The Big Ten could expand in June

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com's man on Big Ten football, explains the Big Ten (possible) expansion process in easy-to-understand terms.

From this post on Adam's blog today:

Things really could happen this quickly, and why not? If you're going to blaze the superconference trail (or simply add Notre Dame), why wait? And if a lot of dominoes are going to fall -- and they will -- you want to be first in line to push the dominoes, not be one of the ones the dominoes fall upon.

Monday afternoon, Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune posted this on the subject. An excerpt:

At this point, you won't find anyone tied to expansion talks who believe the conference will not inflate to 14 or 16 teams.

This much we know, though: The league has yet to contact its expansion targets. A top administrator from a prominent Big East school confirmed that to the Tribune on Monday.

But that could change soon, after Delany meets with fellow conference commissioners in Scottsdale this week. At that time, Delany is expected to inform the commissioners of the affected leagues.The Big Ten wants to move rapidly on this to give conferences time to respond -- get ready for a chain reaction that could affect as many as a half-dozen leagues -- and because it could take a while to integrate schools such as Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Connecticut into the Big Ten.The Big East "loyalty clause," created after Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech fled for the ACC, calls for departing Big East schools to pay $5 million and, more significantly, give a 27-month notice.

The Big Ten wants to move rapidly on this to give conferences time to respond -- get ready for a chain reaction that could affect as many as a half-dozen leagues -- and because it could take a while to integrate schools such as Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Connecticut into the Big Ten.

The Big East "loyalty clause," created after Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech fled for the ACC, calls for departing Big East schools to pay $5 million and, more significantly, give a 27-month notice.

So barring a re-negotiation, the parties would have to move quickly to get the jumbo Big Ten in place for the 2012-2013 academic/athletic season.