Iowa AD: Series with Iowa State could face road blocks with expanded Big Ten schedule

CHICAGO – Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said Tuesday the Big Ten's potential nine-game conference schedule coupled with his school's need for seven annual home football games could impact the future of Iowa's football series with Iowa State.

The schools signed a 10-year contract in 2008 to play through 2017. There is a provision within the contract that allows the schools to cancel or alter the contract if the leagues add extra games to their schedule.

The Big 12 Conference, of which Iowa State is a member, appears likely to play a nine-game, round-robin schedule by 2012, when it becomes 10 members. The Big Ten could move from eight to nine league games by 2015, Commissioner Jim Delany told reporters Monday.

Barta said he wants to continue Iowa's rivalry with Iowa State, which was revived in 1977, but league scheduling takes precedence.

“It's going to have to sync up,” Barta said Tuesday. “We're (Iowa and Iowa State officials) both going to have to do everything we can to keep it going. I don't even want to predict whether or not what would be the scenario that wouldn't. It's going to depend on both of our conferences. If we both go to nine games and if we both get into a situation where one of us would lose out on seven home games, that would probably trigger a tough discussion.”

A nine-game league schedule for either school would give it four home conference games every other year. For Iowa, that would mean playing three home non-conference games to gain seven home games those years. If Iowa State also received a four-game Big 12 schedule that year, one of the schools would lose a lucrative home game. For Iowa, that could mean losing around $3 million a game in 2015.

“We both want to play it,” Barta said. “We both acknowledge that it's good for college football. It's good for the state. It has to line up because at Iowa and I think (Iowa State Athletics Director) Jamie (Pollard), I can't speak for him, but I think he'd say the same thing, we really need seven home games. If there ever became a situation where that wasn't going to work, we set it up contractually so we could work through that or work around that. I think it's still going to work; we both want it to still work. We just have to wait and see.”

Big Ten officials and athletics directors discussed future divisional alignments, and Barta said the league was “getting close” to finalizing the divisions. Delany told reporters Monday everything could be completed in the next 30 to 45 days and requires presidential approval.

In those meetings Barta told other league athletics directors Iowa wants to play Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska annually in football, regardless of the divisions.

“We all sort of had our opportunity in the beginning to say in a perfect word what makes the most sense to you,” Barta said. “From a football standpoint, I said Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Those are the three, if I didn't have to worry about any other logistics or thoughts. I know our fans and our staff and coaches would probably say those are the three. And it makes sense because they're border states. Whether or not we can preserve all those three, we'll see.”