When 12 + 2 = Big Ten

“Brand” trumps simple math in the Big Ten. From 11 (Penn State) to 12 (Nebraska) and, now, to 14 (Maryland and Rutgers) the Big Ten has grown, but it’s the Big Ten still.

Courtesy: American.com

The iconic brand, depicted as “B1G,” remains intact no matter how many schools participate. It’s 14.5 schools actually: Johns Hopkins joined this year in lacrosse only. JHU’s entrance enables B1G to sponsor a conference lacrosse league—joining the league’s new ice hockey circuit, which launched last year when Penn State began playing the D1 sport.

Who could have imagined the Big Ten as 14+ schools? For most of the 20th Century “tradition” was a Big Ten watchword. Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Chicago were there at launch (in 1896) to establish the country’s first major athletic conference. Those schools—all on the “Who’s Who” list of American universities—were joined soon thereafter by three other Midwestern-based status institutions: Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State. What started as the Western Conference, and later transitioned for a time to the Big 9, became The Big Ten Conference in 1912.

Today the Big Ten is a juggernaut in American higher education. Over a half-million students enroll each year; there are nearly 6 million living alumni; and the volume of research conducted on Big Ten campuses is measured in billions of dollars annually. It’s in the “big leagues” of higher education.

But, unlike The Ivy League, which has had eight members since launching formally in 1954, Big Ten membership continues to morph and grow, not just in numbers but in geography, too. Expansion is about turf and establishing territory—with the fan base, media coverage, and money (especially the money) that go with it. Including Rutgers adds metro NYC to B1G’s territory; and inviting Maryland and JHU does that for metro Baltimore and DC. The outcome: huge markets in the East and Mid-Atlantic—never before in “Big Ten territory”—are now in the fold. B1G has located a conference office in NYC and is exploring the possibility of playing its post-season conference basketball tournament there.

Courtesy: heraldtimesonline.com

For B1G it’s about advancing into new geographic territory and protecting its flanks from other athletic leagues. If that reads like it’s a military operation, well, that’s what it is. The campaign being waged is about revenues and dominance, about keeping up with other leagues—and seeking separation. The goal is to be the best of the best, if not on the field, then at least at the cash register. While B1G is not always best athletically, it has no rival on the money side.

Forbes has called B1G “the cash king of college sports”: it generated $315 million in revenue (June 2012). The primary revenue source is TV, including its lucrative, FOX-connected Big Ten Network. B1G’s

revenue successes run counter to the reality at many institutions where sports subsidies are common (for details read my column, “NCAA Subsidies a Public Policy Issue,” June 27 2014).

When the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences expanded a few years ago B1G Commissioner Jim Delany was quoted as saying that he felt B1G “was in danger of ceding strategic ground” (The New York Times). “We felt threatened,” he said. So inviting Rutgers and Maryland to join B1G makes sense when understood in territorial terms: it propels the conference into highly valued media markets where many B1G alumni reside. Both institutions were ripe for the taking, too. Rutgers faced significant athletic financial shortfalls ($190 million since 2005) and Maryland had cut 7 varsity sports to make budget.

Maryland concluded that ACC affiliation wasn’t going to generate sufficient revenues to sustain its athletic programs. B1G was a lifeline to financial stability. But leaving the ACC (Maryland is a charter member) meant walking away from traditional rivals and geographically similar schools. It wasn’t easy emotionally leaving the ACC and it’s not clear how things will work out for Maryland in B1G. Fans will have to travel long distances to watch the Terps play and undefined opponents (e.g., Minnesota) will be coming to College Park.

Courtesy: Washington Post

The situation at Rutgers was different in at least one way: RU was in athletic “no man’s land” with the dissolution of Big East football. At issue was what to do and where to go. Spurned by the ACC (the conference picked Syracuse, Pitt, and, later, Louisville) Rutgers found itself in an uncertain situation as it joined the new American Athletic Conference, a lower-tier league. B1G affiliation was a lifesaver, providing huge financial benefits and enabling the school to resume athletics on the biggest of stages.

RU wasn’t alone in wondering where its athletic road would lead. Iowa State and Kansas State would have been in RU’s shoes if the Big 12 had gone the way of the Big East. In 2011 and ’12 it was nail-biting time for the Big 12 when Colorado bolted for the PAC-12, Nebraska left for B1G, and A&M and Missouri went to the SEC. Texas’ decision to stay gave the league the stability it needed to survive.

But major conference reshuffling isn’t new. The first wave began in the 1990s. The big bang came when the Southwest Conference (Texas schools + Arkansas) dissolved. The league began unraveling when charter-member Arkansas left for the SEC in 1991. The league folded five years later. Four schools—Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor—shifted to the former Big 8, making it the Big 12; and Rice, Houston, TCU, and SMU went in other directions (to the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA, respectively).

The winds of change were in the air before the SWC died. The Big Ten became 11 schools when Penn State joined in 1990—the league’s first adjustment in forty years (Chicago departed in the late ‘40s and Michigan State entered in 1950). Then, soon after PSU joined the Big Ten, Florida State affiliated with the ACC (1991). But years earlier (in 1978)—and without causing a domino effect—the PAC-8 became the PAC-10 when Arizona and Arizona State joined the league. It was a different time back then.

The reality is that schools move around for different reasons and leagues adjust similarly, too. Notre Dame remains independent in football, but affiliates in other sports (first in the Big East and, now, in the ACC). BYU left The Mountain West Conference to become a nationally-positioned school. And Louisville’s move to the ACC enables a major upgrade in academic affiliations. But schools can’t always be choosy. Sometimes there’s affiliation by need, even desperation—for a school and for a conference, too. The West Virginia-Big 12 marriage seems that way.

Rutger’s entry into the Big Ten feels more like Louisville’s shift: it’s an opportunity to associate with prestige schools. But Maryland’s situation seems more like WVU’s plight, an ironic comparison indeed. WVU really wanted to be in the ACC, but the invitation never came. Maryland, on the other hand, didn’t want to leave the ACC, but the economic balance sheet just wasn’t working. The Big Ten offered Maryland what the ACC could not: financial stability.

Courtesy: WNST.net

For Rutgers, this year’s football schedule is a dream come true: Penn State, Michigan, and Wisconsin will come to town. It may not be quite the same in College Park, even though Ohio State and Michigan State are scheduled. Gone are traditional rivalries (something Rutgers never really had) with schools like Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, and Florida State.

For athletic purists—and I’m one—it just doesn’t feel right.

But it’s a new world in college athletics. Take nothing for granted. Get used to change. Let nothing surprise you.

Maryland is in the Big Ten. And 12 + 2 = 10.

ENDNOTE: I dedicate this column to Don and Carole Lick, huge B1G and Michigan State fans. Let the games begin!