The Champaign Room · Jan 25, 2019
Big Ten Barely Gets a New York Minute
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesJim Delaney, in all his BTN and conference expansion brilliance, still looks at NYC like a dude at the bar that won’t be able to pull the 10, but is still pining away night-after-night, buying martinis and getting kissed on the cheek.
Delaney has earned all (besides Rutgers) Big Ten schools more riches than they could have possibly imagined, and allowed for super football complexes and basketball arena expansions — and kudos to him for allowing Illinois to ride the coattails of such a sporting juggernaut. What he hasn’t figured out yet, and probably never will, is how to make New York City care that the Big Ten is here.