Big Ten Plus Texas Would Result In College Football Domination

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A source with ties to the Big Ten said that while most people’s attention has been trained on the conference stealing Missouri, the Big Ten has engaged in “preliminary exchanges” with a much bigger fish from the Big 12.

“There have been preliminary exchanges between the Big Ten and Texas,” the source told the Journal-World on Wednesday. “People will deny that, but it’s accurate.”

This is potentially huge news and would make the Big Ten even more powerful than it currently is. The Big Ten is already the most powerful major football conference based on its school's enrollment, its stadiums,  and its biggest fan bases in the country, and having the most winningest programs in the country.

The addition of Texas would give the Big Ten 2 of the top 3 most profitable programs, and 6 overall in the top 20. With Michigan currently sitting at 11, and its stadium expansion underway, Michigan will be back in the top 10 giving the Big Ten 3 in the top ten, and with Texas that would be 4.

The current Forbes list of most profitable college football programs looks like this as of 12.31.2009:

1. Texas Longhorns

Team Value: $119 million

Profit: $59 million

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Team Value: $108 million

Profit: $38 million

3. Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions

Team Value: $99 million

Profit: $50 million

4. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Team Value: $93 million

Profit: $49 million

5. Alabama Crimson Tide

Team Value: $92 million

Profit: $38 million

6. Florida Gators

Team Value: $88 million

Profit: $41 million

7. Louisiana State Tigers

Team Value: $86 million

Profit: $39 million

8. Ohio State Buckeyes

Team Value: $85 million

Profit: $36 million

9. Georgia Bulldogs

Team Value: $84 million

Profit: $45 million

10. Oklahoma Sooners

Team Value: $83 million

Profit: $40 million

11. Michigan Wolverines

Team Value: $81 million

Profit: $34 million

12. South Carolina Gamecocks

Team Value: $80 million

Profit: $37 million

13. Tennessee Volunteers

Team Value: $78 million

Profit: $29 million

14. Auburn Tigers

Team Value: $70 million

Profit: $30 million

15. Southern California Trojans

Team Value: $68 million

Profit: $33 million

16. Michigan State Spartans

Team Value: $57 million

Profit: $28 million

17. Arkansas Razorbacks

Team Value: $56 million

Profit: $20 million

18. Texas A&M Aggies

Team Value: $52 million

Profit: $22 million

19. Wisconsin Badgers

Team Value: $48 million

Profit: $17 million

20. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Team Value: $47 million

Profit: $18 million

As for winningest programs, here is the top 10 as of 1.24.2010

1. Michigan: 877-304-38

2. Texas: 845-321-34

3. Notre Dame: 837-291-42

4. Nebraska: 837-341-41

5. Ohio State: 819-308-53

6. Alabama: 813-316-43

7. Penn State 812-351-43

8. Oklahoma: 796-305-53

9. Tennessee: 783-333-55

10. USC: 774-307-54

The Big Ten has 3 of the top ten, which is tied with the Big 12 for most teams in the top 10. The addition of Texas would give the Big Ten the top 2, with 3 in the top 5, greatly shifting the power towards the Big Ten, where as currently its pretty even.

People may think that Texas does not make sense due to location, but as the article states above (link) location is no longer an issue like it was back when these conferences were set up as travel is no longer a problem.

Austin, Texas airport is one of the top 50 busiest in the country, ahead of every airport that a Big Ten school is near, except for Chicago which is right near Northwestern. Austin Airport is on par with Pittsburgh National Airport; just as an example of another major city that is on the same level, obviously Pitt is a Big East school.

This move would also open up Big Ten recruiting to an entirely new region giving the Big Ten the state of Texas, along with surrounding state that Texas has pull in like Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, and several more as Texas is a national program. It would cause every school in the Big Ten to get better players, which means better football programs, which leads to the best conference.

Texas in the Big Ten would also create the most intriguing match ups in the country, and still allow for a Texas Oklahoma match up. Think about the games you would get on national TV with:

Texas, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin etc...

Even Notre Dame could join in the fun with these match ups as they regularly play Big Ten schools.

This would also create a domino effect throughout the College Football world. The Big 12 would need to go after another school. Would that be TCU in Texas? Maybe Boise State? Would they go after Arkansas, which would then affect the SEC.

Although Pitt, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse or Missouri make the most sense for the Big Ten, Texas would be the most powerful move. As a Big Ten fan, I am all for this move and hope it goes through.