Adding 1 team is hard but it doesn't have the fun I'm looking for so I'm going to focus on a 3/5 team additions to take the league to 14/16 teams. These are the schools I'm looking at with a comment next to each (listing all schools I have ever heard discussed at candidates):
Strong Candidates:
- Connecticut - Distance, history, stadium
- Kansas - Small Market, Strong Big 12 ties
- Kentucky - Strong SEC ties, Not a AAU member
- Missouri - Academics
- Nebraska - Academics, Distance
- Notre Dame - Non-AAU Member, Alumni seek independence, Weak graduate school
- Pittsburgh - No additional Market
- Rutgers - Distance
- Syracuse - Weak graduate school, Distance
- Texas - Distance, Texas Politics
- Texas A&M - Distance, Texas Politics
- Oklahoma - Academics, Distance
- Cincinnati - Academic issues, poor fanbase, no additional market
- Iowa State - No additional Market, Non-AAU Member
- Kansas State - Academics, Small Market, Strong Big 12 ties
- Louisville - Academics, stadium size, Non-AAU Member
- Marshall - Academics, Stadium Size, Small Market, Non-AAU Member
- West Virginia - Academics, Non-AAU Member
In a 14 team league the most obvious choices would be Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Missouri. This adds television markets are these three schools are the best fit academically, distance and athletically. The ready made rivalry between Penn State/Pittsburgh and Illinois/Missouri makes these two schools ideal. The third school is a bit tough as no one stands out so I decided to add another team in the East. The league would look something like this:
| East | West |
| Indiana | Illinois |
| Michigan | Iowa |
| Michigan State | Minnesota |
| Ohio State | Missouri |
| Penn State | Northwestern |
| Pittsburgh | Purdue |
| Syracuse | Wisconsin |
I have seen posts with a North/South option due to the strength of the East. I don't see that happening because the traditionalists (me included) only want to see the Buckeyes playing Michigan/Penn State once a year. The West is definitely the weaker league especially if Syracuse and Pitt are able to return to their historical power.
Even more fun is a 16 team league. I'd keep the 14 mentioned above and add Nebraska and Kansas to the mix. Now it looks like this:
| East | West |
| Indiana | Illinois |
| Michigan | Iowa |
| Michigan State | Kansas |
| Ohio State | Minnesota |
| Penn State | Missouri |
| Pittsburgh | Northwestern |
| Purdue | Nebraska |
| Syracuse | Wisconsin |
This conference really would be fun to watch as the Nebraska in football and Kansas in basketball would be huge. A West of Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska is a much better offset to the East of Ohio State/Michigan/Penn State than the 14 team option.
My final league I would call the FU Big 12 league. It would look like this:
| East | West |
| Indiana | Iowa |
| Illinois | Minnesota |
| Michigan | Missouri |
| Michigan State | Nebraska |
| Northwestern | Oklahoma |
| Ohio State | Texas |
| Penn State | Texas A&M |
| Purdue | Wisconsin |
I realize this is a pipe dream but a setup like this is about the only way I see us getting Texas into the Big Ten. This conference would certainly be competitive and just getting to the championship game would be a chore. I'd feel for Wisconsin and Iowa a bit as that West conference is just brutal.
If the Big 10 ever created a super-conference like I describe above it would most likely mean that the Big East and Big 12 would have to be rearranged. The likely result would be that one of the league's would most likely disappear and some existing football programs would be scaled back. That would be sad but the truth is that the power in college sports lies in the hands of an elite few and that is only going to be more so in the coming years.
Keep in mind that I didn't look at this from the perspective of a college president but more as a fan so some of my assumptions are faulty. Still it is fun to think about.
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