The Big Ten's Big Changes - Burke's Reaction

Established in 1896 and formerly known as the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, the Big Ten Conference is the oldest Division I college athletic conference in the United States. Naturally, the conference is known throughout the country as an organization centered on tradition - both athletically and academically. There is even a style of playing football that is traditionally associated with the conference, as the football teams of the Big Ten are known to recruit large, powerful players as opposed to smaller, faster players. Due to the historical significance of the conference and a traditional level of success (both on the football field and in other sports), it has long been revered and respected as one of the greatest conferences in the country.

But lately, this reverence and respect is beginning to dwindle. While much of this has to do with the lack of recent success in football and other sports, a large contributor to the weakening image is the apparent breaking down of the conference's sacred tradition. Critics of this failure to uphold tradition echo the writings of Irish political theorist Edmund Burke. In fact, Burke himself might have had a thing or two to say about the recent observed changes in the Big Ten.

Edmund Burke believed that tradition is the most reliable source of practical knowledge. He also believed that if everyone is equal, then nobody is special, that some people are better than others, that innovation is bad, that equality is bad, and he liked hierarchies. Let's see how these beliefs relate to the latest happenings within the Big Ten.

As part of the 2010-2012 NCAA conference realignment trend, the Big Ten decided to add the University of Nebraska as the twelfth team in the conference beginning in the 2011-2012 academic year. How would Burke have responded to this change? Well, in many ways, despite this move altering the membership of the conference (which had remained constant since 1990), Burke would probably not have been too critical. After all, Nebraska brought to the Big Ten the caliber of football excellence that was expected of Big Ten teams. In this way, the tradition of the Big Ten was unharmed by Nebraska's arrival. Furthermore, despite Nebraska being the twelfth team in the conference, the Big Ten was firm in keeping its name, not changing it to accommodate the new number of teams. This resistance to a name change was consistent with when Pennsylvania State University joined the conference in 1990 as the eleventh team. Keeping the name, as well as making sure the addition of Nebraska did not threaten the excellence of the conference's athletics, both demonstrate the Big Ten's recognition that tradition is very significant. Because of this, Burke would have only had minor complaints about the addition.

Perhaps more interesting, as far as how Burke would react, is the very recent additions of the University of Maryland and Rutgers University to the Big Ten Conference. The move, as well as implications and issues, are detailed in the following video:

As is evident in the video, there is a consensus that these moves are a departure from what has been done in the past, at least for the Big Ten. What was so different about the additions of Maryland and Rutgers? Much less mind was paid to the quality of the football programs of the schools added, and much more mind was paid to what kind of television audience each school could bring. Nebraska's addition seemed to be mainly focused on what the football program brought to the conference and not on television audience, as only 25,000 people are registered in the Nebraska Alumni Association. As discussed earlier, this move is fairly consistent with the tradition of the Big Ten. But Maryland and Rutgers hardly bring such a tradition of football excellence. For instance, Rutgers has suffered four losing seasons in the past ten years. So it is clear that the primary reason for adding these two schools was to add "eyeballs" that will watch Big Ten games. These eyeballs of course have to do with money, as more people watching games on TV means more bargaining power for the conference in selling the rights to broadcast games. Burke would argue that because the addition of Maryland and Rutgers threatens the tradition of the Big Ten (especially concerning football prowess), the Big Ten made an unintelligent move.

The video also talks about how this want to draw a larger television audience is part of an overarching shift in how college sports operate. This shift is characterized by the fact that revenues are no longer coming primarily from spectators at stadiums (which encouraged enormous stadium capacities like that of the Big House), but instead from broadcast rights fees. The current trend also shows the dominance of football over other sports, and conferences like the Big East (which is traditionally a basketball conference) are suffering. Burke would most likely look at all of these paradigm shifts with disdain. As an advocate for conserving the status quo, Burke would be upset by all of these changes. The tradition of college sports as a whole is altering its focus from drawing audiences to the stadiums to participate in the emotional experience of a live event to drawing an even larger and more lucrative audience in the form of television audiences. Burke would see this as an offensive shift of the status quo. A violation of tradition. Burke also likes hierarchies, and the established hierarchies that exist between teams and conferences are being affected (perhaps even destroyed) by these frequent changes in conference structures.

Burke believes that if we are all equal, then nobody is special. Perhaps Rutgers and Maryland do not deserve to be in such a decorated, storied conference. The barriers to entry seemed to have been lowered, which might take away from the exclusivity and special quality of the Big Ten. If this is the case, Burke would again look down upon the addition as harming established traditions.

In conclusion, Burke would probably have few complaints about Nebraska's arrival in the Big Ten, be opposed to the tradition-threatening addition of Maryland and Rutgers, and condemn college sports as a whole for its shifts in operations.