The ordeal of no divisions

[Great Plains Gopher]

If fans don't raise hell, we may be stuck with an 18-team "league" indefinitely. Also, send UCLA, USC, Washington, and especially, Oregon, back to the West Coast where they belong. With them gone, we'd have two 7-team divisions, based again on geography. The massive greed has led to massive cash for the B10, but still most schools will be short on the new crazy cost of paying players. It never ends - so a 16 team playoff, then more teams added, as in basketball, the playoffs being a second season. The greed leads down a rabbit hole that has no end.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

What hell have you been raising? I haven’t seen you protesting outside the league offices with the rest of us.

 

[IceBoxGopher]

The division system had its fair share of criticism, too. Reaction to Leagues and Legends was mixed and the West was often looked at as the lesser of the two during its existance.

Regardless, I don't see anything changing. The recent changes were all about TV. I don't think that was always the case. Adding Penn State and Nebraska was genuinely expanding the conference with two prolific football programs in Midwest/B1G adjacent states.

That's not the case with the East and West Coast additions. By bringing those in, the Big Ten now has a presence in states with 4 of the top 5 media markets, and 18 of the top 40. The recent additions, in bold, added 8, including the 2 largest.

No. 1 New York City - Rutgers
No. 2 Los Angeles - USC, UCLA
No. 3 Chicago - Illinois, Northwestern
No. 5 Philadelphia - Penn State
No. 8 Washington DC - Maryland
No. 10 Bay Area - USC, UCLA
No. 13 Seattle - Washington
No. 14 Detroit - Michigan, Michigan State
No. 16 Twin Cities - Minnesota
No. 19 Cleveland - Ohio State
No. 23 Portland - Oregon
No. 25 Indianapolis - Indiana, Purdue
No. 27 Pittsburgh - Penn State
No. 29 Baltimore - Maryland
No. 30 San Diego - USC, UCLA
No. 35 Columbus - Ohio State
No. 37 Cincinnati - Ohio State
No. 38 Milwaukee - Wisconsin