The Big Ten Appocalypse--Delany opens Pandora's Box What does this mean for everyone else?

Well, just when you think things are about to settle in college sports all chaos ensues.  The Big Ten is taking Maryland and Rutgers in order to penetrate Eastern television markets.  This is a big blow to both the ACC and the Big East and could in fact end the Big East as we know it depending on how the ACC reacts to the loss of Maryland.

It is strongly believed by most the Connecticut of the Big East will get tapped to replace Maryland in the ACC.  There is also conjecture that the ACC will not stop at Connecticut and in order to regain their lost eastern markets they could reach out and take Villanova, Georgetown, and St. John's of the Big East to shore up eastern basketball and the result would be a 14 member football conference and an 18 member basketball conference.  This would be the best end result for the ACC.  The problem is that the Big 12 could get nervous about this realignment and start making overtures to ACC members like Clemson and Florida St.  The loss of these members could potentially cripple the ACC as a football conference.

And now we come to the Big East: If the ACC expansion comes to pass we are potentially looking at a Big East consisting of Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul, Temple, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, South Florida, Central Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist, and football affiliates Boise St, San Diego St, and Navy.  I don't even know if a league like that has the will to stay together as a cogent athletic conference.  They would be devoid of all of their most attractive members and markets and the basketball product would not be that great as I only see maybe 4 marketable programs on that list.  There is also the possibility that the Big 12 becomes active in the expansion game and seeks out schools like Louisville, BYU, and other programs that I'm hesitant to speculate about.

The Big East's survival really depends on who is left there when this conference bloodbath is finished.  It might be best for the remaining members to go their separate ways, with the upper south, Florida, and Texas schools starting a new league reminiscent of the old Metro Conference with their old C-USA friends Tulsa, Tulane, East Carolina, and up-and-comers UTSA and Charlotte.  Marquette, DePaul, Seton Hall, Providence, and Temple could seek refuge in the Atlantic 10 or attempt to cherry pick the A-10 for its most attractive programs.

This expansion is bound to send shock waves across the landscape of college athletics--the A-10 will be effected and likely the CAA as well and once the shock wave hits the CAA is impacted so too could every small conference on the Eastern seaboard--the SoCon, the Patriot, America East, NEC, MAAC, Big South,  Atlantic Sun, and maybe even in land with the Ohio Valley Conference.  The shuffling panic caused by the football contingent will no doubt create a cascade among C-USA, the Sunbelt, and FCS super powers, among them Appalachian St and Georgia Southern.  Should the Big 12 get caught up in the ruckus then the raids will spread to the heartland and no conference would be safe.