Should Big Ten keep its name?

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

During his first venture into the world of conference expansion, Jim Delany made a dangerous assumption.

The Big Ten had added an 11th member, and the league’s new commissioner figured adjustments were necessary to signify the arrival of Penn State in 1990.

“I just presumed we would be a different group, a different name,” he said. “I was going on that presumption and found out quickly the Big Ten was a name that carried a lot of meaning to a lot of people.”

That issue has been raised again for not only the Big Ten, which was founded in 1896, but also the Big 12 and the Pac-10.

They all must decide whether name brand is more important than accuracy after the first round of conference realignment left all a bit off kilter in terms of membership and monikers.

To review: The Big Ten has 12 schools, the Big 12 has 10 and the Pac-10 has 12.

The potential for problems was created when the leagues opted to insert numbers in their names in the first place.

Most assume the Big Ten will stand pat to retain more than a century of tradition.

But will the Big 12, a mere teenager, consider alternatives?

“Those are two different situations,” said Brett Boyle, associate professor of marketing at St. Louis University. “The Big 12 could probably get away with [changing] because in most people’s memories it’s been something other than the Big 12. The Big Ten brand name has too much value to let it go just to get the math right. They would give up that tradition.”

The Big Ten is the oldest college conference in the country, having formed in 1896 as The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.

That tongue twister was happily changed to Western Conference, and the league became firmly known as the Big Ten when Michigan State joined in 1950.

When the Big Ten added Nebraska several weeks ago, Delany said the matter would be addressed.

“We haven’t had a discussion,” he said. “But there are a lot of people out there with computers who manipulate the name and numbers. I think it’s something we’ll have to figure out over the next few months.”