More on Big Ten Expansion

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

There was article on Big Ten expansion in my morning paper.  I couldn't find it online, but I see plenty of duplicates.  The interesting take is that the Big Ten thinks they need to be in the Sun Belt because that's where demographoics are headed.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2010-05-18-big-ten-expansion-demographics_N.htm


Demographics may prompt Big Ten to go with expansion route
 
Enlarge By M. Spencer Green, AP

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, addressing the media during a news conference, said "the shifting population is by itself reason enough to look at the concept of expansion."

By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY
CHICAGO — The Big Ten Conference's study to expand its 11-member league largely has been linked to finding more homes for its flourishing Big Ten Network.
That's one reason to expand, conference Commissioner Jim Delany said Tuesday at the league's annual spring meetings of administrators and football and basketball coaches.

But Delany discussed another reason that until now largely has been ignored: demographics.

"The shifting population is by itself reason enough to look at the concept of expansion," he said.

People are moving south, and adding a school from the South seems to be on the league's wish list. This will probably fuel speculation the league wants to add Texas, a football behemoth and major revenue producer. Texas pulled in $138.5 million in 2009 and had expenditures of $127.7 million. That blows away the $119.7 million generated by Big Ten member Ohio State.

SCENARIOS: The Big Ten's possible expansion actions

Delany did not name schools the conference will target, and there is no reason to think Texas wants to leave the Big 12. Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds has said the school is committed to the Big 12. But Delany laid out a concern for university presidents looking 10 or 20 years down the road.

"We've been blessed in many ways by the economy and density of the population in the 20th century," he said.

"In the last 20 years there has been a clear shift of movement into the Sun Belt. The rates of growth in the Sun Belt are four times the rate in the East or the Midwest. That has demographic meaning long term for the economy, for jobs, for recruitment of students, for recruitment of athletes, for recruitment of faculty, for tax base."

The demographic trend does little to clarify which schools — if any — will end up in the Big Ten when the league finishes studying expansion in its approximate time frame of seven months to a year from now. No votes on prospective members are expected June 6 when university presidents meet with Delany, he said.

If the league doesn't find suitable members in the South, the possibility of expansion still exists, according to Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith. "You can address the census issue by getting more of where we are," he said.

Does that leave room for Missouri, Nebraska or Rutgers to join? No one would say, which means speculation will continue about those schools. Geographically, Rutgers isn't a natural fit, but it could get the Big Ten Network in the New York City market. Besides, Penn State's admittance to the Big Ten in the early 1990s already stretched the league's Midwest base.

Those schools belong to the Association of American Universities, a group of 63 major research institutions. That's a very important criterion to join the Big Ten, Delany said. All Big Ten schools are in the AAU.

Delany has aimed high in the past with expansion. Penn State came in under his watch, and the league talked with Notre Dame in the late 1990s. Notre Dame chose to stay independent in football and be in the Big East in other sports.

There has been speculation Notre Dame could again be approached. That strikes a chord with Ohio State's Smith, a Notre Dame alumnus.

"I've always struggled with my alma mater," he said. "I love them deeply, and the things I enjoy in life today are because of my experiences there, so my feelings run deep, really deep. If they end up being one of the schools, I hope that they would consider what a conference championship means to a young person.

"I was blessed to be there when we were winning national championships, as a coach and a player. The landscape has changed. ... For me, I've just got to believe that for a Notre Dame football player, winning a conference championship and having that conference ring is a memorable experience, and then chasing a national championship. You can do both."

With 12 or more teams, the Big Ten would probably have a football title game. For Delany, a championship game is not an incentive to expand. "It would have to be a wider, broader and more meaningful set of reasons," he said.

[Dawson Rental]

All this time we've been worrying about Pitt, ND, and UConn, but now its obvious that the Big Ten is probably wining and dining South Florida!

[HouWarrior]

Sun belt population growth as a factor/issue for Big Ten expansion. ...
I find this weird.
I did not move to the sunbelt 30 years ago, hoping someday the Big Ten would expand and my sun belt tv would bring the prodigal son big ten FB back for my viewing.
If the arrogance of the Big Ten blinds them, they should note the sunbelt already has many conferences, schools and loyalties already in the sun belt--the big ten is not tapping an undeveloped sunbelt market--it believes it should poach it.
carpetbaggers--lol