College Football: Jim Delaney's Big Ten Redefining The University System

The Big Ten Conference, under the direction of commissioner Jim Delaney, could be on the verge of redefining the university system, and on its way to expanding to 16 teams.

What appears to be a heralded move towards financial security, could take college athletics to a place it doesn't belong.

The Big Ten Conference has always stood for quality

The Big Ten Conference, founded in 1896, has always stood for three things: High educational standards, quality sports teams, and playing by the rules. As opposed to the SEC and the Big 12 conferences, the Big Ten has, for the most  part, avoided NCAA probation while competing at the highest level of college football.

Under the leadership of Delaney, the Big Ten has grown to 11 teams (adding Penn State), established its own Big Ten television network, and is presently contemplating expanding to 12, 14, or 16 teams.

It's the possibility of this proposed expansion that has the college sports world waiting on edge to see what effect it would create.

When the Big Ten expanded to 11 teams in 1990, it was considered a great move  because adding former independent Penn State University was seen as the natural thing to do. 

Penn State wanted to join a conference, and the Big Ten wanted to add a school with  a storied football tradition.  The fact that Penn State was located on the Big Ten's border made things even easier.

What about Notre Dame?

The Big Ten has made two serious attempts at getting Notre Dame to join. In 1999, Notre Dame rejected a Big Ten invite, and did so again in 2003.

In 2003, present basketball coach Mike Brey told the Chicago Tribune , that then athletic director Kevin White told him the Irish were going to join. Notre Dame obviously backed out at the last minute.

Notre Dame still remains the school that the Big Ten wants to add the most. As recently as last month, ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick reaffirmed Notre Dame's desire to remain independent in football.

What's driving the next expansion?

The recent exploration into another Big Ten expansion appears to be driven by three things: 1) The move to 12 teams would secure the conference the right to stage a conference championship game. 2) Expansion, based on a study done by a Chicago research firm, it is said to be a profitable venture. 3) It's felt by many that expansion talk will pressure Notre Dame to join.

It has been suggested by Big Ten officials, though they say it's still in the exploration stage, that expansion could bring the membership to 12, 14, or 16 teams. Not expanding is also a viable option at this time.

Delaney was interviewed on ESPN's "College Football," and host John Saunders threw some very direct questions at him concerning expansion.  A closed mouth Delaney refused to answer anything.

The Big Ten Network

The Big Ten Network (BTN) was started in 2007. It is a joint venture with Fox cable and currently goes out to 40 million households.

The BTN is centered on Big Ten Conference athletics and has become both successful and profitable.  The Big Ten is the majority owner and combined with revenue from the Big Ten's television contracts and  bowl money, each member received approximately $22 million in shared revenue in 2009.

The $22 million pay out was estimated to be twice what the SEC pays its members, and three times that of the Big East Conference.

Redefining the university system

Redefining the university system, or explaining what would take place if the Big Ten expands to 14 or 16 teams, is foremost to college sports as we now know it.

Expansion to 12 teams would be seen as a natural progression, even if it required "raiding" a conference such as the Big East. Although any "raiding" of any conference would not go over too well, adding an extra team to the Big Ten would generally be accepted by the NCAA community.

Expanding to 14 or 16 teams would definitely not. 

A "raiding" process of three teams would likely set off a domino effect that would make the 2003 conference readjustments, following the ACC's raid of three Big East teams, look small in scale.

Adding three or more teams to the Big Ten is seen as a move that could possibly destroy the Big East Conference.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive has indicated that if the Big Ten expands to more than 12, the SEC will not sit still.  The SEC, in an attempt to match the Big Ten, could possibly go after teams in the ACC.

Truly "Redefining the university system"

If the Big Ten expands to 14 or 16 teams, something very scary would be happening under our watch.

Such an expansion would clearly not be based on the desire to play a conference championship game—that could be achieved with 12 teams.  It would be based on a financial decision.

Such a move would be predicated by the realization that spreading the Big Ten Network to other markets would create huge revenue for members of the Big Ten. Adding current Big East teams would help secure a large northeast television market.

Along with the potential 70 million households the BTN currently goes out to, the potential of 100 million households would become a real possibility.

The Big Ten Conference now becomes a broadcasting business!

It has for a long time been accepted that college football is a business.  No one can debate this and its something that our universities have learned and like to live with.

But a broadcasting business? Well, that's another story altogether.

The Big Ten Conference broadcasting business.

What do we call it? Many fans have always said that the name "Big Ten" didn't apply once the conference added an 11th team, but I doubt they wanted the new name to be the "Big Ten Conference and Broadcasting Corporation."

What do we now call Ohio State for example? "The Ohio State University and Investment Corporation." OSU&IC?

Why not other business ventures?

So now we have the Big Ten Conference and Broadcasting Corporation.  What about the shipping company?  The Big Ten has universities located in every Midwestern State.  They can be used as shipping depots!

Definitely "Redefining the university system"

State Universities always talk about goals and objectives. They were established to educate the students of particular state. 

Now we have new objectives for Big Ten universities. Educate students and operate a profitable broadcasting company.

And if expanding the broadcasting company destroys the Big East Conference, hey, it's all about the money baby!