Story here (via Craig Depken). Why did the Big 10 decide to expand? Academics? Research? Um, no. The answer is - DING DING DING DING - money from sports (from Jeff Junstrom of the Pitt Stop).
This comes as no surprise, as the very lucrative Big Ten Network was a joint venture between the conference and Fox Sports. Financial details have not yet been released, but many analysts believe the price paid was quite large.
The Big Ten Conference is preparing to auction the TV rights to its new football championship game, a move that industry insiders say could fetch $15 million to $20 million a year.
College conferences are clubs. For a team to gain entry into a club, a majority of the incumbents must vote "yes." Big 10 revenue sharing is equal, so bringing in another school causes the money in the sharing pool to be split 12 rather than 11 ways. Any entrant must enhance the size of the pool sufficiently to offset a majority of the incumbents' losses. That extra 1 to 1.5 million per school sure helps in pushing a given school's vote to yes. If your potential entrant is Nebraska, that helps in that regard too.