Big Ten Conference

Big Ten Conference
Established	1896
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	11 (Expansion to 12 announced)
Sports fielded	25 (men's: 12; women's: 13)
Region	Midwestern United States Mid-Atlantic United States (Penn State)
Former names	Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives Big Nine Western Conference
Headquarters	Park Ridge, Illinois
Commissioner	James Delany (since 1989)
Website	http://www.bigten.org/
Locations

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its eleven member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. Member schools of the Big Ten also are members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a leading educational consortium. Despite the conference's name, since Penn State joined in 1990, there have been 11 schools in the Big Ten, as signified by the hidden "11" in negative space of the Big Ten Conference logo (each "1" is on either side of the "T" in "Ten"). The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will join the conference as its 12th member effective July 1, 2011.

Members

The Big Ten is the only Division I conference, and only one of two in the entire NCAA (the other being the Division III University Athletic Association), to have all of its member institutions affiliated with the Association of American Universities, a prestigious collection of more than 60 research institutions, and leads all conferences in the total amount of research expenditures.

Big Ten institutions are also, along with charter member the University of Chicago, part of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which shares a $5.6 billion research fund.

• The University of Chicago was a co-founder of the conference and still maintains affiliation through the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.
• Lake Forest College attended the original 1895 meeting that led to the formation of the conference, but did not join it.

Endowment

• Michigan - $6.70 billion^[7]
• Northwestern - $5.45 billion^[8]
• Minnesota - $2.07 billion^[8]
• Ohio State - $1.65 billion^[8]
• Purdue - $1.46 billion^[8]
• Wisconsin - $1.37 billion^[8]
• Indiana - $1.23 billion^[8]
• Penn State - $1.23 billion^[8]
• Illinois - $1.11 billion^[8]
• Michigan State - $1.05 billion^[8]
• Iowa - $935,453,000^[9]

Membership timeline

Sports

All or most member schools participate in the following sports:

History

On January 11, 1895, the presidents of University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, Purdue University and Lake Forest College met in Chicago to discuss the regulation and control of intercollegiate athletics. The eligibility of student-athletes was one of the main topics of discussion.^[10] The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was founded at a second meeting on February 8, 1896.^[11] Lake Forest was not at the 1896 meeting that established the conference and was replaced by the University of Michigan. At the time, the organization was more commonly known as the Western Conference, consisting of Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Chicago, and Northwestern.

The first reference to the conference as the Big Nine was in 1899 after Iowa and Indiana had joined. In January 1908, Michigan and the conference parted ways. Ohio State was added to the conference in 1912. The first reference to the conference as the Big Ten was in November 1917 after Michigan rejoined following a nine-year absence.

The conference was again known as the Big Nine after the University of Chicago decided to de-emphasize varsity athletics just after World War II. Chicago discontinued its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the conference in 1946 after struggling to gain victories in many conference matchups. It was believed that one of several schools, notably Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Michigan State, Marquette, Notre Dame, and Iowa State would replace Chicago at the time.^[12] On May 20, 1949,^[11] Michigan State ended the speculation by joining and the conference was again known as the Big Ten. The Big Ten's membership would remain unchanged for the next 40 years.

The conference’s official name throughout this period remained the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives. It did not formally adopt the name Big Ten until 1987, when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation. In 1990, the Big Ten universities voted to expand the conference to 11 teams, and extended an invitation to Penn State, which accepted it.^[13] When Penn State joined in 1990, it was decided that the conference would continue to be called the Big Ten, but its logo was modified to reflect the change; the number 11 is disguised in the white areas of the traditionally blue "Big Ten" lettering.

Following the addition of previously independent Penn State, efforts were made to encourage the University of Notre Dame, the last remaining non-service academy independent, to join the league. Early in the 20th century, Notre Dame briefly considered official entry into the Big Ten but chose to maintain its independence instead.^[14] However, in 1999, both Notre Dame and the Big Ten entered into private negotiations concerning a possible membership that would include Notre Dame. Although the Notre Dame faculty senate endorsed the idea with a near unanimous vote, the ND board of trustees decided against joining the conference and Notre Dame ultimately withdrew from negotiations. [3]

The University of Texas also approached and entered into discussions with the Big Ten in the 1990s. After approaching the PAC-10, UT next approached the Big Ten. Having added Penn State in 1990, the Big Ten was now made of universities that, in the view of UT officials, matched UT's profile — large state schools with strong academic reputations. Robert M. Berdahl, President of the University of Texas from 1993 to 1997, liked the fact that all 11 conference members belonged to the Association of American Universities.

Yet, distance remained a disadvantage. Iowa, the closest Big Ten school to Austin, was 856 miles away.

But after adding Penn State in 1990, Big Ten officials had put a four-year moratorium on expansion. Although admitting interest, Big Ten bosses ultimately rejected UT's overtures.

Around 1993, it was also explored by the league to add Kansas, Missouri, and Rutgers, or other potential schools to create a 14-team league with two divisions.^[15] These talks died when the Big 8 Conference merged with former Southwest Conference members to create the Big 12. Always considered for expansion speculation, Missouri has shown interest in Big Ten membership since Penn State joined in the early 1990s.^[16]

2010 expansion

Talk of conference expansion began in December 2009, when Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league would consider adding one or more teams. Media reports indicated that the Big Ten had two major motives for expansion. First, adding one or more schools would increase the reach of the conference's cable network, the Big Ten Network. The conference reportedly receives as much as 88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network, and in the 2008–09 fiscal year, the Big Ten Network alone distributed $6.4 million to each of the conference's 11 schools. Second, expanding to 12 or more schools would allow the conference to launch a potentially lucrative conference championship game in football.^[17]

In April of 2010, it was reported that the Big Ten was considering expanding to as many as 14 or 16 teams.^[18]

On June 11, 2010, the University of Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school. Its membership will become effective July 1, 2011. ^[19] The conference will retain the name "Big Ten" just as it did after expanding from ten to eleven teams in 1993. This would mean that the "Big Ten" conference has 12 teams while the "Big 12" conference has ten teams.

On September 1, Big Ten Commissioner James Delany revealed the conference's divisional split. The six-team divisions (provisionally called X and O) will allow a team to play every other team in their division on a yearly basis, in addition to a specific cross-divisional rival (indicated by the following pairings).

Commissioners

The office of the commissioner of athletics was created in 1922 "to study athletic problems of the various member universities and assist in enforcing the eligibility rules which govern Big Ten athletics."^[10]

Academics

The Big Ten Conference is known for its academics as well as its athletics. It is the only Division 1 conference to have all its members in the AAU. ^[20] It also runs the CIC along with the University of Chicago, which allows schools at participating institutions to take distance courses at other participating institutions. ^[21] Students at participating schools are also allowed "in-house" viewing privileges at other participating schools' libraries. ^[22] They also employ collective purchasing, which has saved member institutions $19 million to date. ^[23]

Football

Big Ten Championship Game

With the addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten Conference beginning in the 2011 season, the Big Ten Conference announced on August 05, 2010, that the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. ^[24]

Bowl games

Since 1946, the Big Ten champion has had a tie-in with the Rose Bowl game, now a BCS bowl. The Big Ten also has tie-ins with seven non-BCS bowls.

Michigan appeared in the first bowl game, the 1902 Rose Bowl. After that, the Big Ten did not allow their schools to participate in bowl games, until the agreement struck with the Pacific Coast Conference for the 1947 Rose Bowl. From 1946 through 1971, the Big Ten did not allow the same team to represent the conference in consecutive years in the Rose Bowl with an exception made after the 1961 season in which Minnesota played in the 1962 Rose Bowl after playing in the 1961 Rose Bowl due to Ohio State declining the bid because of Ohio State faculty concerns about academics. It was not until the 1975 season that the Big Ten allowed teams to play in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl. Due to those rules, Big Ten powers such as Michigan and Ohio State have lower numbers of all-time bowl appearances than powerhouse teams from the Big 12 Conference (formerly the Big 8 Conference, with some former members of the Southwest Conference) and Southeastern Conference, which always placed multiple teams in bowl games every year.

Bowl selection procedures

Although the pick order usually corresponds to the conference standings, the bowls are not required to make their choices strictly according to the won-lost records; many factors influence bowl selections, especially the turnout of the fans for past bowl games. Picks are made after BCS selections; the bowl with the #2 pick will have the first pick of the remaining teams in the conference.

The Capital One, Outback, and Gator Bowls can select any eligible team except a team that has two fewer wins or two more losses than another eligible team. The Insight, Dallas Classic, Texas and Motor City Bowls have no such restrictions, However, the bowls cannot select a 6-6 team if a 7-5 or better team is not selected by a Big Ten-affiliated bowl.^[25][26]

Marching bands

Big Ten football games are also well known for the participation and excellence of the Big Ten Conference universities' marching bands. All of Big Ten Conference marching bands march variations of the signature Big Ten high step, sometimes referred to as the "chair step." Nine of the eleven participating Big Ten Conference universities, as well as future member Nebraska, have won the Sudler Trophy, the most prestigious award a collegiate marching band can receive. The first three trophies were all awarded to Big Ten conference members, and the Big Ten boasts more Sudler Trophy award winners than any other conference.

During the pre-game show performance, the Big Ten marching bands have the tradition of playing the opposing team's fight song. Purdue University's "All-American" Marching Band was the first school in history to play their opponent's fight song.^{[27][28] [29]}

Divisions

Big Ten conference divisions, starting in the 2011-2012 season.

On September 1, 2010 the Big Ten announced the football divisions that will be used when Nebraska moves from the Big 12 Conference. The names are provisionally "X" and "O" and they are grouped based on program strength and competitive balance. As reported by Commissioner James Delany, each team will play each team in its division every year, one "cross-over" game every year, and two rotating cross-divisional games. This is the same type of schedule the SEC and ACC play, differentiating from the Big 12 and what the expanded Pac-10 is planning. The following table shows the permanent inter-divisional opponent for each school (records through the completion of the 2009 season with Division O wins listed first):^[30]

Men's basketball

The Big Ten has participated in basketball since 1904, and has led the nation in attendance every season since 1978.^[37] It has been a national powerhouse in men's basketball, having multiple championship winners and often sending four or more teams to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Previous NCAA champions include Indiana with five titles, Michigan State with two, and Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State with one each.^[38] Ohio State played in the first NCAA tournament national championship game in 1939, losing to Oregon. Despite this, Jimmy Hull of Ohio State was the first NCAA tournament MVP. The first three tournament MVP's came from the Big Ten (Marv Huffman of Indiana in 1940 and John Katz of Wisconsin in 1941).

Big Ten teams have also experienced success in the postseason NIT. Since 1974, 13 Big Ten teams have made it to the championship game, winning eight championships. NIT champions from the Big Ten include Michigan and Ohio State with two, and Indiana, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue with one each.

In addition, the Helms Athletic Foundation recognizes Illinois as the 1915 National Champions, Minnesota as the 1902 and 1919 National Champions, Northwestern as the 1931 National Champion, Purdue as the 1932 National Champions, and Wisconsin as the 1912, 1914 and 1916 National Champions.

Since 1999, the Big Ten has taken part in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge with the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC holds an 10-1 record against the Big Ten, and Michigan State is the only Big Ten school without a losing record in the challenge.

NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations

† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.

Post-season NIT championships

Women's basketball

Women's basketball teams have played a total of nine times in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship (since 1982) and Women's National Invitation Tournament (since 1998). Big Ten women's teams have also led conference attendance from 1993-1999.^[39]

NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations

Women's National Invitation Tournament championship games

Rivalries

Football

The members of the Big Ten have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. Each school has at least one traveling trophy at stake.

Inactive Rivalries

• Michigan-Chicago
• Northwestern-Chicago
• Illinois-Chicago

The Big Ten football schedule is set up with each team having two permanent matches within the conference, with the other eight teams in the conference rotating out of the schedule in pairs for two-year stints. Permanent matches through 2010 are as follows:

• Illinois: Indiana, Northwestern
• Indiana: Illinois, Purdue
• Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin
• Michigan: Michigan State, Ohio State
• Michigan State: Michigan, Penn State
• Minnesota: Iowa, Wisconsin
• Northwestern: Illinois, Purdue
• Ohio State: Michigan, Penn State
• Penn State: Michigan State, Ohio State
• Purdue: Indiana, Northwestern
• Wisconsin: Iowa, Minnesota

This system will be discontinued in 2011, as teams will be grouped into two divisions and will play all teams in their division once, will have one protected cross-over game, and have two games against rotating opponents from the opposing division.

Basketball

Indiana and Purdue have a heated rivalry in college basketball between the two schools with the most Big Ten basketball championships, winning 42 times between the two schools.

Michigan State and Wisconsin also have a recent venomous rivalry - Michigan State beat Wisconsin in the 2000 Final Four en route to their national championship. In 2008 the unranked Spartans upset the top-ranked Badgers in East Lansing, further adding to the rivalry. In the most recent big game between the two, Michigan State beat the Badgers in East Lansing, in the only meeting of the season. However, the Badgers under head coach Bo Ryan have beaten Tom Izzo's Spartans eleven times. Izzo has led MSU to only four victories against Wisconsin during this time-span.

In recent years, Illinois and Michigan State have also enjoyed some competitive rivalry matches with each other, particularly during the season of 2004-2005, when both Illinois and Michigan State made it to the Final Four.

Men's Soccer

• Michigan-Michigan State (Big Bear Trophy)

Extra-conference rivalries

Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan are among the Big Ten football teams that have rivalries with Notre Dame. After the University of Southern California with 28 wins, the Michigan State Spartans have the most wins against the Irish, with 27. The Purdue Boilermakers follow with 26.

Penn State had a longstanding rivalry with Pittsburgh of the Big East, but the two schools have not met since 2000. Penn State also had long histories with independent Notre Dame; West Virginia, Syracuse, and Rutgers of the Big East; Maryland and Boston College of the ACC; and Temple of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Penn State also has strong intrastate rivalries with Patriot League universities Bucknell in men's basketball and men's lacrosse, and Lehigh in wrestling. Most of these rivalries were cultivated while Penn State operated independent of conference affiliation; the constraints of playing a full conference schedule, especially in football, have reduced the number of meetings between Penn State and its non-Big Ten rivals.

Iowa has an in-state rivalry with Iowa State, with the winner getting the Cy-Hawk Trophy. Iowa also holds rivalries in basketball with Drake and Northern Iowa.

Indiana has an out-of conference rivalry with Kentucky, but the rivalry has a much higher profile in men's basketball than in football.

Illinois has a longstanding basketball rivalry with Missouri, with the two men's teams squaring off annually in the "Braggin' Rights" game in St. Louis. This rivalry has been carried over into football as "The Arch Rivalry" with games played at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in 2002 and 2003 and four games scheduled from 2007 to 2010.[4]

Wisconsin has a long-standing, in-state basketball rivalry with Marquette. The series has intensified as of late with both teams having made the Final Four in recent years. The schools also played an annual football game before Marquette abandoned its football program in 1961.

In the early days of the Big Ten, the Chicago-Michigan game was played on Thanksgiving, usually with conference championship implications and was considered one of the first major rivalries of the conference.

Also in the early days of the conference, and at Knute Rockne's insistence, Northwestern and Notre Dame had a yearly contest, with the winner taking home a shillelagh, much like the winner of the USC-Notre Dame and Purdue-Notre Dame contests now receive. The Northwestern-Notre Dame shillelagh was largely forgotten by the early 1960s and is now solely an element of college football's storied past.^[40]

Conference facilities

The Big Ten has the distinction of being the conference with the most stadiums seating over 100,000, at three of the stadiums (Beaver Stadium, Michigan Stadium, and Ohio Stadium). Only three other college football stadiums have such a capacity: Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee and Bryant–Denny Stadium of the University of Alabama (newly expanded to 101,000 for 2010) in the Southeastern Conference, and Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at the University of Texas at Austin in the Big 12 Conference.

The three stadiums are the three largest stadiums in the List of American football stadiums by capacity, as well as, third, fourth, and sixth in the list of the largest sports stadiums in the world.

^ The Nebraska basketball teams are scheduled to move off-campus to the new Haymarket Arena in 2013.

Media

As of 2010, the Big Ten has carriage agreements with the following broadcast and cable networks.^[44]

Broadcast television

• ESPN on ABC broadcasts football games within the conference, primarily in the 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT slot on Saturdays, but occasionally at noon and during Saturday Night Football.
• CBS Sports carries select men's basketball games on weekends, including the semifinals and championship game of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.

Cable television

• Big Ten Network was created in 2006 through a joint partnership between the Big Ten and News Corporation and debuted the following year, replacing the ESPN Plus package previously offered to Big Ten markets via syndication. Based in downtown Chicago, the network's lineup consists exclusively of Big Ten-related programming, such as a nightly highlights show, in addition to live events.^[45]
• ESPN Inc.-Big Ten football, basketball and volleyball air on ESPN and ESPN2, and sometimes on ESPNU and ESPN Classic. The conference's contract with ABC/ESPN also allows for the transmission of events through ESPN Mobile, ESPN3.com, and On Demand platforms.

See also

• List of Big Ten National Championships
• Central Collegiate Hockey Association
• Committee on Institutional Cooperation
• Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities
• Western Collegiate Hockey Association

References

External links

• Official site