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.