I was reviewing some of the discussion about new teams and realigning leagues with a friend of mine who is a member of the Badger Blue Line Club.  He brought an entire new twist onto the scene.  He claims that if one more Big Ten team starts a Division I hockey program, (both Penn State and Illinois have made rumblings about this), then by Big Ten Conference rules, they would have to form a Big Ten conference for hockey since the majority of members of the conference play that sport (6 out of 11).  I had never heard this before, but it does seem at some point that if there are enough schools in a conference playing a sport, they must play it within that conference.  While previous discussions have pointed out that Title IX considerations and financial constraints may prevent this from happening in the near future, I would think this must be a concern when there is consideration of major, long term, realignment in the West, which would be seriously jolted if the Big Ten team!
s all leave to form their own conf
erence.
 
                                        -Wayne Hickenbottom
 
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