Texas to the Big Ten?

Reports today say that the Big Ten have had discussions with the University of Texas joining the conference. Now when I read this I was at first really excited at the idea of having a powerhouse of a school like Texas join the Big Ten, but I have been going back and forth on this all day. It obviously makes a ton of sense for the Big Ten because Texas' athletic department is such a money maker, and it would increase Big Ten Network viewership drastically which would bring in more TV revenue for all the schools, and it gives the Big Ten the conference championship game they have been looking for in football. There is no need to really look at this from the Big Ten's point of view because it makes almost perfect sense. What needs to be looked at is why would Texas leave the situation it is in with the Big 12 where they are the dominant program or top program in the two revenue generating sports of football and basketball?

The first reason and probably largest reason is money. Yes, Texas earns a lot of money through its athletic department, but we're talking TV money. Big Ten schools earned almost double what Texas earned in TV revenue in the last year and that's in large part to the Big Ten Network. For as much as sports fans don't want to admit it, sports are becoming more and more like big business everyday where money is slowly becoming more important than winning and losing to some schools. So if the invitation is out there why wouldn't Texas want to jump ship and join a new conference where they can earn almost twice as much as they are currently earning and also add to that TV revenue for all the other schools.

The next reason is location. Texas is not a midwestern state so traveling to contests for all sports, not just football and basketball would be difficult. The trip to Iowa City for example would be 1,042 miles and that would be one of the shorter trips for Texas. When you have students on your teams whose first priority should be school, you're asking a lot of them to travel thousands of miles for one contest at a time and that's something Texas I am sure is looking at.

Another reason is the fact that there are rumors of other Big 12 schools jumping ship for other conferences. Colorado for example is rumored to be interested in joining the Pac-10 and there have been the rumors of Missouri to the Big Ten as well. So it would make sense for Texas to leave now rather than waiting back and being left with a poached conference.

My last reason is rivalries. Texas, like many other schools has their share of rivalries and none of those rivalries currently reside in the Big Ten. Games with Oklahoma and Texas A&M are rivalries that would have to be played out of conference and in the day and age of scheduling cupcakes, this probably isn't something Texas is wanting to do. My solution is simple, bring Texas A&M with to the Big Ten and throw Texas Tech in there as well. This way the Big Ten gets 14 teams (2 divisions of 7 teams) and Texas can now just worry about keeping Oklahoma on the non-conference schedule and can still schedule three terrible high schools to play.

Texas is probably the most realistic shot the Big Ten has at landing a powerhouse school if they are serious about expansion. They could go the route of adding 4 smaller schools, but when that big prize is out there, you have to at least make an attempt at it.