2017 is the target
No decisions were final, no declarations or resolutions emerged from these meetings in Chicago, but you can expect the Big Ten to go to a nine-game football schedule -- most likely starting in 2017.
“It looks like that’s what we’ve (talked about)," Big Ten senior associate commissioner Mark Rudner said when asked if 2017 -- when a new Big Ten TV contract will begin -- is the likely starting place. "It really didn’t have anything to do with TV, it had more to do with logistics as far as working through some of the non-conference schedules that are already in place.”
And the school with the biggest problem in that regard, of course, is MSU, which has Notre Dame and Alabama on the schedule in 2016 and 2017. Now, if the nine-game schedule starts in 2017 and MSU gets the five Big Ten home games that season, it can still finish with seven home games total -- and avoid a big financial hit that is explained here.
And the school with the biggest problem in that regard, of course, is MSU, which has Notre Dame and Alabama on the schedule in 2016 and 2017. Now, if the nine-game schedule starts in 2017 and MSU gets the five Big Ten home games that season, it can still finish with seven home games total -- and avoid a big financial hit that is explained here.
