Delaney is a genius

[Rosemountian]

First he announces that the Big Ten might think about expansion. Instead of just researching it quietly, he brings as much attention to the Big Ten as possible. He talks about the possibility of a 14-16 league..... gets a ton of backlash from fans...and in the end, got the best possible candidate (aside from Notre Dame) for Big Ten expansion. Did he ever actually think the conference would go to 14-16 teams in this round (assuming there may be another round) of expansion? I doubt it. When he announced the Big Ten was going to research expansion, the national reaction was his best piece of research.

Once again he is a genius. He floats the idea that the split may not be geographical. He brings up the idea that OSU and Mich could be split. Is he setting us up for the calamity that would be splitting them up? Or is he floating the idea in order to get a sense of what the feelings are. He is drawing much more attention to the conference. Once again, he is researching divisional setup and he floats a radical idea to get fan reaction and publicity. When the East-West divisions are announced in the month of Sept, everyone again will comment on how great Delaney is as a commish. He explored every possible option and in the end got it right.

Right now all of the talk is of non-geographic divisions...but Delaney has also made comments about going with competitive balance since 1994 (Penn States entrance). While talking about this, he noted that Nebraska has multiple national titles in this time period. Everyone in the media (and fans) are just reading what they want to hear. They want to hear that people are doing it wrong. In reality, conference expansion was necessary. Delaney saw the need for a championship game and went with the most sensible 12th team instead of adding 3-5 like the media and fans claimed he would. Now the media and fans are claiming he is going to bring them into a terrible divisional setup, while all the fans and media would love to see it so they could decry Delaney for "ruining college football," he may just disappoint and do the sensible thing again.

 

[Goldmember]

And go with an East/Central Divisional split?

I'm not holding my breath. No one wants to formally admit that, demographically, the future is somewhat brighter in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska (and Southern Indiana) than it is in the rustbelt communities of Ohio, Michigan, Northern Indiana, and Pennsylvania that are home to the "traditional" football powers of the Big Ten East. And this is the factor that tips the scales in favor of the East/Central alignment offering us parity into the future.

Though I will admit: if they go with the East/Central alignment after all of this posturing, Delaney is a genius.

 

[Rosemountian]

If they go east/west

Poplulation of the East (including the entire state of PA (PHILLY AND PITTSBURGH)):
40.53 million
Growth Rate: .120%

Population of the West:
28.64 million
Growth Rate: .556%

The largest TV market is in the west (Chicago). 2 of the top 4 markets are in the West.
At current rates the West will have a higher population than the East in the year 2088. If the rates adjust in the short to medium term, they are more likely to adjust in favor of that date becoming sooner than later.

Big Ten Titles Since 1994:
Ohio State 8
Rest of the East 9
West 8
Nebraska 0

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

OK. Here is the solution. Put all the 12 teams that will form the Big Ten in a hat.

Ready!

Draw!

First team drawn goes in one division, second team the other, and so on. That makes as much sense as attempting to predict what the genius will do and what the final outcome will be.