Big Ten Expansion Will Eliminate Late-Season Exposure Issues and Bowl Problems

Earlier today, Big Ten ADs led by Wisconsin AD and former head coach Barry Alvarez announced they would create a committee to potentially expand the conference to a twelfth team.

None of this will result in immediate expansion within two years for certain, but down the road the Midwest might have a dirty dozen of schools.

Officials have cited that the main reason to consider expansion is to match the revenue gains that schools from the SEC and Big XII gain in playing extra weeks of football.

Alvarez said that everyone that is a figurehead, coaches and ADs within the conference is on board for an expansion.

No doubt the other reason for an expansion as that when Thanksgiving rolls around, Big Ten play disappears and is kept out of the spotlight, leaving to long bowl layovers.

Whether those directly influence bowl records is unclear, but the conference has been abysmal in bowls the last few seasons.

Regardless of whether or not layovers affect performance, having a 40+ day period between games cannot be very beneficial when getting up to game speed, especially in big BCS games.

Traditionally, the Big Ten season ends the final Saturday before Thanksgiving, although it is being pushed back one week starting in 2010.

When the season ends early, exposure to future recruits, of which the Big Ten Network has helped enhance, is suddenly gone.

Adding a twelfth team can help solve a lot of these issues, by creating two divisions and having eight or nine in-conference showdowns with a bye week for each team to push the season into late November.

In addition, the Big Ten can also add a conference championship game ala the SEC and Big XII in locations such as Indianapolis or Chicago to end the regular season.

But who to make team number 12 will be up to the Big Ten brass, and multiple teams fit the criteria.

Regardless who they decide upon, whether it be Notre Dame, Rutgers, Mizzou, or others, money and revenue should not be much of an issue with large amounts of money generated with the conference's television channel.

In addition, the expansion can push the conference into multiple other television markets as was the case when Penn State was added into the conference in 1990.

Given the candidates most likely, the Big Ten can get improved exposure into the markets of cities such as St. Louis, Kansas City, or the New York City area depending on the choice.

The only obstacle some schools seeking that 12th spot would be the academic standards that all schools in the Big Ten have in common.

With prestigious academic institutions such as Northwestern and Michigan in the Big Ten, the academics are something the conference takes pride in.

Many pundits have criticized the Big Ten for staying with archaic practices and not getting with the times in multiple fronts.

Adding that 12th team and creating a conference championship game could have untold benefits from both an economic and performance perspective.

Considering all of those points, it's all now about which team wants to join the party.