The Big Ten is now a conference that stretches from one end of the nation to the other with four new teams.
ROSEMONT, ILL.– The Big Ten Conference seems to have accomplished its goal of manifest destiny, transforming itself from what once was a noble Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern conference to a true coast-to-coast scale. With the falling of the Pac-12, four new teams will enter the ranks of the massive conference: UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington.
The hot button topic and debate has been– what will the new conference look like? The Big Ten is most established and biggest conference to be adding major Power Five teams to this year’s ledger. While the Big 12 gained another four, namely: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State– they’re losing two of their powerhouses in Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. In today’s new college football era filled to the brim with money and teeming with dollar signs– the fresh Big Ten is supposed to be the blueprint for a new model of college football.
The Big Ten in 2024 will also do away with divisions. In the previous Big Ten format, the conference was divided into an East and a West Division with the winner of each division playing in the Big Ten Championship.
The East was lopsidedly overpowered with teams like Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State– the West won zero of the championships that were set up in this way. It made for a boring championship game at times and while in theory it was supposed to decrease play disparity and increase competitiveness, the two best teams in the Big Ten were never playing against each other in the championship. But, it’s also part of what fueled the allure behind Michigan-Ohio State’s “The Game”.
Now, will that rivalry still hold the same weight? One could presume so as the rivalry goes much deeper than that but what other rivalries will start to emerge? UCLA-USC will probably remain intact, but long-distance hate is hard to ignite. But the true fate of what the Big Ten is bound to become holds in the fact that the national limelight will not be equal. While some teams barely get any national attention– Illinois, Northwestern, and Rutgers, now whatever shred of presence they had is all but gone. Even mediocre and middle-market teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota will see a sharp drop-off in attention. They will have to be great in order for the teams to be relevant.
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All eyes will be on the new teams, Oregon who’s coming off a spectacular year will keep its national dominance when it comes to publicity. So will Washington, who’s runner-up status keeps them in charge. Teams like Nebraska and Iowa– aptly the former West Division will be forced to improve drastically or have to sit in the background.
The argument could be made that increased revenue from TV deals, branding, and other forms of income with the pool of teams growing to 18 will allow for middle-market, and frankly all teams to reinvest and improve their programs, but we all know that’s just not how college football works. NIL and the transfer portal are money-weighted, with teams that have more money seeing more returns to their investments.
The coast-to-coast dynasty will be a proving and testing grounds for new ideas. As the world of college football continues to change and advance, conference realignments will continue to happen. The money is just too good for the Pac-12 teams to not pass up the opportunity to dissolve. What it looks like from here is simple– more players in the pot means less showcasing of the middle-talent and low-talent teams.
We won’t hear nearly as much from Rutgers anymore as with limited air time already on the Big Ten Network and their affiliated partners, they will be pushed down the docket. What this means in actuality is yet to be seen.
