Author unknownThe Big Ten is already overachieving with 11
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For a number of years there has been a public outcry for the Big Ten Conference to expand, adding another team and, in turn, a conference championship. Many cite that the long break has hurt teams like Ohio State in their bowl games and that the conference teams lose publicity that teams with a championship game gain.
While writers at other papers would have you believe that it is in the best interest of the conference to do add a team, I am here to tell you that, as a Buckeye fan, you should not listen to Nittany Lion or other Big Ten fans, who are just looking for a reason to get out of losing to Iowa every year, and should protest against the expansion of the Big Ten.
First, I would like to get it out of the way that the Buckeyes do not need publicity. If the Buckeyes were to go undefeated, they are virtually guaranteed a national championship bid. Even in a year like this one, there is no way Texas would be chosen over the Buckeyes given the schedule of the two teams. And, the Buckeyes get plenty of national attention with their big game at the beginning of each season and their late games with the best of the Big Ten. Publicity is not an issue.
Second, who are you going to add? Yes, Notre Dame would be a nice addition to add another big name, but that isn't going to happen. Forget it. After them, you look to Rutgers for their New York location, Pitt and West Virginia. None of the other teams mentioned would be willing to join based on the distances they would have to travel every week.
These are not awful options, depending on what you're looking for in adding another team. If you are looking for a larger fan base, which the Big Ten certainly isn't hurting for, you go with Rutgers, but that still leaves the fact that the conference has lost its prestige.
Instead, you go with West Virginia or Pitt, who are in a joke of a football conference now and would most likely welcome the move. However, neither of these teams are so good they will turn any heads. The Big Ten is still going to look just like the Pac-10: a.k.a. USC and company.
Which leads me into my next point: Even if you do pick up an East coast team, how are you going to divide the conference? With the way the conference is shaped geographically, you would have to divide it East and West. That means the Eastern division would be Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and the team to be named. Notice anything about those teams? Maybe that it includes the best three programs, plus the team that's supposed to improve the conference.
On the other side you would have Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinios, Northwestern and Purdue. A split like that is more of a joke that the Big-12. Just like them, the top three or four teams would come from the same division every year.
Plus, teams like the Hawkeyes and Badgers schedule would turn them into Boise State, and no one wants Boise State on their schedule at the end of the season. Like it or not, there's a reason teams won't play Boise, TCU, BYU and Hawaii. The last thing you want is one of them in your conference.
Next is the money issue. The Buckeyes aren't going to make a lot of money off any new team in the conference. For those of you who aren't aware, the Big Ten is set up so that any earnings teams make from bowl games are split among all of the teams. Every year the Buckeyes go to a major bowl, and every year the Buckeyes take the $10 to &15 million bonus and split it up among the other teams. A conference championship is going to bring in far less than that. By the time it is over, the reward for OSU is almost nothing relative to what the Buckeyes bring in every season.
Which brings me to my final point. It's for all the parents out there. The Big Ten has stated for years that it is opposed to a championship game because the extra game would be held during final exams and the conference says it cares about education. While I, along with most people, know that most of these players could care less about their classes, it is still a college and education should be the priority.
Though it would be nice to have another solid team and definitive conference champion every year, the downside of adding a team is too great, particularly for a team like the Buckeyes. Everything about adding another team is problematic and useless. In the past three years we have seen the conference turn into one of the weakest of the major conferences, but that is not a reason to give up on the system and rush to mimic other conferences.
If a team like Notre Dame is willing to join, it would do wonders for the conference. But you don't add manure to fertilizer and say its better - it's still the same thing.
Source: www.timesgazette.com
