Conference-expansion talk has so dominated college sports in recent weeks, it is starting to unleash deep-seated fears and insecurities among otherwise rational people. Just the other day I was talking to an athletic director at a small Division I program, and he actually used the words “terrorist strike” to describe how it would affect college sports if the Big Ten added five teams.
You’ve got to hand it to Jim Delany. The commissioner of the Big Ten, which just wrapped up its annual meetings yesterday without the release of any major news or (fill in your weapon-of-mass-destruction-of-choice here), might be pulling off one of the great PR stunts in sports history.
Not that the Big Ten isn’t serious about expanding. But no matter what it does, the buzz Mr. Delany has created has served only to prop up the league’s reputation. (I just turned up 4,412 results by searching “Big Ten expansion” in Google News. That’s nearly 2,000 more than what “financial overhaul legislation” got.)
Whether Mr. Delany would ever admit it, his league can use the boost. There’s no doubt it’s an academic powerhouse. And its fledgling TV network has been surprisingly profitable. But in the only real sports that matter to most fans, football and men’s basketball, the conference has won exactly two national championships in the past decade (Michigan State in basketball in 2000, and Ohio State in football in 2002). People still think the Big Ten is overrated. But they’re starting to recognize its power.
Money helped make that happen. The Southeastern Conference got a great deal with ESPN and CBS. But thanks to Mr. Delany’s vision, the Big Ten owns its TV network, which after $66-million in profits last year, paid out an estimated $22-million per institution. What athletics department wouldn’t want in on that?
A couple of weeks ago I promised not to get swept up in speculation. But as I was reading comments on a popular college football blog last night, I came across this statement:
“Seriously, this whole Big Ten and SEC expansion talk is not going to happen. It’s just … an American-style kabuki dance among conference egos to force [Notre Dame] into the Big Ten fold.”
Insiders are mum on who the next member (or members) might be. “There is not a person in the world right now that knows the answer to that question,” Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon told The Detroit News.
This much we know: Mr. Delany is one of the shrewdest minds in sports. Whatever he’s doing—PR stunt, Kabuki dance, (fill in the blank)—he’s sure making everyone take his conference a whole lot more seriously.
5 Responses to The Conference Kabuki Dance
rmalekof - May 21, 2010 at 9:09 am
Is this yet another reason why its hard to take the claim that DI athletics should continue to benefit from “educational, non-profit” status seriously? Won’t ultimate institutional decisions be based on revenue production projections…revenue that will continue to feed the seeming insatiable athletic appetite and serve to make “big-time” athletics even bigger?
crunchycon - May 21, 2010 at 9:50 am
Notre Dame has turned down the Big 10 several times. Missouri is a much better choice.
11159995 - May 21, 2010 at 11:10 am
I disagree with #2. The Big Ten exists as an academic consortium (the Committee on Institutional Cooperation) as well as an athletic conference, and Notre Dame would be a better match academically. And, athletically, Notre Dame fields better teams across the board in the “minor” sports than Missouri does.–Sandy Thatcher (Penn State)
crunchycon - May 21, 2010 at 12:37 pm
But Sandy, the annual athletic events in various sports between Missouri and Illinois are big deals — such as the annual “bragging rights” basketball game. There is a history between the two schools, a rivalry, which would fit into sports. One purpose of adding a school to the Big Ten (bringing it to 12 teams) is to divide into “divisions” in athletics. I don’t think academics figure into the process or the decision.
supertatie - May 25, 2010 at 10:57 am
As an ND grad and one who has worked for a university in the Big Ten, I’d love to see Notre Dame in that conference. But what holds them back is that they have always had the freedom to play teams like Navy (and incredibly old rivalry), USC, and Alabama. I don’t think they want to give up playing those out of conference teams.