Big 10 expansion news
I will preface this that I have no first hand knowledge of this and it is all base on what I’ve heard through the grapevine:
Start with the Big 12 meetings. The main focus of the meetings (or at least the main topic) was the discussion of expansion of the Big 10 and how two of the Big 12 member schools (Nebraska and Missouri) are reportedly being courted. Commissioner Don Beebe wanted to find out “who’s on board” (this dude loves analogies). Well, so far in the public, Missouri has made no bones about willing to listen to Big 10 overtures. Nebraska on the other hand has not been as forthcoming. Osborne has said that Nebraska would listen to offers from anybody but has also said “We like the Big 12. We’re not looking to leave. We’re not mad at anybody. We’re not upset about anything,” said Osborne. “So those things will all be decided hopefully [Thursday]. But before too long.” Now at the beginning of the article it says that the league presidents and AD’s met behind closed doors to discuss things further and this is where the rumor/gossip comes in:
In the closed door meeting, whoever was leading it said they wanted to cut to the chase and find out who is committed to the Big 12. 10 commitments in a row until they got to Missouri. Their AD supposedly dodged the question and was evasive, never giving a firm answer. The meeting head wanted a firm yes or no. Tom Osborne steps up in defense of the Missouri AD saying that it wasn’t just his decision and that he was probably getting pressure from other sources within the university (president, Board of regents, chancellor, etc) So at that point, the meeting was an adjourned and it was an assumed no from Nebraska as well. And now it basically comes down to this, ten Big 12 schools are waiting to hear from Nebraska (no one inside the Big 12 really cares is Missouri leaves) on if they are staying in the Big 12. If they don’t then I guess the feeling is that the Big 12 will no longer exist.
Now fast forward to Friday. The first bit of news I received in all of this was that Osborne held an “emergency meeting” with all the of head coaches at the university to discuss the events of the Big 12 meetings. This came to be common knowledge a short time later when Steve Sipple reported it in the Lincoln Journal Star HuskerExtra blog post. Now what I have learned is what probably was talked about in the meeting.
Basically the topic of conversation was the Big 10 expansion (duh). From what I’m told is that it is almost assured that Nebraska will go to the Big 10. The President and Board of Regents is pushing for this to happen to gain prestige in Academics. And, by joining the Big 10, the University will pull in a lot more money for the Innovation Campus that is being built on the old fairgrounds location.
No, its not really earth shattering news. The Big 10 is a prestigious academic conference. (one of their stipulations supposedly is that a school must be a member of Association of American Universitiesto join the conference. Nebraska and Missouri happen to be members, along with Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and Texas. All why they are being mentioned as possibly being courted by the Big 10 as well.) And with the Innovation Campus ball starting to roll, it would look real nice on Nebraska’s resume to be a part of the Big 10 when they are asking people to be part of the project. Again, its easy to assume that UNL would be all for a move to the Big 10 if presented with a choice for obvious reasons.
And again, its not too much of a surprise that Nebraska would accept an offer to go to the Big 10. They have, from the formation of the conference, never been very happy with the conference. From the beginning, it has been a Texas dominated conference where the Texas schools have dictated policy and have received the benefits of being the powerful schools in the conference. Texas gets the most football money revenue sharing (where in the Big 10 it is an equal split) The Big 12 title game is on the verge of being moved permanently to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX (home of the Dallas Cowboys). At the end of the Big 12 meetings it was decided that the Big 12 championship game would be played there for the next three years. Nebraska has been the most vocal on a rotating site for the Big 12 title game. It seems that they are in the minority.
So what does all this mean? That Nebraska is going to announce next week that they are joining the Big 10 conference? No, probably not. Does it mean that the Big 10 will announce that Nebraska is joining the Big 10 along with the rest of the schools in their plan? No, probably not. Is Nebraska the final lynch pin in the Big 10’s expansion plans? Maybe. I have a hard time believing that Nebraska would be the one who would be the one school dragging their feet on deciding on if they were going to join or not. Its a huge financial decision and Nebraska can’t be caught still in decision mode when the Big 10 decides to go. Is Nebraska the choice of the Big 10? Probably. Actually they’re probably choice #2 or 1B. Notre Dame is the OBVIOUS choice for school #12 in the Big 10, but they have repeatedly said they are not interested. Texas would always a target when it comes to conference expansion and that became a possibility when last week it surfaced that the Big 10 has exchanged emails about Texas. They bring in boat loads of cash, but the logistics of them joining the Big 10 are probably be pretty long. And the Big 10, when contemplating expansion, doesn’t want an underwhelming announcement (only Missouri or only Rutgers). This has to be a splash, and Nebraska’s Big Red sea, is a big fish.
So there it is. Its what I’ve heard and what I’ve taken from all of the expansion talk. There are a whole lot of scenarios left to be played out. Would Notre Dame ever consider moving, they become the 12th team and the Big 10 shuts its doors? What about the Pac 10 conference expansion rumor that we heard late last week? (Colorado, and all of the Big 12 South teams not named Baylor to the Pac 10) I’ve heard A&M to the SEC talks. And then a real interesting thing to consider...lets just say Nebraska and Missouri leave for the Big 10 and the Pac 10 rumor is true. What happens to Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State? Where do they go? Kansas and Iowa State’s athletic directors are in PANIC mode and want the Big 12 to stick around. Kansas has their own problems though.
Again, all the rumor info is just that, rumor. I’ve heard things from people who have heard things from people. Nothing more.
The Comments
Mr. Wilson says Two Things June 7, 2010 at 6:03am
Two things really interest me about the Big 10. The first is academics. The Big 12 doesn’t have much of a reputation for academics; the Big 10 does. The second is men’s soccer. I would love to see Nebraska start a men’s soccer program.
But I’m not holding my breath. There are too many rumors floating around for me to put my faith in any of them.
D.M.B. says Adding sports is a whole June 7, 2010 at 10:23am
Adding sports is a whole ripple that could happen if Nebraska were to join the Big 10. With the extra added revenue coming in, its certainly feasible that the U could add some sports.
Of course if they added a mens sport, they would also have to add a womens sport. The two womens sports that UNL doesn’t have and the Big 10 does is Rowing and Field Hockey. I don’t know about you but those are pretty darn foreign to these parts. I could see Field Hockey before Rowing though.