Big Ten's 12th team?

**RatedGSuperstar** · 12-17-2009, 02:56 PM

I don't think Nebraska leaves the Big 12, but Missouri might (they already have a big rivalry against Illinois). I think it's much more likely they get someone like Rutgers, which would open up the conference to the New York market in terms of media coverage and players. With players coming into the conference from Chicago and the New York tri-state area, they probably wouldn't have to worry much about not getting the athletes to compete with other conferences. Plus Rutgers could pass the Big Ten's pretty stringent academic requirements -- they've been very clear in the past that academics are just as important as athletic success when looking at possible new members.

The real problems come up when you try to set up divisions. Almost every geographical alignment would either result in lop-sided divisions or splitting up important annual rivalries. If you go East-West, you pretty much have Wisconsin and Iowa dominating what would be the West division; if you go North-South you probably have to split up the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry (unless you do that by design for the occasional Big Ten Championship Game between the two).

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12-17-2009, 02:56 PM	#7
RatedGSuperstar Stupid Sexy Flanders Posts: 1,728	I don't think Nebraska leaves the Big 12, but Missouri might (they already have a big rivalry against Illinois). I think it's much more likely they get someone like Rutgers, which would open up the conference to the New York market in terms of media coverage and players. With players coming into the conference from Chicago and the New York tri-state area, they probably wouldn't have to worry much about not getting the athletes to compete with other conferences. Plus Rutgers could pass the Big Ten's pretty stringent academic requirements -- they've been very clear in the past that academics are just as important as athletic success when looking at possible new members. The real problems come up when you try to set up divisions. Almost every geographical alignment would either result in lop-sided divisions or splitting up important annual rivalries. If you go East-West, you pretty much have Wisconsin and Iowa dominating what would be the West division; if you go North-South you probably have to split up the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry (unless you do that by design for the occasional Big Ten Championship Game between the two).