A Jersey Guy: Big Ten Should Go South, not West
While much of the college football world goes about the business of completing the 2022 season, the conference commissioners met this week in an attempt to implement a new 12 team CFP system by 2024.
It is a daunting task, but with a payoff which top $3 billion dollars, it seems well worth the effort.
But there is more.
The always hungry Big Ten, looking for total college football domination, which could generate revenue of $100 million a year per school, wants more inventory.
Rumors are swirling about a further expansion into Pac-12 territory, with schools such as Stanford, California, Oregon and Washington targeted to join UCLA and USC as the true Big Ten West.
But does that make financial sense, especially if the one part of the country the Big Ten has no footprint--the South--remains available?
Ten years ago former Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany had the same idea and focused on getting Georgia Tech as the conference's newest member.
Delany, a Jersey guy and a North Carolina graduate, saw $$$ by planting the Big Ten in the heart of the ACC and SEC territory when he courted the Yellow Jackets.
So much so that he thought he had a done deal until someone at Tech vetoed the plan. Delany went to Plan B, which was Maryland and Rutgers.
Tech was in the headlines this week when athletic director Todd Stansbury and football coach Geoff Collins were fired.
Why not make a clean sweep and make the financially sound move of reaching out to the Big Ten, which should jump at the idea since it would be a guaranteed money maker for the conference, putting them in the South.
Make a call to North Carolina or make one final call to Notre Dame, moves which would give the Big Ten geographical diversity, academic integrity and competitive superiority.
And oh yes, financial security.