Posted at 8:00am -- 2/27/2010Mailbag question: Will anybody leave the Big Ten
Hello GBMW folks,
With all the news floating around about conference expansion I haven't heard anything about the possibility of a team leaving the Big 10. Do you think this is likely and if so which teams could you see leaving? Would a team like Ohio State really say no if the SEC asked them to join?
Thanks,
Matt D.
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Thanks for the question.
The only team we see as a possibility of leaving would be Northwestern and that would be athletics purposes, but this becomes highly doubtful for many reasons.
Foremost is the financial benefit of being in the Big Ten is huge with the television contracts, with ABC/ESPN, along with the fact that the Big Ten has their own Big Ten Network as well, which shows many athletic programs on a national television audience.
The Big Ten is so full of rivalries and tradition we do not see any team willingly to leave. The conference is also geographically close together making travel, financial expenditures and time change easier.
As stated, traveling and the cost is a huge factor, especially when you think of the complete athletic department and all the associated sports.
Michigan has twenty-five athletic programs, many of which are funded by programs such as the football program and program
donors. So if the Big Ten would add a team to the conference that is out of the area, more money for travel, more money for expenses of being on the road longer, and also more time for the student-athletes to be away from college and on the road.
Many secondary programs use buses for most trips and do not fly.
Right now with Michigan being down, Ohio State does not have a team in the conference that is equal or better year in and year out. Yes, some programs will have a good year and then falter for a couple of years, but not one program in the Big Ten today can compete with Ohio State. That is why it is so important for Michigan to get strong again so the Big Ten will be competitive and make the conference stronger.
Written by GBMW Staff
Go Blue -- Wear Maize!
If one team were to leave, it'd have to be Indiana, they sold out their home game for football. They're an embarrassment to the big ten. Northwestern has been good in both sports recently, and is the only good academic school that isn't Michigan.
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