Bigger Ten?

Delany denies latest expansion rumors
AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany e-mailed conference officials Tuesday to stamp out a rumor that four schools had already been offered a chance to join the league.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith confirmed Tuesday that Delany had quashed a report that the Big Ten had offered expansion spots to Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Rutgers.

Asked if there was anything to that speculation, Smith said, "Nothing. There's no truth to it whatsoever. Actually, Jim sent us all an e-mail telling us there's no truth to that -- which we knew. There's no extensions of offers that have been made, so that's not true."

The conference is looking at expanding from its current 11 members so that it can extend the reach of its lucrative cable network and add a league championship game in football.

The Big Ten athletic directors will meet May 17-19 in downtown Chicago. They will be joined by faculty representatives, senior women's administrators and the head coaches in football and men's and women's basketball. But Smith said the meetings were routine and nothing would be decided in terms of expansion.

Well you can just go ahead and kiss my ass if you expect me to believe that this story was false. Everything is denying this and passing the buck like they're the Catholic Church and 200 deaf kids just got molested. This thing is happening, probably sooner that later. And it's all about money and a little bit of appreciation.

Pete Fiutak from Collegefootballnews.com explained it best:

If you’re outside of a Big 12 city, good luck finding a mid-level conference game on a normal October Saturday. The exposure isn’t nearly as big as the Big Ten gets, the academics aren’t even close, and schools like Missouri are tired of not getting any sort of a spotlight, or the dollars, compared to Texas and Oklahoma, and doesn't get the bowl money compared to the mid-level Big Ten teams. It’s not like Mizzou would be the shining star in the Big Ten, but at least it would be getting paid better and it would upgrade the educational side. It’s not like Iowa and Michigan State are going Ivy League soon, but they have far better academic reputations than almost everyone in the Big 12.

Your Big Ten, if it goes to 16, will probably end up being -

EAST: Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse
WEST: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin

If it goes to 14, the Big Ten will probably end up being -

EAST: Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers
WEST: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin

I don't really care about the academic element of that argument but I can certainly understand Nebraska bolting to a conference with its own network that shares money equally among its partner institutions.

If you'd like some more hard hitting Big Ten expansion coverage read the Facebook argument that ensued on my wall two days ago here.