badger79

According to this site, Texas/Nebraska will be on ABC, reverse-mirrored on ESPN (in HD) for those out of market. The other game on ABC will be Iowa/Michigan, also reverse-mirrored. So you'll get the game on ABC or ESPN no matter where you are.

Alabama-Arkansas was a CBS game (though I guess that shouldn't necessarily stop them from going there). Anyway, even if they aren't there for the Texas game, I'm sure Gameday will be present at one or two Nebraska games next year -- like when you guys open the Big Ten season at Camp Randall, or your first conference home opener. It should be pretty awesome.

If you don't have BTN yet, I'm pretty sure this is the conversation with Osborne. (or even if you do have BTN and don't want to wait for the show!)

Comcast definitely has Big Ten Network on its sports package in non-Big Ten states; it also carries the spillover channels. I'm pretty sure the tier is only like $5-$10 extra per month. Actually, if you have Comcast, they have a bunch of Nebraska-related programming on the Big Ten Network On Demand -- interviews with Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and Jim Delany on the expansion and so on. There are no Big Ten home games on ESPNU or ESPN360. Only ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 and the Big Ten Network. Road non-conference games are a different story, of course.

There is no doubt Texas/Minnesota would have been an ABC or ESPN game. But I think the Big Ten retains some rights (for rebroadcast purposes and so on) to home games even if they air on other channels. Either that or they buy the rights back -- this summer they've been airing a bunch of games that were on other channels last fall. Anyway, this might have been where the deal fell apart. Texas may have wanted too many highlights, or may have wanted the full game for streaming or airing on their network or whatever, and the Big Ten said no. And then Texas huffed off because the mean old Big Ten hurt their widdle feelings by not giving in to their temper tantrum again.

Well, I doubt Osborne's vote would matter much anyway. The Big Ten PTB (whoever votes on these matters, the presidents or the ADs or both) are not going to do anything that will wind up with something like a 6-5 split vote because that would mean a good percentage of the schools are unhappy. And the Big Ten doesn't want that. Besides, we don't even know for sure if they'll vote on divisions or anything right now, just that they'll discuss it. Osborne's views and opinions will be taken into account, and that's what matters. Remember that this is a group of schools with like-minded interests. Big Ten officials want what's best for the conference as a whole, not necessarily just what's best for their individual schools. I actually think the Big Ten has learned from its past experience with expansion. When Penn State joined, IIRC in the beginning there were quite a few ruffled feathers and PSU wasn't always made to feel welcome to the conference. So the Big Ten is going out of its way to make sure everything goes smoothly this time, and Nebraska is made to feel welcome.

Lambeau is a great venue for pro football, but I'm not that wild about the idea of having the Big Ten championship game there. It's not centrally located, it's a pain to get to and I doubt Green Bay could handle the influx of tourists. Lucas Oil, Ford Field and Soldier Field are all fine venues and the cities are within reasonable driving distance for most Big Ten fans. Plus Indy, Chicago and Detroit have major airports, are prepared for tourists and are well-versed in hosting these kinds of events.

Delany is truly one of the more fascinating people in the world of college athletics. He's not dynamic or particularly charismatic, he doesn't appear to throw his weight around, he prefers to work silently behind the scenes. But when he speaks, everyone involved in college sports holds their breath. The Big Ten Network is Delany's crowning achievement. I love how everyone was laughing at the Big Ten when the network launched and now everyone is frantically figuring out how they can start their own network.

Most cable and satellite providers open up overflow channels for the Big Ten Network so all the games can be aired at once. For example, I live in Philly and have Comcast. Big Ten Network is on channel 855 here. Last year when Penn State and Wisconsin were playing in different games on BTN, Penn State was on 855. Wisconsin was on 852. You should call your cable provider to make sure they'll be opening up those overflow channels for you. I'm not sure all of them do. As always, ESPN/ABC get first choice for all Big Ten games. If you're out-of-market for the 2:30 regional ABC game, it's mirrored on ESPN/ESPN2.

No, definitely get the BTN. I'm pretty sure BTN has a requirement that they televise at least two games from every team each year. The road OOC games on PPV will only be a once-in-a-decade kind of thing, and it's only if you're going on the road to face a really crappy program -- and let's face it, how often does anybody do that. As a Big Ten program, you automatically move up on ABC/ESPN's list to televise games. If we didn't have such a great television contract, there's no way I would have been able to watch Wisconsin nearly every week for the last 10 years (I live in Philadelphia). I think I've missed about three Badger games in that time, and those were before we had the BTN. Plus the basketball, Olympic sports and behind-the-scenes and retrospective shows are awesome. Right now they're doing a series about football teams from way back when, the 1940s and '50s. Footage that probably hasn't been pulled out of the vault for decades, and it's really cool.

I honestly think you guys would be a better rival for Iowa. UW's big rival is Minnesota, though we do count Iowa as our other rival. That said, I think a Nebraska-Wisconsin rivalry (like one of our protected games) would be awesome. We obviously have to thank you for Barry, though I'm not sure who he'd cheer for on gameday. At least he wouldn't have a hard time deciding what color to wear. A lot of people speculated that the reason our jerseys went from true cardinal red to a brighter red was because of Barry's background at Nebraska. The jerseys have darkened in color a bit again since Bielema became our head coach. Just an FYI, Wisconsin plays a pro-style offense. We like our offensive linemen big and we line our running backs strong. We also love using the tight end. Nothing fancy or surprising, mostly just good old-fashioned three yards and a cloud of dust football.

The Big Ten is one of those big, loud, dysfunctional, grumpy families. We will fight each other and rip each other apart, but when outsiders try to mess with us, we won't tolerate it. Welcome to our family, Huskers!

Wisconsin message boards: The Scout board http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=193 Buckyville www.buckyville.com Come on over and post!

Just a warning, some of your road OOC games might wind up on other networks/PPV since the Big Ten doesn't own the rights to those games. For example, Wisconsin's game at UNLV this fall is on Versus. Remember that if you live out of market and your game is the regional 2:30 game on ABC, it will be mirrored on ESPN/ESPN2. The HD on BTN is just about second to none, and everything the network produces is in HD. The campus programming is not, obviously. Cheers! Glad to have you guys in the conference and I can't wait for our first game to determine which is the best RED!