So let me get this straight.
First, the Big Ten tells the world it wants to expand to increase the reach of it's lucrative television network. It says it will take 12-18 months to consider its options.
Now it's adding Nebraska, a good fit academically, athletically, and location-wise but certainly a smaller television market than most other potential candidates less than halfway to the shortest benchmark in that process.
Something doesn't smell right.
No, Nebraska just isn't a big enough chip on its own to throw your time table and goal of expanding the reach of the network out the window. It's only a big chip when you consider the potential consequences of its departure from the Big XII.
So it begs the question, is Jim Delany making this move because adding Nebraska is the best thing for the Big Ten, or because adding Nebraska creates chaos for everyone else?
Something to ponder I guess.
I don't mean to diminish Nebraska at all, I just don't understand the rush to get it ahead of schools like Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Maryland, Notre Dame or others who could open up much larger TV markets unless you're TRYING to push this doomsday scenario along.
Now you could say, "Well, the deadline to swear allegiance to the Big XII is coming," but it's coming for Missouri, too, and no one seems to care about the Tigers right now. That's because their departure from the Big XII likely wouldn't be the death blow necessary to knock the conference out.
I don't think Delany and Co. could have fathomed torpedoing the entire Big XII and setting up the possible logistical mess of a Pac-16 simply by adding one school not named Texas when it started this expansion business. Now that the scenario has become a reality, however, I'm starting to wonder if the Big Ten is still way ahead of everyone in this expansion business, and taking advantage of an opportunity to force the hands of two rival leagues while still leaving nearly all of its own options open.