Ohio State Football: Big Ten should stop forcing itself where it’s not wanted
By Del Barris
What’s best for the Big Ten may not be what’s best for the Ohio State football team. That includes trying to insert its presence where they are unwanted.
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has told NJ.com the conference will begin rotating its championship game as early as next season and is interested in holding it at MetLife Stadium (the home to the NFL’s Giants and Jets) in New Jersey. The Big Ten once again is looking at forcing itself on New York City. It needs to stop.
New York is not a college sports town. Plain and simple. They don’t care about the Big Ten or any other conference. Historically, it has been a college basketball town, especially when the original Big East was in its heyday. But, even that interest has waned in recent years, because St. John’s, the city’s favorite college hoops team, has not been very good.
When the conference held its men’s basketball tournament there in 2018 it was not the overwhelming success that was hoped. It drew ok, but still far below attendance figures in Indianapolis and Chicago. When they held it in Washington D.C. the year before, attendance was an absolute disaster. That area cares even less about the Big Ten than New York.
Why does the conference think football will be different? Because their eyes light up with dollar signs every time they think about the size of the New York tv market. They’re like a moth drawn to a flame. For some reason, the Big Ten brass is convinced an area that doesn’t care about college football is all of a sudden going to become interested if they put their championship game there. The sports fans and media in New York do not care about Big Ten football. Washington D.C. cares even less.
Let’s face it, this is about money. The more interest in the Big Ten they generate in these very large tv markets, the more there is a chance of getting the Big Ten Network onto cable systems in that area. More cable systems mean more subscribers. More subscribers means more money for the conference. Kevin Warren and the Big Ten powerbrokers are willing to sacrifice the loyalty of the fans in Big Ten country in order to expand into an area that has no interest and it is all about money.
For many Big Ten fans, Indianapolis is close enough to make the roundtrip to the conference championship game in one day. The Ohio State football team is just a few hours from Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of the game since its inception in 2011. Wisconsin is about five hours from Indy.
Put the game in New Jersey and it becomes an 8 ½ hour trek for Buckeye fans and fourteen hours for Wisconsin faithful. The thing to keep in mind is this: Kevin Warren could care less. When he says he wants to expand the conference’s footprint, he really means he wants to expand the conference’s bank account.
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Warren enjoys portraying the Big Ten as being different than other conferences. They’re not. They’re just as driven by greed as any other conference in college football. Taking your championship football game away from your loyal fan base and giving it to those who could care less is one more example. I’m hoping Warren’s stay as commissioner is a short one.