College football's sleeping giant awakens.

In the modern world of college football, TV revenue makes the wheels go round. It has been this way since at least the 1980s..

Problem is the schools on the Northeast, home to the lucrative New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C media markets, never quite embraced the potential of football TV revenue the way the schools in the rest of the country did..

The Big East Conference had never bothered with football, despite hosting several historically powerful football schools like Syracuse, Boston College, and Pittsburgh. The Conference refused to invite Penn State due to weak basketball. And attempts by Penn State to join again continued to be stymied by the Catholic Seven. Little did they know at the time, their refusal to add Penn State would backfire on them and set into motion a chain of events that would create one of the nation's most powerful athletic conferences.


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Joe Paterno sighed as he got off the phone with representatives from the Big East. They would NOT be adding Penn State as a member school for the 1990 season, after another attempt to join, was vetoed by the Catholic Seven again.

How could they be so stubborn? Football was a huge revenue sport and with as many TV markets as they had access to, an East Coast Football playing conference should be a major money maker, yet because the Catholic Seven of the Big East refused to even entertain the idea of expanding into football, the football schools remained seperate and disparate.

What didn't help was that with the Supreme Court's ruling that the College Football Association's control over scheduling violated the Sherman Act. Conferences could negotiate their own TV deals, and with the rise of cable TV, that meant more players could enter the market. Independents like Penn State without high profile TV deals would increasingly be left behind.

An idea filled his head, what if Penn State and the other East Coast football schools united together and formed their own conference. With the amount of major TV markets that could potentially be brought in, this would guarantee large TV contracts, which could be distributed to all member schools. With the idea in mind, he picked up his phone and started to make a few phone calls to see what other Eastern schools were interested in his vision of a made for TV sports conference.

And so, the process to create the East Coast Conference began. And the course of college sports history would forever be changed


(And my first TL is up, feel free to collaborate as you wish)

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After careful deliberations and discussions with ADs, 9 other schools would buy into Paterno's vision.

The 9 schools that would join Penn State, would be the University of Pittsburgh, Syracuse University, West Virginia University, Rutgers University, Boston College, Temple University, Florida State University, the University of Miami, and the University of Maryland

All that was left now was to formally announce the conference.
 
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Joe Paterno walked up to the podium to begin the press conference that would send shockwaves throughout the college football world.

At the press conference, he announced the formation of the East Coast Conference, to begin play for the 1990 athletic season in all sports..
 
Thanks for doing this. One of the great college sports 'what ifs'

After careful deliberations and discussions with ADs, 9 other schools would buy into Paterno's vision.

The 9 schools that would join Penn State, would be the University of Pittsburgh, Syracuse University, West Virginia University, Rutgers University, the University of South Carolina, Temple University, Florida State University, the University of Miami, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (better known as Virginia Tech).

All that was left now was to formally announce the conference.

No Boston College?

Regards,
 
and I noticed this was the year before South Carolina joined the SEC...

and I think that Boston College should be a member as well...
 
Is there a school in the NYC area that could potentially start a football program that isn't a private school?
City College New York won both the NCAA and NIT basketball championships in the same year and without the point shaving scandal that hit the team could they become a football power?
 
Is there a school in the NYC area that could potentially start a football program that isn't a private school?
City College New York won both the NCAA and NIT basketball championships in the same year and without the point shaving scandal that hit the team could they become a football power?
Too small for a football program, division 3 and where they would play?
 
Too small for a football program, division 3 and where they would play?
I understand that but CUNY (which was CCNY) has a lot of students and for a stadium that is a problem unless the Jets stay in New York instead of going to Giants Stadium in New Jersey and a new stadium is built in Queens for the Jets.
But I understand that NYC high school football produces a lot of good players and I have never understood why there is no major college football program in the NYC area (I consider Rutgers as being more NYC adjacent then part of the NYC metro area) when there are some good SUNY schools in the NYC metro area
Another good school to have in the new conference would be Boston University if they keep their football program because this new conference is going to have dump trucks full of money coming their way.
 
Another good school to have in the new conference would be Boston University if they keep their football program because this new conference is going to have dump trucks full of money coming their way.
Well at the pod they still have it, maybe joining the new conference would give them a chance to compete for talent in FBS too, that is more realistic and salvageable than NY one.

If anything we might need to wait for NY or the conference convince a university of start from scratch, with all the growing pains attached
 
Well at the pod they still have it, maybe joining the new conference would give them a chance to compete for talent in FBS too, that is more realistic and salvageable than NY one.

If anything we might need to wait for NY or the conference convince a university of start from scratch, with all the growing pains attached
It can be done the UT San Antonio has taken a football program from the lower division to being a Top 25 team this year but it does take time and most of all commitment.
 
@IanS Umm, Expansion can happen later on and those two could be nice targets
Forgot about BC, I'll add in BC and drop Virginia Tech.. They'll be a future expansion target.

Also added in Maryland to replace VT. VT wasn't a big school at the time and Paterno wanted Maryland
 
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Well at the pod they still have it, maybe joining the new conference would give them a chance to compete for talent in FBS too, that is more realistic and salvageable than NY one.

If anything we might need to wait for NY or the conference convince a university of start from scratch, with all the growing pains attached
Rutgers and Syracuse are basically the NYC schools for now
 
Okay, I replaced SCar with Boston College. But they'll be a viable expansion target in the future.
 
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Rutgers is too identified with New Jersey in the minds of New Yorkers and Syracuse is in upstate New York, Fordham use to be a major football power in the east until the 50's and that is where Vince Lombardi got his start but for a new football program first look at any Division 1 basketball school that either has no football or is playing at Division 1AA level to move up.
 
A cursory research has made me look at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island and it was a Division II school at the start of this discussion and was moving up to where it is currently at a Football Championship School which is one level lower than Football Bowl School level.
The main thing is to get a school that is identified as a NYC school as of right now the most popular school in NYC for college football is Norte Dame.
 
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