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No the B1G is not stupid...thats why they grabbed RU!Now the ACC?Correct. And the Big Ten has basically said this. Secondarily there may be some Federally Granted Research that Rutgers is doing that some of the Big Ten schools want to collaborate with. Rutgers is AAU.
Rutgers has not been relevant in college athletics in at least half a century. The Big Ten isn't stupid. They know this. All you have to do is listen to Mike Francessa, and it is obvious that there is zero buzz about Rutgers in the New York City market. He takes callers every weekday on the Radio about the NYC sports scene, and he doesn't get enough about Rutgers to get a blip.
Geographically Rutgers gets the Big Ten into that geographic area, and the Big Ten is hoping to leverage that geographic access to get their network on television to watch their traditional powers. They have no other expectation from Rutgers athletics. Rutgers fans may think differently. The Big Ten does not.
UConn would at least add to Big Ten Basketball, but the AAU thing is apparently very important to the Big Ten.
We've debated this for a couple of months now. With these numbers from TV viewers, and they will continue, you can see with the documented evidence. What will be interesting is how Michigan and Ohio State numbers are affected going forward.