On illegal immigration (sort of)

A few years ago, while driving in lovely Charleston, I was startled by a bumper sticker on a car in front of me:

"GO BACK TO OHIO! (But leave your daughters here)"

Hey, at least we know where the dude stands.

If you've visited Charleston over the last, oh, five or 10 years, you've probably noticed the abundance of license plates from Ohio.

The influx of Ohioans -- how to say this -- hasn't exactly gone over exquisitely with everyone down there.

One group of people that's set in its ways encroaches on another group that's really set in its ways.

And so you get the aforementioned bumper stickers. You also get a definition of "illegal immigration" that's different from the one most everyone else uses.

This is a meandering way of leading into the Big Ten's interest in the so-called "Sun Belt" states. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany hasn't been particularly specific of late when discussing the conference's expansion exploration, but the other day he introduced demographics into the equation.

"In the last 20 years there has been a clear shift of movement into the Sun Belt. The rates of growth in the Sun Belt are four times the rate in the East or the Midwest. That has demographic meaning long term for the economy, for jobs, for recruitment of students, for recruitment of athletes, for recruitment of faculty, for tax base."

This statement sent reporters into a tizzy trying to figure out which Southern schools would be attractive to the Big Ten.

Given what Delany said, it certainly wouldn't be a vast leap to assume the Big Ten is eyeing a school or schools outside its footprint. Texas would make perfect sense.

But I'm not 100 percent convinced Delany was necessarily talking about adding schools from the South. Given the Big Ten Network's expanding reach -- and given the number of Big Ten alumni that have spread across the country in large numbers -- the conference can add to its already obscene profits by simply by becoming a bigger television presence in some of these markets.

From my point of view, the real brilliance of the Big Ten Network is its ability to capitalize on the unique demographic of Big Ten fans.

The Big Ten's existing geographic footprint is already in some major media markets, and that explains why the conference's annual per-school TV revenues are already $5 million more than the SEC's haul of $17 million per school.

But think about the massive enrollments of many of those Big Ten schools. Think about all those alumni, spread out over a period of decades, moving to other parts of the country.

I read somewhere recently that, in the state of Arizona, there are more Big Ten grads in Arizona than Pac-10 grads.

That's staggering.

So if the Big Ten gets 70 cents per cable subscription each month within its footprint, as as been reported, you can see why Delany is keenly interested in expanding that footprint to include all those Big Ten folks in far-flung locales -- including the South.

Wait ... just thought of a new bumper-sticker idea:

"GO BACK TO OHIO! (And take your network with you)"

On to some links...

This piece from the Chicago Tribune says academics could play a major role in the Big Ten's expansion plans.

If Notre Dame joins — and sources say the Irish still have not ruled it out — it would become one of the Big Ten's top schools. But Notre Dame is not a member of the Association of American Universities, a group of 63 research leaders. Connecticut also is not a member.

Among those that are: Rutgers, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Maryland — plus all 11 members of the Big Ten.

And then...

Missouri officials are steamed that its ranking of 102nd among national universities by U.S. News & World Report could eliminate it from Big Ten contention. Nebraska (96), Rutgers (66), Connecticut (also 66) Syracuse (58), Pittsburgh (56) and Maryland (53) all rank higher.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany downplayed that Tuesday by saying: "I don't know about rankings in a magazine. I think AAU membership is an important part of who we are, an important aspect of what makes an institution a research institution that serves the public."

Wonder what Clemson president Jim Barker would say about Delany's apparent indifference to the magazine rankings?


For the record, Clemson is not a member of the Association of American Universities (here's the list).

But Georgia Tech just became a member last month. Hmmmm....

More on the expansion demographics from Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News.

Delany described the changes in demography as the most important factor in expansion plans, even ahead of adding television markets to the Big Ten Network. "The shifting population is by itself reason enough to look at the concept of expansion," he said.

The 10 states with the greatest population percentage gain between 2000 and 2009 were located in the Southeast, Southwest and West, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. None are in the Midwest or Northeast.

And this Birmingham columnist likes the fact that this expansion stuff might not be as imminent as recently believed.

Chuck Amato talks about his recovery from cancer.

Sad story on former South Carolina receiver Moe Brown, who graduated a day after his brother committed suicide in prison.

Brown learned of his brother's death on Thursday in a phone call from his mother.

Xavier Brown, two months after being moved to Lee Correctional Institution, was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell Thursday morning, a S.C. Dept. of Corrections spokesman said.

Awful.

In the Independent-Mail, the Tigers baseball team is clinging to slim hopes of a division title.

And this columnist says Maryland should just say no to the Big Ten if the opportunity is presented.


LW