Big Ten Expansion?

Crafty, crafty Jim Delany. SI is reporting the Commish is once again pushing the idea of expanding the Big Ten by one team to 12.

It should be little surprise that revenue is the driving factor (Championship Game = TV Dollars) but there is the added galvanizing factor of the nascent Big Ten Network. (Which is more of the aforementioned 'TV Dollars'.)

Now the Big Ten Network slight of hand becomes clearer - it was all along an elaborate, multi-faceted ruse geared toward an end of expanding the already misnomered and mis-numbered conference. Delany figured he could steamroll all traditional pleas if the economic argument for the Network was stronger.

Quoth Delany: "The broader (the network) is distributed, the more value (expansion) has. We have eight states. With expansion, you could have nine."

Ah. Well if you put it that way....

But does that mean Notre Dame is no longer the preferred target? If it's a ninth state Delaney's after the likely candidates would appear to be Missouri, West Virginia or Louisville (in ascending order of preference by this guy).

Still the Delaney is cracking open the door that was shut in 1999. Delany said of Notre Dame: "There aren't many universities that produce that kind of value."

Wait and see I guess. But the argument should be interesting. There are low of powerful interests that like this conference just the way it is. Ferentz. Carr. The fan bases of Ohio State and Michigan. And the outcome is unclear. Is Delany a visionary taking the progressive move for the advancement of the conference or is this a reckless power grab?