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<p>Well, why shouldn’t Penn State join the Big Ten? Think of the characteristics that typify the Big Ten schools:</p>
<p>1) large public flagships
2) in the industrial heartland (Pittsburgh and western PA have more in common with Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown than with Philly, New York, and DC)
3) generally high quality academics (all among the top 30 publics per US News)
4) big-time sports programs, especially football.</p>
<p>From that perspective, Penn State has more in common with the other Big Ten schools than it has with the East Coast publics or any combination of East Coast publics and privates.</p>
<p>From a financial and marketing perspective, the deal also made sense for both sides. Although Penn State now has to share its football bowl revenue with the Big Ten conference, the school is probably a net gainer as it also shares the revenue of all the other bowl games Big Ten schools appear in, including the highly lucrative Rose Bowl which stills gives a preference (though no longer an automatic berth) to the Big Ten champ. The match also made for some instant high-powered, guaranteed big attendance rivalries, like Penn State-Ohio State and Penn State-Michigan. For its part, the Big Ten gains exposure and television eyeballs in some additional big Eastern markets (Philly and Pittsburgh, and to some extent even New York where the media often feature Penn State as a “regional” team). And Penn State’s natural athletic recruiting base expands westward, while other Big Ten schools’ natural recruiting base expands eastward. For similar reasons, the Big Ten has also had its eye on Rutgers for some time, which would wedge open the New York market.</p>
<p>I think the Penn State match with the Big Ten made a lot of sense. The only question is whether to kick out Northwestern, the obvious “goose” among this flock of ducks, so as not to have the change their name to the Big Eleven (ungainly) or to continue under the cloud of innumeracy.</p>