Big Ten Expansion

Maryland and Rutgers in the Big Ten
Twitter and the blogs were busy posting about possible Big Ten expansion during the OSU-Wisconsin game. The reports were confirmed when on Monday it was announced that Maryland will leave the ACC, where it was a founding member in 1953. Rutgers will leave the Big East, which it joined in 1993. The teams are expected to join the Big Ten in 2014 after paying exit fees to their respective conferences, and Maryland is on the hook for $50 million, but Under Armour (based out of Baltimore) is expected to pay a large portion. This expansion will not add a football powerhouse, like Nebraska, but it does add a rich basketball program with Maryland. Ultimately this expansion was driven by money and TV markets. If you live in a Big Ten TV market, the Big Ten Network is on your basic cable package. If you live outside a Big Ten TV market, the BTN is available on premium cable packages which pays considerably less per subscriber. The BTN will add the market of Baltimore, Washington D.C., and possibly New York City. Those cable subscribers pay a lower rate, but that would increase as the channel is added to basic cable. Additionally, the Big Ten will renegotiate ESPN TV rights in 2017 and the addition of two teams and the city TV markets will increase the value dramatically. Some analysts have stated that Rutgers will not deliver the New York TV market, but News Corp. (Fox) recently purchased 80% of the YES Network (Yankees) and plans to bundle BTN with YES and Fox News in the Yankees viewing area which should cover New York City and the surrounding area. As you may know Fox owns 51% of BTN and operates the channel with the conference.

Era of Superconferences
There has been some speculation that the Big Ten is not done with the expansion at 14 teams. The Big Ten may be looking to expand to 16 teams, possibly looking for more teams on the east coast. One columnist listed North Carolina as a target, another listed Georgia Tech, and one article discussed the possibility of Notre Dame. If the ACC loses more teams, it may crumble forcing Notre Dame to consider other options. If the era of super conferences with sixteen teams is coming, the Big Ten wants to be ahead of the curve. The SEC and Pac-12 are watching closely, as they could add teams in an effort to reach the magic number of 16. The ACC is reportedly looking at Big East members UConn, Louisville, and Cincinnati. The Big East appears to be dying a slow painful death.

How Does this Impact the OSU Schedule
One article lists Ohio State remaining in the Leaders division with Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland, and Rutgers. Illinois would leave the Leaders division and join the Legends division. The Ohio State-Illinois series is second longest for Ohio State only to the series against Michigan, with this year being the 99th meeting between Ohio State and Illinois. With fourteen or sixteen teams, you can expect to see less football games between teams in opposite divisions.