Greg Ambrose wrote:
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The thought of a Big Ten conference is not far fetched. You've got five schools right now and it doesn't take much imagination to predict that Penn
State (once Joe Pa finally leaves), Iowa, Illinois or Northwestern fielding a team. Once that happens (and I predict it will, based on $$$ alone),  then the WCHA will need to raid the CCHA to stay viable.

Money talks in all this and I don't see any reason why the shifting sands of conference affiliation can't affect hockey just as it has done with football and roundball.  Change is definitely in the wind.
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While it might seem logical, I'd be surprised -- for two reasons.  First, the cost to start-up a D-I hockey program is immense, with no guarantee that revenue will float the programs for at least the first several years.  More importantly, Title IX would require a more-or-less equal investment in women's athletics, with no revenue help at all.  Most of the Big 10 schools are barely in compliance as it is.  Adding men's hockey would tip the scales too far.

 --Steve Roth





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