BIg Ten Approves New Divisions
Sunday, April 28th, 2013 -- 2:42 PM
On Sunday, the Big Ten approved new East and West divisions for the 2014 season as well as a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2016.According to ESPN.com, the league's presidents and chancellors voted unanimously to approve the recommendations from the athletic directors Sunday morning during a conference call.
The division realignment coincides with the arrival of new conference members Maryland and Rutgers.
Gone are Legends and Leaders, the controversial division names the Big Ten adopted in 2011.
The Big Ten East will include: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers. The Big Ten West will include: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.
Every East division team is located in the Eastern time zone, while every West division team except Purdue is located in the Central time zone.
The Big Ten will join the Pac-12 and Big 12 with a nine-game league schedule for 2016. The East division teams will have five conference home games in even-numbered years, and West division teams will have five conference home games in odd-numbered years. Big Ten team will play all of the other conference squads at least once every four years. The Big Ten last played nine league games in a season in 1983-84.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.