Will Big Ten Change Its Name?

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 2, 2010 5:40PM

With the Big Ten expanding to twelve teams in the 2011 season with the addition of Nebraska, there are rumblings about the necessity of a name change for the conference. Crain's Ed Sherman notes that there is a precedence - when the conference rebranded itself the Big Nine after University of Chicago left the conference in the 1930s and became the Big 10 again in 1949 with the addition of Michigan State. Of course, the conference kept the name - even though it altered the logo - once it added Penn State in 1991. So what happens next year when it adds its twelfth team and the Big 12 falls to 10 teams (Colorado is exiting for the Pac-10 which will rename itself to the Pac-12)? Sherman talked with a trio of marketing experts including one who said, "In many ways, as patently stupid as its name would sound, keeping it Big Ten and changing the logo, as they did when Penn State joined, might be the best of a number of bad options." So we're guessing that's a no, then?