Sports

Rutgers to Big Ten makes dollars, sense

‘BIG’ MOVE: Joining the Big Ten is a logical move for Rutgers and quarterback Gary Nova (above) considering the massive financial benefit and the restoration of a regional rivalry with Penn State. (Getty Images)

There have been some realignment moves that either have left tears in your eyes or pain in your gut:

Boston College to the ACC? The Eagles have become irrelevant in football and basketball.

West Virginia to the Big 12? The Mountaineers are 2-5 in their first year in the league and they get to fly to Waco, Texas.

Boise State in the Big East? Tears and pain.

But this latest shift on the landscape of college athletics is a flat-out no-brainer. It’s a no-brainer for the Big Ten. It’s a no-brainer for Rutgers, which is expected to announce this afternoon that it is leaving the Big East to join the Big Ten. And it’s a no-brainer for Maryland, which yesterday announced it was leaving the ACC.

Rutgers finally escapes the shadow that has hung over it for eternity. There are still some across the country who hear Rutgers and think Colgate or Bucknell. In the academic lens, that’s great. In the lens of big-time college sports, it’s not.

For Maryland, which like Rutgers is a state school struggling to make ends meet, the move to the Big Ten is the equivalent of learning that a distant uncle who recently passed left you a billion dollars.

For the Big Ten, which has the middle of the nation blanketed, the East Coast — with the media hubs of New York and Washington — was the last frontier. With its Big Ten Network, the only conference network that truly has provided a windfall thus far, the addition of millions of homes is an exposure and economic boost.

For Penn State, which started this realignment mess back in the early 1990s when it surrendered its Eastern independence for the financial security and academic association with schools in the Big Ten, it no longer is the lone outpost in the East.

Rutgers and Maryland will join Penn State in the Leaders Division. Those three once again will enjoy a regional rivalry while really enjoying national exposure. And the Scarlet Knights and Terps will really, really enjoy the astounding increased revenue they will receive.

Both schools expect to begin play in the Big Ten in 2014. That means each will receive between $12 and $15 million more than it would in its former respective conference. And the Big Ten will have a new television rights deal in place for 2017, a deal that is sure to dwarf any other league’s.

According to one report, Big Ten schools will receive about $43 million. The Big East rejected an ESPN deal that would have paid full members (football and basketball) about $13.8 million per year.

Yes, the Big Ten prints its own money with a picture of commissioner Jim Delaney in the center.

For Rutgers, though nothing is more important than the finances, there were a slew of other reasons to join the Big Ten. One of them is the changing face of the Big East, now the Big East in name only. It has reconstructed itself into a national conference, which is fine. But it is no longer East-centric.

Consider that Temple will play its first two seasons in the Big East’s Western Division. The Big East really is a coast-to-coast conference. The Big Ten will now be in the nation’s first (New York), third (Chicago), fourth (Philadelphia) and ninth (Washington) markets.

So for all the times you’ve been moved to cry or buckle over by realignment, this isn’t one of them. This makes sense.