jhawk826
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[h1]Report: Georgia Tech approved by Big Ten to become 15th member[/h1]
By Luke Zimmermann on Nov 30, 10:48a 3
Could Georgia Tech be the next member of the Big Ten? - Josh D. Weiss-US PRESSWIRE
Just a day after the NCAA approved Georgia Tech's waiver to become a bowl team even if they finish 6-7, a report from an ACC writer indicates more Big Ten tectonic shift may be on the way.
So much for the Big Ten being happy at 14 (or not, based on that one anonymous Michigan administrator). The scuttlebutt for the last 12-16 hours has been that something was going on between Georgia Tech and the Big Ten regarding conference realignment, but it hasn't all come from sources you'd bank on being in the know. The first came yesterday evening when a West Virginia Mountaineers blog of all places reported that movement could be in the works:
(Emphasis added for WHAAAAAAAA?)
Not too terribly long after that, we saw some speculation in our own comment threads after an FM sports talk show host confirmed he was hearing similar:
Still, those were easy enough to dismiss. But with enough smoke, you have to eventually wonder how far the fire could be off. Today, 247Sports's Tim Matty reports that Georgia Tech to the Big Ten could be a thing after all:
He'd back track a bit to those hounding him on Twitter not long after, but stay firm that he did believe something indeed was going on and the situation merited closer monitoring.
Besides the most interesting subtext (like, for one, how do all these guys from areas with little to nothing to do with the Big Ten have so many midwest athletics sources?), the other is why the league would move so soon with Maryland's legal battle with the ACC not even coming to a head yet. While I imagine the exit fees will get negotiated down out of court to something in the $20-25 million dollar range, even $50 million would be a lot for the Big Ten to ostensibly front for the likes of Maryland and Georgia Tech. All for the DC and Atlanta Big Ten alums living in those areas' eyeballs, one would have to speculate.
Even still, it'd be easy enough to dismiss since team #16 is no sure thing either (Boston College? Virginia? Are any of these athletic programs homeruns enough beyond simply a market standpoint to make all this shuffling truly beneficial?) But you also have to keep in mind that Jeff Ermann, the publisher of InsideMDSports, Maryland's 247sports representative that first broke the Maryland to the Big Ten story, had sources a week and a half ago indicating Georgia Tech was vying for an invite. It's probably worth continuing to take this all with a fairly large grain of salt, but with so many ostensibly unrelated individuals making similar claims, you have to at least wonder.
