I believe it. I remember the Cal-Ohio State game in 2014 - Memorial Stadium was easily 75% Ohio State and all the people I chatted with happened to live on the West Coast.
I believe it. I remember the Cal-Ohio State game in 2014 - Memorial Stadium was easily 75% Ohio State and all the people I chatted with happened to live on the West Coast.
The Big 10 is a special animal. It is the only conference with a truly national alumni base with almost 6 million living alumni spread out over the entire USA. This is why it can command more money from the media than the SEC whose alumni are concentrated in the South East. Four metropolitan areas attract at least 1% (and usually more) of the Big 10 graduates from all 14 universities. They are NYC, DC, LA and, guess what, the Bay area. There are over 100,000 Big 10 alumni living in the Bay Area and most, if not all the schools have active alumni chapters. The heavy presence of alumni in these metro areas is why the Big 10 added Rutgers and Maryland and now USC and UCLA. There is only more metro area left to add and I am sure Stanford and Cal are included in the mid-term plans of the Big 10. The Big 10 Academic Alliance (separate from, but tied to admission to the BIG 10 conference) intends to build the largest consortium of research universities in the world and Stanford and Cal are wanted by the faculties of the Big Ten schools. The problem is timing.
I believe it. I remember the Cal-Ohio State game in 2014 - Memorial Stadium was easily 75% Ohio State and all the people I chatted with happened to live on the West Coast.
The Big 10 is a special animal. It is the only conference with a truly national alumni base with almost 6 million living alumni spread out over the entire USA. This is why it can command more money from the media than the SEC whose alumni are concentrated in the South East. Four metropolitan areas attract at least 1% (and usually more) of the Big 10 graduates from all 14 universities. They are NYC, DC, LA and, guess what, the Bay area. There are over 100,000 Big 10 alumni living in the Bay Area and most, if not all the schools have active alumni chapters. The heavy presence of alumni in these metro areas is why the Big 10 added Rutgers and Maryland and now USC and UCLA. There is only more metro area left to add and I am sure Stanford and Cal are included in the mid-term plans of the Big 10. The Big 10 Academic Alliance (separate from, but tied to admission to the BIG 10 conference) intends to build the largest consortium of research universities in the world and Stanford and Cal are wanted by the faculties of the Big Ten schools. The problem is timing.
Yeah, I've driven through Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I wouldn't want to live there either.