The Big Ten is shopping.
The offer may be irresistible — $8 million annually more than the Maryland Terrapins and other ACC schools just picked up from ESPN for the conference’s football rights. The Big Ten might offer Maryland $22 million a year to be part of its megaconference. That’s awfully tempting for a program struggling to balance its budget after a triple whammy of football stadium expansion, a 2-10 season and recession woes.
But Maryland should have one answer: No.
Currently, there are no talks between Maryland and the Big Ten. But as The Washington Examiner columnist Jim Williams revealed Tuesday, the Big Ten is preparing a land grab that will ripple nationwide. It could shatter the Big East and shift teams from the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10 for starters.
Arkansas wants to resume its old rivalries with Texas border teams and leave the SEC, which could invite Georgia Tech or Clemson from the ACC to fill its void. The ACC then might consider Syracuse, Connecticut, Rutgers or West Virginia.
The ACC added three teams in 2003 to create a conference title game for added revenue. Frankly, adding Boston College to a southern conference seemed silly, but the league wanted another major TV market. Now that raid has been exposed as poorly conceived, and it may cause the biggest breakup since the ACC formed from the old Southern Conference in 1953.
Maryland is an inviting part of the ACC for the Big Ten. It provides the Washington and Baltimore television markets that combined are the fourth largest nationally.
The Big Ten can offer much more money than the ACC ever will. It also may provide more research grant funding.
But while sitting in Comcast Center on Thursday night to watch my daughter, Katie, become the family’s third Maryland graduate, I can promise one thing the Big Ten can never offer Terrapins fans: heritage.
The ACC remains a brotherhood of schools, a section of the country with much in common for alumni. Marylanders won’t find that several states away.
Maryland is not some eastern trophy for a Midwest conference. If Terps basketball coach Gary Williams feels like Maryland is treated like “Alaska” by other ACC schools, try being part of a group that includes Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin. If the Terps think they have no natural rivals now, how will it improve competing against Illinois, Purdue and Iowa rather than Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech? The Penn State football rivalry would be resumed, but the generation break in the series has ended the bitterness.
If the Big Ten ever invites Maryland to join its conference, the answer should be a simple “No, thank you” without hesitation or regret. Some things aren’t worth it.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
