Why Would the Big Ten Expand Beyond Twelve Teams?

Though Big Ten officials have said time and time again that the rumors were untrue, gossip is still circling around Big Ten expansion. While I think the conference needs to add one team (or subtract one) for the sake of symmetry, the recent rumors make absolutely no sense to me.

I want the Big Ten to expand. I think a conference championship game makes plenty of $ense. Give me a new Vikings stadium to host a couple of Big Ten powerhouses playing for the championship in early December and I'm all for it. 

Rotate the game through Detroit and Indianapolis as well. Play it outside at Lambeau and you've really got something special.

That sounds like a good plan to me. What doesn't sound too promising is adding up to five additional teams. Way too many, in my book.

The most popular rumor going around lately has the Big Ten extending offers to Notre Dame, Nebraska, Missouri and Rutgers. If all four of those teams would accept, they'd add another to make an even 16 teams in the league.

That doesn't work for me, especially for football. I already despise that the current schedule takes two teams off of the slate for a period of two seasons. It's absolutely ridiculous that a football team plays a conference opponent and won't see them again for three years.

That's no way to build and maintain a rivalry. That's the biggest part of college football.  Cal/Stanford, Florida/Georgia, Alabama/Auburn, I could go on and on. With the proposed "mega conference", you lose some of the rivalries that are essential to college football.

Of course, the new system would find a way to protect rivalries. Minnesota plays Iowa and Wisconsin every year no matter what right now. Adding Penn State to the conference in the 90s cost the Gophers their yearly match-up with Michigan.

Sure, they gained a new rival in the Nittany Lions. Playing for the Governor's Victory Bell doesn't quite have the same history and tradition as battling the Wolverines for the Little Brown Jug.

If you move to 16 teams, I have no idea how the schedule would work out, but I do know one thing, you would miss out on a lot of teams every year. I assume you'd still play eight conference games per season.  You'd miss seven teams every year. What's the point of being in the same conference if you never play each other?

Sure, it'd be awfully cool to see the Gophers play in South Bend. It'd be awesome to host the Cornhuskers in Minneapolis again, but not if it means losing Penn State or Ohio State for years.

I don't want to give up playing teams you've seen every year. No thanks.

The Gophers and Purdue don't play for a trophy. It's tough to hate the Northwestern Wildcats, but I sure do enjoy it when the Gophers play them. It would be a shame to take that away from the program. The Boilermakers and the Wildcats were part of the most exciting Gopher games I've ever seen.

I completely understand that expansion means more money for everyone involved. It would boost exposure for the Big Ten Network by leaps and bounds. I just hope that this is one case where money doesn't ultimately win out. 

The conference should add one team and one team only. I can't envision a scenario where I feel compelled to boo the Rutgers Scarlet Knights when they come to Minnesota once a decade.