Dienhart: On those Maryland, Rutgers rumors

Yahoo! Sports reported Saturday that the Big Ten is in ?advanced discussions? with Maryland and Rutgers about joining the Big Ten.

The Yahoo! report says that an announcement could come early next week. Maryland is in the ACC, while Rutgers is in the Big East. The move would push Big Ten membership to 14 schools.

Reports indicate it would cost Maryland $50 million to leave the ACC; Rutgers would have to pony up $10 million to depart from the Big East. The Big Ten added Nebraska prior to last season to push membership to 12 schools.

The move makes sense from a TV/financial standpoint, as it would push the Big Ten further into the heavily populated Eastern seaboard and its big TV markets-New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. But from a competitive standpoint, neither Maryland nor Rutgers has been a football power.

But all of the recent conference shifting typically has had little to do with competition-but everything to do about money and TV markets.

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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