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Football
Delaney Clarifies Expansion Possibilities and Implications
By John Porentas

League expansion continued as a hot topic at the Big Ten media day, particularly when League Commissioner Jim Delaney took the podium.

Delaney, who orchestrated the addition of Penn State to the league 20 years ago and Nebraska this year, was very forthcoming with reporters regarding the Big Ten's future expansion plans.

"Expansion is on hold, we are currently not actively involved in expansion talks," said Delaney.

"On hold", however, does not necessarily mean over. Delaney's mandate from the Big Ten presidents was an exploration of expansion over an 18 month period, and that period has not yet ended. That, according to Delaney, keeps the door open for future talks.

What is not on hold, according to Delaney, are talks with Notre Dame. According to Delaney, Notre Dame is off the table.

"I expect them to remain involved in the Big East and compete as in independent in football," Delaney said.

While the future of expansion may be unclear, Delaney was clear on some of the impact of the addition of Nebraska to the league. A league championship game, for example, is in the offing, and soon.

"I expect a championship game in December of 2011," Delaney said.

That, of course, will require some sort of divisional play. How the divisions will be structured has yet to be decided, but Delaney expects those decisions to be made in the next 30 to 45 days. The factors that will be considered are competitive balance, preservation of existing rivalries and geography. Interestingly, Delaney said that divisional play may well apply only to football and not other Big Ten sports such as basketball and the Olympic sports.

"We have a tournament that works well in basketball,": said Delaney. "I'm not sure we should make changes there."

If a championship game in football is in the offing, the next question is where it to play it. Delaney hopes to have that nailed down in the next 90 to 120 days, but said there is a possibility that a decision will be made that will apply only to 2011. Further study would them be done on the possibilities of naming a permanent site or of rotating the game among a number of sites.

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