Big Ten expansion -- to market Network? Not again

CHICAGO -- Jim Delany did his best to settle some weak bladders Tuesday morning. The Big Ten commissioner had given his major-college peers good cause to soil their office Berber last week dropping the e-bomb -- expansion -- during a casual conversation with Des Moines Register reporters.

Delany said his league might have to consider expansion to help market the new Big Ten Network. With a few stray words he turned that e-bomb into a pee-word for BCS-conference commissioners across the country.

No one wants to go through this again, certainly not after these precious three years of relative calm since the ACC came hunting. Certainly not those four other major-college commissioners who live in bathroom-break fear of the Big Ten casting a lusting eye toward their leagues.

No one wants another seismic shift of conference realignment. Careers, money and decades of tradition are at stake. All this just when we got used to UNLV being in the Mountain West. Or is it the WAC?

Delany is playing a dangerous game of Jenga. He has to know that targeting any school would cause conferences to crumble. And we're not talking about Rutgers, Syracuse or Missouri. If the Big Ten expands it's going for the big enchilada. A brand name that will attract advertisers and fans. Think Notre Dame, or Texas.

Certainly no one wants to go through this just because the Big Ten says so. And not for the stated reason: to market the yet-to-be-launched Big Ten Network. National cable carriers aren't enamored with carrying "second-tier sports" featuring "Iowa volleyball" as one Comcast official put it. Delaney understandably got upset but the statement is largely true. Tune in for the first football game on BTN to find out: Indiana State-Indiana.

Still, if you're the Notre Dame trustees you'd have to listen. The Big Ten was jilted in '99 when it put its heart on the line for the Irish. But time heals all kinds of wounds. Who knows what the trustees are thinking eight years later? They took the bold step (at the time) of firing Ty Willingham before his contract was up. With a mega, mega-conference deal on the table could Notre Dame say no again?

If you're Texas president William Powers Jr. you're fascinated by all this. The school has never been comfortable in the Big 12, quarreling with Nebraska and Kansas State over eligibility standards and quietly cursing having to play the likes of Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas.

Texas is certainly the academic fit that the Big Ten seeks. Memorial Stadium is headed for an expansion up to 100,000. Fantasize, Orangebloods, about Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State coming in on a regular basis while you keep the rivalries with Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

If you're Mike Tranghese you're ready to hire a hit man. Tranghese is the Big East commissioner who almost saw his league disintegrate after the loss of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the ACC. Now he could lose Rutgers, Syracuse or Pittsburgh basically to prop up the Big Ten's new video play toy.

Delany said during his state-of-the-conference address Tuesday at the Big Ten football media days that he called Tranghese to say that nothing was imminent. But he also chastised Tranghese a bit on Tuesday, saying, "Mike stood up at his (media day) press conference and said, 'We're after a ninth team.' That is nothing?"

It's something that is entirely justified considering Tranghese's league almost went away. And certainly nothing like the 9.0 quake the Big Ten would cause by expanding.

Maybe Delany doesn't realize the gravity of his words. Expansion would enable the Big Ten to have an even more dominant television position. Other leagues would have to act.