Early in August, the Big Ten made another big move in conference expansion, adding Oregon and Washington. The Big 12 followed suit, with their own flurry of moves.
But what’s next now for the Big Ten? Will they expand again? And who are the top targets?
The Big Ten is currently at 18 teams. They likely want to add two more teams within the next year if only to continue stockpiling programs. Where this leads the Big Ten is anyone’s guess.
After all, who would have thought that Rutgers and Maryland would become Big Ten members in 2014.
Keep in mind a couple of things when it comes to conference expansion and the Big Ten:
- The conference only admits AAU members. This whittles down the list considerably, doesn’t it?
- Football is driving the bus with basketball second.
- Almost as important (if not as important) in all of this? Television markets being added to the conference.
This is really an arms race between the remaining Power Four conference to best position themselves for the next round of television negotiations.
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Scroll down and check out the updated Power Rankings for Big Ten conference expansion: