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Message: [QUOTE="Ldandy, post: 2529910, member: 4584"] You miss the bigger picture. Prior to the inclusion of Rutgers in The Big Ten, The BTN was on the lowest tier of cable packages in NYC and on middle to lower tiers in the state of NJ. With Rutgers inclusion in the conference, The BTN jumped to a significantly higher tier in NYC, and onto some of the highest tiers in NJ. Programs like Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin that previously had little to no exposure in these markets suddenly had an outlet where their teams could be showcased to tens of millions of new viewers. Schools like those mentioned above were suddenly far more visible to millions of perspective students and student athletes that these schools are interested in recruiting. Whether or not Rutgers is terrible makes minimal difference here. While the B1G would have loved to have Notre Dame, there is no evidence that their inclusion would have made The B1G more money under the current cable subscriber format that is in place. Maybe Delany could have leveraged NYC or NJ for a few more dollars but there was no guarantee. They could just as easily been counted as representing Indiana. That said they would certainly deliver value in any future Tier 1 Rights negotiation the conference would be involved in. [/QUOTE]