May 12, 2010 – Long before there were “Red” and “Blue” states that sorted the political power of America, there were the NBC-owned “Red” and ‘Blue” networks. NBC’s red network turned out to be the Peacock network as we know it today. The blue network was turned into ABC. William S. Paley concocted the United Independent Boraodcasters, 16 radio statons, into CBS.

With radios and television, these entities became a new power source of America, gathering families around their tubes at night, and later feeding the “Baby Boomers” with influence, and with their commercial success, the networks largely dictated how things were done. The power of Madison Avenue was born and the game of delivering the most reach took control.

Before some genius figured out how to copy Alexander Graham Bell’s concept of putting a wire into every home by aping the same concept with a coaxial, fiber-optic cable, the broadcast playing field was pretty much controlled by the “Big Three.” Programming was the premium. Money flowed. Stars were made.

College football was a popular bit of programming. Each network seemed to sign up a schedule of Saturday games. Notre Dame, “America’s Team,” based upon a national network of dioceses, cut its own deal with NBC in 1990. CBS and ABC followed with deals of their own, except they signed up entire conferences. Of course, the popularity of the game boomed to Sunday, and the NFL exploded and the networks seemed to outbid each other, at more and more of a cost, each time the contracts came up for renewal. Big Business.

So as the Big Ten athletic directors and coaches assemble to meet on May 17-19, followed by the school’s chancelors two weeks later, what effect will the Big Ten TV deal, which currently pays $22 million annually to 11 schools, have toward the conference’s desire to expand? An onslaught of loyalty, maneuvering and critical decision-making is upon us. Money is the botton line and at a time when the economy is bad, and everyone is in a hole and seeking new ways to solve the problem, it will be those few gold mines, like The Big Ten Network, that flourish in the worst of times, that lead us out.

Yesterday, a more-than-a-rumor floated that Notre Dame, Nebraska, Rutgers and Missouri are going to be approached about joining the Big Ten. The Big Ten did not want to come off as a bad guy, like the ACC did when it raided the Big East for Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College in 2003. It wanted to do things out front and to avoid the embarrassment like Miami president Donna Shalala was tagged with after deceiving the Big East conference until she signed on the dotted line with the ACC. Apparently, Donna, ever the academic, was reading the tactics of the Japanese diplomats just before Pearl Harbor.

Now the Big Ten move is significant in many ways. First, it will start the flow to the rumored “mega conferences” which will likely reduce BCS or “Major Football” to five conferences, the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, Pac 10 and ACC. Although new names may need to be coined to the Big 16, SEC, Big Midwest 16, the PAC 16 and the ACC. With this new “mega” power, the need for the BCS, and the NCAA for that matter, may be a thing of the past (and a vast improvement).

So far, only Missouri is publicly drooling. Notre Dame remains the arrogant holdout, thinking it doesn’t need to conform and remaining the independent, call-your-own-shots, legend-in-its own-mind. NBC will pay Notre Dame $15 million annually until 2015, when it will likely re-up. By that time, Notre Dame’s waning football integrity could be further eroded, it’s competition could be scarce and the shine off its golden dome a dull, flat story of what once was. Nebraska may be the perfect fit to the Big Ten’s traditional mix, and Rutgers, bringing the coveted New York marketplace, would need to wait 27 months and pay $5 million to abandon its Big East bretheran. But with steep state funding cuts, no obvious funding to grow, and an egotistical coach with big plans in mind in Greg Schiano, $22 million plus a year would buy a lot of solutions to his master plan.

Never has your television set been worth more.