Report: Big 10 Officially Extends Mizzou An Offer

[oldschooler]

[b][url="http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/report-big-10-officially-extends-mizzou-an-offer-28336"][size="5"][color="#000000"]Report: Big 10 Officially Extends Mizzou An Offer[/color][/size][/url][/b]
Posted by [url="http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/author/brooks/"][color="#000000"]Brooks[/color][/url] on May. 10, 2010, 3:11pm


Longtime Kansas City radio and television personality [b]Kevin Kietzman[/b], citing "[i]multiple sources[/i]," reported today that the Big Ten has officially extended an invitation to Missouri to join the conference.

The [url="http://www.810whb.com/article/3527"][color="#000000"]WHB-AM[/color][/url] afternoon talk show host also reported that Nebraska, Notre Dame and Rutgers have been offered spots in the league.

On Missouri, Kietzman has specific details:

[indent][i]In order for the University of Missouri to join the Big Ten, the Missouri Board of Regents will still have to approve the move. Sources close to the governing body say the Big Ten has told officials that Mizzou could add $1.3 million per month in revenue to the lucrative Big Ten Television Network.
[/i]

[i]Big Ten representatives have also told Missouri officials they would like to have the entire expansion process wrapped up this summer with a formal announcement coming no later than July. [/i]

[i](Missouri) will have to pay a stiff penalty to leave the Big 12. The Big 12 charter states any member will lose between 50 and 100 percent of its shared annual revenue depending on the length of notice any school gives. According to sources, it seems likely Missouri would give one- year notice. [/i]

[i]It is projected that Missouri's football revenues would increase by $10 million or more per year when it joins the Big Ten versus what it currently receives in the Big 12.[/i]

[/indent]While Kietzman isn't nearly as specific about Nebraska's move, it wouldn't surprise me if his invitation claims about the two Big 12 schools is true.

Kietzman offers some additional details on Rutgers and Notre Dame, which is likely coming from a Missouri source:

[indent][i]While nothing can be approved until the Big Ten presidents and chancellors meet the first week of June in Chicago, the league has informed the two Big 12 schools, Notre Dame and Rutgers that it would like to have them join. [/i]

[i]It is not yet clear whether the Big Ten will expand to 14 or 16 teams but sources indicated Missouri and Nebraska are invited in either scenario. Notre Dame has repeatedly declined the opportunity to join the Big Ten. [/i]

[i]If Notre Dame remains independent, Rutgers would be the 14th team. The Big Ten would then decide whether to stop at 14 or extend offers to two other schools. If Notre Dame joins, sources say an offer will be extended to one other school making it a 16-team league.[/i]

[/indent]The Big Ten school presidents and chancellors will meet the first week of June to sort out the expansion issue. I've been wary about diving into expansion speculation scenarios but Kietzman is plugged into the Mizzou program as much as any media member in the state.

[b]Vahe Gregorian[/b] of the [url="http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/tiger-tracker/tiger-tracker/2010/05/mu-mum-on-kc-radio-report-of-big-ten-offer/"][color="#000000"]ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH[/color][/url] reports Missouri released a generic statement in response to Kietzman's WHB report:

[indent][i]"The University of Missouri is receiving numerous inquiries related to public speculation about conference membership. MU is a member of the Big 12 Conference and will not respond to speculation about conference realignment. Mizzou continues to be grateful for all the interest shown in and support for the university."[/i]

[/indent][left]Recently the school has offered that exact statement as a response to all media inquiries about the possibility of Missouri jumping to the Big Ten.[/left]

So, what could the Big 12 offer Mizzou to stay?

That question has allegedly already been answered.





[url="http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/report-big-10-officially-extends-mizzou-an-offer-28336"]http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/report-big-10-officially-extends-mizzou-an-offer-28336[/url]

[oldschooler]

[b][size="5"][color="#015482"]The Big Ten's Expansion Shortlist[/color][/size][/b]
May 11, 2010 2:16 PM ET

Who will accept the Big Ten's invitation to join the conference? WHB Radio in Kansas City reported the conference has extended initial offers to four schools. Big Ten presidents and chancellors will meet the first week of June in Chicago to address expansion. So who will they be talking about? According to reports, the shortlist includes the following schools: Missouri (six bowl appearances in the last seven seasons), Nebraska (won its last two bowl games), Notre Dame's (13 national championships - the most of any FBS school) and Rutgers (five straight winning seasons after 12 straight non-winning seasons).




[url="http://espn.go.com/blog/sportscenter/post/_/id/50924/the-big-tens-expansion-shortlist"]http://espn.go.com/blog/sportscenter/post/_/id/50924/the-big-tens-expansion-shortlist[/url]

[AmishBengalFan]

Mizzou is IMO the perfect fit for the Big Ten. Geographically, demographically, and academically, Columbia works better for the league. Economically, the only better Midwestern fit would be Notre Dame, but we all know that's a pipe dream.
If they accept, the Big Ten will divide into 2 divisions - at least for football - to allow them to fix their schedule imbalance and put a Conference Championship game together. Most folks might assume that the Conference would divide East-West, since the geographic footprint is much "wider" than it is "tall". That would like see teams align like this:

EAST: Penn St, Ohio St, Michigan, Michigan St, Indiana, Purdue
WEST: Illinois, Northwestern, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Easy peasy? Well, when you consider that this move to twelve is primarily being driven by football, I don't see them being too happy with the three historically strongest programs all in the same division. Not only does it dilute the championship game, but it ensures that the three of them share three losses, making it more difficult for the two non-division winners to get lucrative bowl invites or even BCS consideration. NCAA football is about money, not fairness, and I don't see the Big Ten putting the Buckeyes, Wolverines, and Nittany Lions in this situation.

I forsee a North-South division alignment. Something like:

NORTH: Michigan, Michigan St, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
SOUTH: Penn St, Ohio St, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Missouri

The schedule would consist of 5 intra-division games and 3 extra-division games, but one of those extra- games would be against a traditional rival: Ohio State vs Michgan, Michigan St vs Penn St, Northwestern vs Illinois, and Iowa vs Missouri, plus whatever permutation of Minnesota/Wisconsin vs Purdue/Indiana you want.

The only difficulty I predict with a North-South division would be when on the schedule to place "rivalry week". You don't want a pair of teams playing the same opponents back-to-back, once to end the regular season and then again in a championship, so I don't see "rivalry week" being any sooner than the next-to-last week of the season. This means the Ohio State-Michigan tilt would come with at least one game left to play - no doubt the season would end with all intra-division games.

[Bengals1181]

since they need to get to 16, I'd also add Kansas into the mix. Great fit for both football and basketball.


West: [b]Notre Dame,[/b] Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, [b]Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska,[/b] Iowa

East: Ohio State, Penn State, [b]Rutgers[/b], Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern



I really like that. I see the argument of not wanting to put OSU/PSU/scUM all in the same division, but I think having Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and the new Big 12 schools will add enough power to the West for a great championship game.