What I do know...

[alltimetwinsfan]

Unlike Texas and Texas A&M, and unlike Nebraska and Kansas, and unlike Pittsburgh and West Virginia, I can all but guarantee that Minnesota and Wisconsin will be connected at the hip, and what one does, the other will follow. I don't think this is an issue, as both are extremely content in the Big Ten, but even if there are decisions that potentially affect them within the conference (particularly withing divisions), I think the two will stick together. They may very well be the last of a dying breed in college athletics...two schools who will be connected at the hip through thick and thin. There is just too much history...maybe the only history left! Your thoughts?

 

[Word]

Nothing at this point would surprise me.

 

[Some guy]

Nothing at this point would surprise me.

True but the big ten even changed what they were going to do to preserve the ax streak last year so that was encouraging

 

[PeoplesFront]

Aggy makes a reference to t.u. in their fight song, and t.u. dedicates a reference to aggy in theirs as well. As @Word said, nothing would surprise me at this point. Money is the driving factor in all of this - decades or century long rivalries be damned.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

I used to think that in hockey the Gophers and North Dakota were connected at the hip …

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

There are no guarantees.

If any B1G team was faced with huge losses in revenue / becoming irrelevant or something else they didn't like ... their values would change fast.

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

Your thoughts?

I don’t think we’re much more connected than the pairs you posited. I think it would take a significant event to break them apart, but if Michigan, Penn State and OSU bolted to the SEC or some super conference and offered to take wisconsin with them, I have little faith wisconsin would tie their fate to Minnesota.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

everyone, every team and every conference has its price. you throw enough money at MN and they will kiss the WI "rivalry" goodbye in a heartbeat. And the same for WI.

I'm 65. And I honestly believe that, within my lifetime, the current conference structure for D1 sports will cease to exist - at least in Football and possibly hoops as well.

I also think there is a very good chance that the NCAA in its present form will cease to exist, or at the least morph into a different entity as far as D1 sports are concerned.

 

[johnnybb]

I bet a lot of folks never thought that Pitt and Penn State would never go 10 years without playing each other, and then it happened. At the risk of being overly general: I've worked in higher ed for close to a decade now and found that upper administration at these institutions don't really care much about history, institutions, the educational mission, whatever. They care about revenue and whatever maximizes it. Tradition and effective educating can certainly help revenue, but to the administrators they need to be kept in balance with other concerns, like maximizing revenue. Make no mistake: if the regents of either the U or Wisconsin see an opportunity that offers more revenue than remaining in the Big10 they'll take it, with or without their border rivalry.