So, Jim Delaney, the commish of the Big Ten Conference announced the divisional lineup for the conference football teams when Nebraska becomes the 12th member for the 2011 season. A history rich conference, this was a very tough job as not only do you need to keep the competitive balance equal, but there are several intraconference games that have buckets and the like that go to the annual winner, such as the old Oaken Bucket (Purdue/Indiana). And of course, who can forget "The Game"...you know, that annual matchup between the maize and yellow of the Michigan Wolverines and the scarlet and gray of The Ohio State Buckeyes. What they came up with seems to work as good as possible.
Let's face it, you couldn't really do it by East/West...you would have Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana in the East while the West would have Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and now Nebraska. Clearly the balance of power would have resided in the East with the more traditional powers being on that side.
Here are the divisions, which as of now have not been given names:
Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
The other thing that Delaney did was protect a cross-divisional rivalry game that will be played every year. Among those are Michigan/Ohio State, Iowa/Purdue, Illinois/Northwestern and the newest one is going to be great...Nebraska/Penn State. The rumor I keep hearing is that that game will also be played on the final weekend so you will have Michigan vs Ohio State (by the way, 22 times that game has determined the Big Ten Champion) and Nebraska vs Penn State. However, not sure I believe that rumor as it could take a lot of the media attention away from the Michigan/Ohio State game.
Anyway, I don't think the Big Ten big wigs could have done this any better. By the way, the first Big Ten Championship game will be played in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the home of the Colts. There has been interest from several top facilities to host that game, including Lambeau Field! It will be interesting as you have great stadiums in Detroit, Indy, Chicago, Green Bay, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati...all within the foot print of the Big Ten. Does the Big Ten keep it in the same location or does it rotate? I tend to favor a single site for things of this caliber, but in this case I think it makes sense to rotate it. Here are the reasons:
1. The quality of the stadiums - from the shrine that is Lambeau Field to the still new Lucas Oil Stadium...Ford Field in Detroit to Soldier Field in Chicago (home of the Big Ten offices)...Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to the Metrodome in Minneapolis...all are cities that have experience hosting championship events, all are in the Big Ten region, all are amazing facilities. My vote is for a rotating championship game.
2. The econony - Let's face it, parts of the midwest, especially Michigan have been hit extremely hard by the lagging economy. The impact of a single Big Ten title game would mean millions of dollars to the community that hosts it. I know I live in Indiana and would love to see this state reap those benefits and Indy does a great job with these types of things (host the Big Ten hoops tourneys), but something of this magnitude should help all the Big Ten communities if possible.
3. The fans - Moving the game around gives more fans access to the game. Penn State fans will find it a lot easier and more cost effective to go a title game in Pitt or Detroit than Minneapolis, Green Bay or even Indy.
One thought I will leave you with...since the inception of the BCS in 1998-99, the Big Ten has received 2 invites to BCS bowls in 9 of the 12 years. A huge reason is that they didn't have a championship game and arguably 1 of their top 2 teams isn't getting beat in their last game. That will change once this game comes into play. However, I'm guessing the revenue generated from the Big Ten Championship game will offset the loss of the 2nd BCS team every year.
OK, that's it for now...tomorrow I will talk about the decision by BYU to go independent in football.
- The Sports Nut
RIP John Wooden, the greatest coach in history
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