Big Ten Expansion heating up.

A story has broken out about the Big Ten speeding up the process of looking for a 12th (or more) member(s). This is very intriguing in the fact that just a couple of months ago, we heard Jim Delany say that the process would most likely take up to 12-18 months. Some other known facts are that if this was to happen before the meetings of the BCS, Delany would contact the Big East commish, letting him know they would be looking at Rutgers, Pitt, and Syracuse. That would allow the Big Ten more than a month to negotiate with schools before conference presidents and chancellors meet in Chicago during the first weekend in June. Then there was this little nugget of glory.

"I don't think 16 is scaring anyone off, as long as you can find (five) that are a good enough fit," said one source who has been consulted during the exploratory phase. "They're looking long-term, across the horizon. What gives them the best shot at keeping value at a high level?"

This may surprise you, but I am actually against having so many teams in the conference. Yes, it would probably be more exciting as a whole, but it seems a bit too much to me. I think adding 1 or 3 schools at most would be alright, but 16 is a couple too many. Here is my wish list for the Big Ten for teams to be added

1. Texas
2. Notre Dame
3. Nebraska
4. Cincinnati (just so we can shut the fans up every year)

More on the Notre Dame, comes in the Chicago Tribune:

By joining the Big Ten, Notre Dame could increase its annual television revenue from roughly $15 million to $22 million, get a national TV platform (the Big Ten Network) for its top-notch Olympic sports and decrease travel costs for its teams.

Sounds like a good deal to me. I know they have the contract with NBC, but they would also get more respect as a whole, and the whole shebang! I really don't understand why they have held out so long. It's just sad to think we could have had Notre Dame added a long time ago..and they just didn't want to. Oh well.
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