Is the day coming soon when Kansas plays Missouri, and it is a key Big 10 game?
Don’t bet against it, because talk is swirling again about the Big 10’s plans for expansion. Kansas has become the latest wild card.
Missouri has been a longtime entrant in this derby, and the school has made it clear that it would jump at the opportunity to leave the Big Eight for the Big 10.
However, the latest conjecture has the Big 10 taking Kansas and Missouri in the West, and Rutgers as an Eastern partner for Penn State. That would swell the Big 10 to 14 schools.
Many Big Eight and Southwest Conference officials are convinced the Big 10 is looking hard at Kansas. The Big Eight and SWC reportedly are engaged in talks about a possible merger.
If the Big Southwest does happen, there’s a feeling in the region that it will be without Kansas and Missouri.
“I think it’s serious,” said a rival league official of the Big 10’s interest in Kansas, a university with 25,000 students that has a powerhouse basketball program.
The Big 10 continues to stress that nothing is serious, at least as far as contacting other schools is concerned.
“I haven’t talked with any other schools, and neither has anybody from my staff,” said Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany.
Delany said he couldn’t speak for the university presidents. The Big 10’s most influential CEO, University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry, and Kansas University Chancellor Gene Budig are friends, which has enhanced the speculation.
“I’m close with Gene, but there is nothing on the table,” Ikenberry said. “Not even on an informal basis.”
Delany also denied a claim that the league is contacting television networks to see what a 14-team conference with Kansas, Missouri and Rutgers would be worth as a package.
The Big 10, though, is talking about expansion. Delany acknowledges the league is looking at all the possibilities in the ever- changing map of college sports.
In fact, that probably is the source of the speculation. The Big 10 remains the 2,000-pound gorilla in this game-a gorilla everyone wants to dance with-and the other conferences know the league can pick off attractive schools just for the asking.
“I think the turbulence is occasioned by the fact that people understand we’re looking at our options,” Ikenberry said. “Secondly, if there is any vulnerability between the Southwest Conference and the Big Eight, it might have those officials thinking that if the Big 10 is interested, some schools might think of going elsewhere.”
The Big 10 has a four-year moratorium about discussing expansion possibilities with individual schools, which runs out in June. The conference is amassing information about different scenarios so it can make a recommendation on whether to stay with the status quo or expand.
“We’re currently finding out what our market value would be,” said Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther. “We’re putting together financial models. That’s the only way you can make a decision.”
Delany called it a “slow, analytical process.” Expansion will come up again when the Big 10 presidents, athletic directors and other top officials hold their annual meeting Sunday through Tuesday at the conference’s headquarters in Park Ridge.
The other conferences will anxiously try to gather any information as to where the Big 10 is leaning. Ikenberry, though, says they shouldn’t expect to hear much.
“I continue to believe there’s a lot of momentum in favor of the status quo,” Ikenberry said. “All these discussions about what we’re going to do are being driven from the outside. I don’t know of anybody inside where people are saying the Big 10 is going to do this or that.”
