Big Ten ponders eventual growth

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Big Ten University presidents and athletic directors talk about a handful of factors that they say will decide whether the conference expands.

But listen closely and it sounds like one factor outweighs them all: Money.

The Big Ten generates more than any other conference in the country, thanks in part to its one-of-a-kind Big Ten Network. And no one in the conference, not even enthusiastic expansion advocates such as Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, wants to sacrifice a dime of the roughly $22 million each school gets a year.

“You just don’t jump into the league and get a full share of what everyone else in this league has established over time,” Alvarez said. “I think someone has to buy their way into the league.”

Alvarez sees expansion as a path toward the kind of football title game that keeps the SEC and other conferences on national TV and fans’ radar after Thanksgiving, when the Big Ten typically begins a multiweek break before the bowls.

“You take a look at the championship week in December and we’re non-players,” said Alvarez, the former coach who led Wisconsin to football prominence. “We’re irrelevant.”

Texas, Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame have all been mentioned as possible targets since the Big Ten announced in December that it was evaluating the possibility of expanding the 11-team conference.

“If you look at the college landscape across the country, look at television contracts that are coming up over the next 5-8 years, this is probably the right time for us to see if there is there any value in trying to add a team or teams,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said at the time.

The three big factors Big Ten presidents and athletic directors say any new member would have to bring to the discussion are academic credentials, a strong geographic fit and money.

Stanley Ikenberry was the president at Illinois the last time the Big Ten expanded, adding Penn State in 1990. He says the decision to admit Penn State was driven less by money than by academics — the Nittany Lions were a good scholarly fit as long as they didn’t cost the conference money.