BleedGopher
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per SI:
Most of all, Delany believes the conference had no choice. As the Big Ten's population moves South and West, the conference's base is rapidly shrinking: Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa all rank among the 12 states with the smallest projected growth from 2000 to '30. Meanwhile, between June '10, when Nebraska joined the Big Ten and Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12, and the Maryland and Rutgers announcements in November '12, the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri, and most important, the ACC delivered a death knell to the Big East, poaching Syracuse, Pittsburgh and, as a partial member, Delany's long-coveted target, Notre Dame. The Big Ten, which had long claimed the most populous footprint of any conference, suddenly ranked a distant third. And with Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame, the ACC had moved directly into the neighborhood. A still unfolding lawsuit filed last year by Maryland against the ACC over the league's $52 million exit fee claims that representatives from two ACC schools, acting on the conference's behalf, contacted two Big Ten schools about joining. "That's when it changed," says Delany. "Once people start getting on our doorstep and calling our institutions, then I think it's important to be able to be offensive and defensive. We came to the conclusion there was more risk in sitting still than there was in exploring other opportunities."
The Big Ten's slippage in football is largely due to the dearth of high-level talent in its population-depleted backyard. In the 2015 recruiting class, just 32 of Rivals' 325 four or five-star prospects hail from one of the nine current Big Ten states. Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Virginia and New Jersey, however, add another 32 on their own. "Because of their recruiting areas and where they're located, it puts Rutgers and Maryland ahead of Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Northwestern," said DiNardo. That is if they can keep those players home. Ohio State, Michigan and others can now sell annual trips back home to blue-chippers in those states. "It was bad enough for Maryland to be raided from the South," says Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell. "Now they'll be raided from the Midwest."
It may be a decade or more before we know whether Delany's move was right. Success is dependent on Rutgers's overcoming its propensity to self-destruct and Maryland's returning to glory in the two revenue sports. Many expected Texas A&M and Missouri to struggle upon moving from the Big 12 to the SEC; each has already produced a top five football team. "If [Rutgers or Maryland] approximates what Missouri and A&M did, you'd see Big Ten fans really embracing them because just by proxy it makes their program look better," says Zimmermann. "But if those schools don't carry their weight or add value, who cares? The fans aren't getting that $45 million." Delany concedes that Ohio State-Maryland lacks the sizzle of Ohio State-Nebraska, but he's betting the former will help attract a new legion of fans. In the meantime the current fans are like longtime residents in a gentrified neighborhood. Like it or not, change happens.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/06/18/big-ten-expansion
Go Gophers!!
Most of all, Delany believes the conference had no choice. As the Big Ten's population moves South and West, the conference's base is rapidly shrinking: Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa all rank among the 12 states with the smallest projected growth from 2000 to '30. Meanwhile, between June '10, when Nebraska joined the Big Ten and Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12, and the Maryland and Rutgers announcements in November '12, the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri, and most important, the ACC delivered a death knell to the Big East, poaching Syracuse, Pittsburgh and, as a partial member, Delany's long-coveted target, Notre Dame. The Big Ten, which had long claimed the most populous footprint of any conference, suddenly ranked a distant third. And with Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame, the ACC had moved directly into the neighborhood. A still unfolding lawsuit filed last year by Maryland against the ACC over the league's $52 million exit fee claims that representatives from two ACC schools, acting on the conference's behalf, contacted two Big Ten schools about joining. "That's when it changed," says Delany. "Once people start getting on our doorstep and calling our institutions, then I think it's important to be able to be offensive and defensive. We came to the conclusion there was more risk in sitting still than there was in exploring other opportunities."
The Big Ten's slippage in football is largely due to the dearth of high-level talent in its population-depleted backyard. In the 2015 recruiting class, just 32 of Rivals' 325 four or five-star prospects hail from one of the nine current Big Ten states. Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Virginia and New Jersey, however, add another 32 on their own. "Because of their recruiting areas and where they're located, it puts Rutgers and Maryland ahead of Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Northwestern," said DiNardo. That is if they can keep those players home. Ohio State, Michigan and others can now sell annual trips back home to blue-chippers in those states. "It was bad enough for Maryland to be raided from the South," says Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell. "Now they'll be raided from the Midwest."
It may be a decade or more before we know whether Delany's move was right. Success is dependent on Rutgers's overcoming its propensity to self-destruct and Maryland's returning to glory in the two revenue sports. Many expected Texas A&M and Missouri to struggle upon moving from the Big 12 to the SEC; each has already produced a top five football team. "If [Rutgers or Maryland] approximates what Missouri and A&M did, you'd see Big Ten fans really embracing them because just by proxy it makes their program look better," says Zimmermann. "But if those schools don't carry their weight or add value, who cares? The fans aren't getting that $45 million." Delany concedes that Ohio State-Maryland lacks the sizzle of Ohio State-Nebraska, but he's betting the former will help attract a new legion of fans. In the meantime the current fans are like longtime residents in a gentrified neighborhood. Like it or not, change happens.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/06/18/big-ten-expansion
Go Gophers!!
