Geography of a Big Ten Expansion

by wiarchaeologist on Dec 17, 2009 2:24 PM CST

With all the recent attention given to the possibility of the Big Ten expanding its membership, I thought it would be interesting to visualize the various new landscapes of a 12 (or more?) -team Big 10.

big10expansion (via ingebritsen)

While the map can give an approximate idea of where the new member would be, here's a chart of the distances (roughly estimated, courtesy of Google Maps) from existing schools to the six potential newbies.

	Iowa state	Missouri	Notre dame	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Cincinnati	Syracuse
Minnesota	217	558	502	868	1205	703	1087
Wisconsin	278	476	241	607	945	443	826
Michigan	581	626	179	283	621	243	502
Mich state	561	606	159	349	687	309	467
Ohio state	677	534	280	185	523	103	473
Illinois	376	296	198	489	827	237	783
northwestern	363	430	112	479	816	314	697
Iowa	137	237	301	667	1004	476	886
Penn state	907	851	478	136	237	418	281
Indiana	542	343	259	409	747	131	696
Purdue	459	388	151	423	761	179	710
Total Miles	5098	5345	2860	4895	8373	3556	7408
Average Miles	463.4545	485.9091	260	445	761.1818	323.2727	673.4545

It seems that between Syracuse's lack of football tradition/success and its distance from member schools, that possibility can be essentially written off. Rutgers would be in the same boat but for its renewed football vigor (...by which I mean proximity to the Manhattan media market). The geographic aspect of restructuring the Big 10 points to Notre Dame being the best choice, and that won't be happening.

If the Big 10 decides to add 3 schools to get to 14, I could envision a combination of Cincinnati, Iowa State, and Pittsburgh. All other factors aside, this would spread the travel distances more or less equally between the existing schools.

Poll

Which school would you prefer to see join the Big 10?

Notre Dame

14 votes

Iowa State

1 votes

Missouri

17 votes

Cincinnati

1 votes

Pittsburgh

5 votes

Syracuse

2 votes

Rutgers

2 votes

42 votes | Poll has closed

FanPosts are user-created posts from the Bucky's 5th Quarter community, and reflect the opinions and views of that particular user, not that of the staff of Bucky's 5th Quarter or the blog community as a whole.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Missouri seems like the best fit

I know most would prefer Notre Dame, but their independence is more valuable to them and joining the Big Ten would probably be a step back. Notre Dame has enough inner problems to deal right now (coaching, recruiting, image, etc.) They’ll need to fix that before they ever shake things up structurally. They already get mad money from ESPN and dip into all the big conferences (even our own Big Ten) for marquee games all season long. They don’t need the Big Ten.

Geographically, Syracuse and Rutgers are too far away for the majority of the Big Ten teams. And looking at this, it’s amazing we ever agreed to bring in Penn State.

Assuming whoever joins will be joining ALL sports, Cincinnati looks like a good addition:
- 4 top 25 men’s basketball teams in the last decade (2 top 10)
- back to back conference titles in football, finishing 12-0 in 2009. However Brian Kelly leaving could hurt their chances

As does Missouri:
- 5 straight winning seasons in football
- basketball team on the rise: conference champions last year (elite eight finish)

It’s no surprise that talks of this magnitude are coming during the end of the football season where the big ten saw a big increase in competition, 4 teams in the Big Ten finish in the top 25. I understand the urgency to get a split conference and extend play into December, but with Brian Kelly leaving I gotta lean toward Missouri. Kelly put Cincinnati football on the map; Missouri has been steadily building since 2001. Obviously football is the centerpiece of this issue, so then you have to go with the team with a proven track record: Mizzou.

by Mr.Pink on Dec 17, 2009 10:11 PM CST reply actions

The big question to me is how they would construct the divisions

Do you go East/West of North/South?

East/West would put Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all in the same conference, which would make the East much better. But if you go North/South, you probably split up Michigan and Ohio State. I would think you would want the two rivals in the same division.

Thoughts?

Bucky's 5th Quarter. SB Nation's Wisconsin Badgers community.

by Adam Hoge on Dec 18, 2009 10:23 AM CST reply actions

Exactly

If geography is the basis of the division split (could go like the ACC and say screw it), it has to go North/South.

I really wonder how much mileage is going to play a factor. Over at TRE, we’ve got a piece about spreading the league both East and West.

http://www.rivalryesq.com/
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.

by Bama Hawkeye on Dec 18, 2009 11:56 AM CST up reply actions

mileage

Yeah, I sort of agree that the mileage between schools won’t be much of deciding factor. None of the distances are that far…I just wanted to use the map. I’ve been working on some ways of mapping the 2009 football schedule, so I had the basic template ready to go. I thought I’d throw the chart in to add some data/make it more of a legitimate fanpost.

by wiarchaeologist on Dec 18, 2009 4:14 PM CST up reply actions

I really can see this going any way. Picking up any team that has been mentioned in the various threads on this...

But I am going to say this…

The way this was brought forward by Barry Alvarez makes me think that the team would be most likely Notre Dame. He is the one with connections to ND. ND is an independent while the other teams still have conference ties.

Looking to buy: General Manager Deputy Badge

by Bush League All Star on Dec 18, 2009 3:16 PM CST reply actions

I would prefer throwing out one of the bottom feeders and doing the Pac 10 round robin...

But that’s just me. This sort of discussion over ADDING a team will likely occupy millions of dollars $$$ and NEVER happen because Notre Dame has no interest. They couldn’t play BC or USC or UCLA. What they could get is stuck with one of the deadliest divisions, having to play OSU every season and eventually regretting their decision to enter. Notre Dame is bureaucracy at its finest form. No conference in football, God FORBID we EVER take away the freedom of an individual school to get into a BCS game by playing NOBODY…

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 31, 2009 9:39 PM CST up reply actions

Good to see someone embracing the round robin mindset.

I was actually rather proud when the PAC 10 adopted it.

All your recruit are belong to Cal.

by Maisbikkja on Feb 2, 2010 2:14 AM CST up reply actions

I think Notre Dame is the best fit

the problem is the huge TV Contract they have with NBC to show nd home games, if not them i would like to see mizzou play in our big 10

by Lancers25 on Feb 5, 2010 1:24 PM CST reply actions

Comments For This Post Are Closed

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Badgers Football Schedule

UNLV	Thu 09/01	W 51 - 17
Oregon St. Building The Dam	Sat 09/10	W 35 - 0
@ Northern Illinois Red And Black Attack	Sat 09/17	W 49 - 7
South Dakota Coyotes	Sat 09/24	W 59 - 10
Nebraska Corn Nation	Sat 10/01	W 48 - 17
Indiana The Crimson Quarry	Sat 10/15	W 59 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 10/22	L 31 - 37
@ Ohio St. Along The Olentangy	Sat 10/29	L 29 - 33
Purdue Hammer and Rails	Sat 11/05	W 62 - 17
@ Minnesota The Daily Gopher	Sat 11/12	W 42 - 13
@ Illinois Hail to the Orange	Sat 11/19	W 28 - 17
Penn St. Black Shoe Diaries	Sat 11/26	W 45 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 12/03	W 42 - 39
@ Oregon Addicted To Quack	Mon 01/02	L 38 - 45