We’ll see in 45 minutes.
Or, maybe Brandon was “schmoozing” Pietramala?