Detroit News write up on proposed expansion-good read
Detroit News write up on proposed expansion-good read
Big Ten seeks 16-team super conference
LYNN HENNING
The Big Ten is likely to expand to 16 teams and four divisions, with details to be finalized by 2011, two sources close to the process told The Detroit News.
The sources, who asked not to be identified because plans aren't official, acknowledge Missouri and Nebraska are among the prime targets to join the Big Ten, although no formal invitations have been extended.
Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut -- all currently in the Big East -- and even an Atlantic Coast Conference member such as Maryland, are considered possibilities to shift to the Big Ten.
There were reports Monday that formal invitations had been made to four schools: Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Rutgers. But that report was quashed Tuesday in an e-mail to conference officials by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith confirmed that Delany had dismissed Monday's report from a Kansas City radio station as baseless.
"There's no truth to it whatsoever," Smith told the Associated Press. "Actually, Jim sent us all an e-mail telling us there's no truth to that which we knew. There's no extensions of offers that have been made, so that's not true."
It does, however, remain a period of heavy consideration and courtship for Delany, his representatives, and university presidents who must sign off on any new conference members.
Notre Dame, the sources affirmed Tuesday, would be the plum recruit because of its storied football program and location (South Bend, Ind.), its impeccable academics, and its nationwide fan base that would be a gold mine for the booming Big Ten Network.
If Notre Dame agreed to join the Big Ten, it's all but certain the Irish would be looking at a payday far in excess of what they know in 2010, based upon the Big Ten's current business model of sharing TV revenues evenly. Notre Dame receives about $15 million a year in TV revenue compared with $22 million per school in the Big Ten.
As has been acknowledged by pundits and publications nationally, expansion is all but inevitable in the Big Ten and other major conferences such as the Southeastern Conference and the Pac 10 as a likely realignment of conferences nationwide evolves. It is anticipated four, 16-team super conferences will emerge.
Missouri and Nebraska joining the Big Ten likely would happen in concert with a break-up of the Big 12. The remaining eight members of the Big 12 could break away to join other conferences in the aftermath under one scenario, with two, or even three, possibly joining the Big Ten.
Nebraska's possible annexation by the Big Ten could be a plus for the conference, for one reason -- the football program is gold. Cornhuskers red is the color not only of the state, but a territory, while Nebraska alumni abound.
Missouri, meanwhile, would be the Big Ten's expressway into the St. Louis and Kansas City television markets. Again, alumni numbers make those cities more attractive to an expanding Big Ten that has seen its revenues explode in step with the BTN's instant success.
A school such as Rutgers, which is not on the same plane as some of the other candidates in terms of athletics, is valued by the Big Ten because of its New York proximity and sheer volume of television sets it would bring to the booming BTN.
Rutgers, though, might not have the economic clout of some of the heavyweights being considered. It's conceivable, the sources say, Rutgers, at least initially, would not share in a Big Ten paycheck as fat as would be enjoyed by, say, Notre Dame or Nebraska.
The belief is Rutgers, even if it stood to make a reduced share at the outset, would be interested in such an arrangement for the same reason the Big Ten wants Rutgers: In the long term, it would be deemed as good business for both parties.
