When a radio station in Kansas City cites multiple sources and no one else is able to confirm anything they say, you HAVE TO believe it's true. You just have to.
The Big Ten Conference has extended initial offers to join the league to four universities including Missouri and Nebraska from the Big 12, according to multiple sources close to the negotiations.
It is not yet clear whether the Big Ten will expand to 14 or 16 teams but sources indicated Missouri and Nebraska are invited in either scenario. Notre Dame has repeatedly declined the opportunity to join the Big Ten. If Notre Dame remains independent, Rutgers would be the 14th team. The Big Ten would then decide whether to stop at 14 or extend offers to two other schools. If Notre Dame joins, sources say an offer will be extended to one other school making it a 16-team league.
In theory, it actually sounds like something that would happen. Notre Dame could nip this entire process in the bud and accept the Big Ten's offer. But..they won't.
For most of the day this was merely rumor but now everyone's running with it so it's officially got a mind of its own. That said, Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman denied that the Huskers have received any such offer.
Considering no one else has come forward with any kind of news, not even a confirmation that any of those other schools have been contact the same way Mizzou has, I still say you have to take this with a pillar of salt.
So if we stop to assume its true, or viable, what does it all mean for SU? Well...if true then it means that academics, tradition and success matter even less to the Big Ten than we originally thought (and even then we didn't think they mattered too much). Now, maybe Syracuse would be that elusive 16th team in the event Notre Dame says yes. Or maybe the Big Ten goes 16 even if Notre Dame says no. All of a sudden we're the Danny DeVito to Rutger's Arnold in Twins. We're the leftover add-on. Um...thanks Big Ten?
I don't really feel like getting into this too much until someone a little higher-up tells me this is actually happening. Until then, I have to assume its based strongly on conjecture or on a plan of attack not yet implemented. Or it's complete BS.
Update: And now Missouri is officially denying that an offer has been made.
Update: Rutgers has made a statement as well.