Ever since Penn State became the eleventh Big Ten Institution, Big Ten expansion has become a hot topic. The Big Ten's eleven member conference setup, while it does have its benefits, also is loaded down with several drawbacks.

Eleven is an odd number, too few to hold a conference championship game, yet, just enough member institutions that all the teams don't play each other during the regular seasons.

To be fair, the Big Ten has reaped the benefits of multiple conference champions on more than one occasion.

However, the figurative benefits of staying at eleven teams are far outweighed by the benefits of expanding by one to twelve—if that "one" is the right team.

To be the "right team", the benefits of a twelfth member must financially add to the conference more than the cost of splitting the conference profits amongst 12 teams. To expand by one, it would cost each Big Ten school about 1.25 million (In 2007, Big Ten teams averaged about 16 million in conference payouts [177/11]).

To be financially feasible, the twelfth team and the Big Ten Championship game combined would need to add 13.75 million to conference coffers, a little under a full conference share.

Consider this also: In 2006, the SEC raked in almost 13 million from their championship game alone, the ACC about six million from their championship and the Big 12 about 11 million from their championship. In conclusion, it appears no matter what school they add, the Big 10 is set to make loads of money just by expanding to twelve. 

However, there's one more twist to our puzzle. The Big Ten has reaped the benefits of a system that rewards them: the number eleven. Eleven teams means that each Big Ten football team doesn't play two of its conference mates during the regular season. This means that a Big Ten school can go four years between visits to Ann Arbor or Columbus. It also means that two (or more) teams can run through the conference schedule either undefeated or with just one loss without facing each other, launching both teams to the top of the Big Ten and BCS standings.

This, combined with the Big Ten's near-automatic spot in the rose bowl, allows the Big Ten to get multiple BCS berths almost every year. A great example is the nine win, 13th ranked Illinois team that played in the rose bowl last year or the Michigan team that played in the 2007 Rose Bowl.

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