Conference Expansion Roundup

- Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott has been given the power to make decisions regarding expansion.

- An announcement could come as soon as 7/27.

- Conjecture is that an expanded Pac-10 could make $20 million per year in TV money for member schools. This surprised me, as I would think with all those teams they could at least match what the Big Ten made last year.

- The Big Ten presidents and chancellors met today. According to MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon, council chair, "It's possible that the timeline may be altered, but not the process."

- To join the Big Ten, a school has to submit an application, then receive votes from at least eight presidents or chancellors. This vote could happen electronically, so another meeting wouldn't necessarily need to happen.

- Anyone else notice that every time Big Ten expansion is mentioned academic standards come up, but when Pac-10 expansion is brought up no one says anything about academics? AAU membership is often cited (list of members here) when talking about the Big Ten since every school is a member, but out of the Pac-10 Stanford, Arizona, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, and USC are members as well. Sure, it's not everyone, but I'm surprised it isn't a bigger part of the conversation.

- The Mountain West conference isn't changing for now. I'm sure that's a relief for everyone.