Rambling On About Big Ten Expansion
Commissioners from every major conference are meeting in Arizona today, with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney expected to unveil a possible timeline for Big Ten expansion. ESPN quotes Delaney as "wanting to establish his legacy by adding 3 or 5 teams to the conference" while the Big East "is in a period of angst because it could lose up to 3 teams."
The Big Ten originally announced plans to look into expansion last December and gave a timeline of 12-18 months, but after a meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday the decision could come in June according to ESPN and appears to be coming on July 1 at the latest.
Here are a few tidbits:
- Aside from Notre Dame... Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse seem to be drawing the most attention as candidates for expansion.
- An in-depth analysis of the timetable is available from the Chicago Tribune.
- An ESPN article reflects the anxiety that the Big East conference is experiencing.
It's interesting, because most talk of Big Ten Expansion pre-December of 2009 was Delaney squashing any rumors of expansion.
My own 2 cents echoes the sentiments felt by many: add 1 team to the conference and everything moves on relatively unscathed, add 3 or 5 teams and we could see a major shift in the college football landscape.
If a decision is reached this summer, football conference play in the expanded Big Ten would likely start in the 2011 season.
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