Football

Nico Perrino

Joe Paterno expressed his desire to expand the Big Ten conference to twelve teams for a number of reasons in an evening press conference held Thursday. His most outspoken reasons include opening up the possibility to allow a playoff after the regular season within the conference, creating greater media exposure, and easing the scheduling dilemma; here are some clips of what he said:

“We go into hiding for six weeks”
“Everybody else is playing playoffs on television”
“”You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that’s a handicap”
“I’ve tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, ‘Let’s get a 12th team — Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt — we could have a little bit of a playoff.’”

Paterno also spoke about his desire to possibly include a team capable of tapping the New York media market.

“I’d like to see an eastern team,” Paterno said.”If I had my choice, the one that could give us the biggest TV exposure in the east and somebody that could control the New York market.”

The most eastern team currently in the conference is Penn State, who also happens to be the last team to enter the Big-Ten, but it would take another eastern expansion to get even close to New York’s media radar.

I happen to agree with Paterno. I believe by tapping a team close to the New York area the conference would greatly expand its media breadth not only for the sole purpose of the incorporation of a New York market team, but also because it would make a playoff possible, which in and of itself creates more air-time, exposure, and gives the conference more opportunities to make money.

But the Big Ten needs to pick the right team. Paterno offered up Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Rutgers as possible additions. I agree with Paterno, and believe Rutgers would be the best choice if we were making our decision solely based on recent football prowess, but its hard to pass up a team like Syracuse if they are interested. Thinking only based upon Syracuse’s prestigious basketball program, it’s hard to ignore the obvious contribution a Syracuse addition could make to the competition within Big-Ten conference play (But who’s to say the basketball team would transfer to the Big Ten? Can they not do that if the rest of the program does? Notre Dame football didn’t go Big East when the rest of the sports did).

So if the decision rested in your hands who would you choose, or would you choose to not add a team at all? Sound off below.

On a side note, Paterno did say he would not be happy with including Notre Dame in these talks. Surely, Notre Dame football encompasses any media market, and would greatly increase Big Ten television exposure due to its contract with NBC, but this discussion is not new. Around 2000ish the Big Ten extended an invitation to Notre Dame to join the conference and the school denied it. Notre Dame football is, and always has been, independent of a conference, and the alumni and student body were very vocal in their desire for that standing not to change. But according to Paterno an invitation should not even be extended once more: “They’ve had their chance,” he said.