Big Ten Conference

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Ten Conference corporate logo
Expansion of the Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is one of the oldest university sports leagues in the United States. The member universities are located in the American Midwest , from Nebraska in the west to New Jersey in the east. The conference is part of Division I FBS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The universities are also part of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (former Committee on Institutional Cooperation ), one of the leading academic consortia. Despite the name of the conference, the conference consists of 14 colleges, since Pennsylvania State University joined in 1993 , the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2011, and the University of Maryland, College Park and Rutgers University in 2014 .

13 of the 14 members of the Big Ten Conference are also members of the Association of American Universities (the exception being the University of Nebraska-Lincoln ), a prestigious collection of 61 research institutions. The league also leads among all sports conferences in the amount spent annually on scientific research by member institutions.

Competitions in this league are held in the following sports: baseball , basketball , ice hockey , cross country running , football , golf , gymnastics , hockey , lacrosse , athletics , rowing , soccer , softball , swimming and diving , tennis , volleyball (women only) and wrestling .

history

On January 11, 1895, seven university presidents from the Midwest met at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago to discuss the regulation and control of inter-university sport. Under the leadership of James H. Smart , President of Purdue University, they agreed the basics of the next year founded "Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives", better known as the Big Ten Conference .

As early as 1895, a plan was drawn up for the control and administration of college athletes by appointed faculty representatives. The first known act of the presidents restricted the selection of athletes to full-time students who were not negligent in their studies. This was supposed to solve the problem of the participation of professional athletes and non-students in the sporting events of the universities.

The Big Ten Conference was launched in 1896 as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives . The founding members included six universities that are still participating today, as well as the University of Chicago. The conference was first referred to as "Big Nine" in 1899 after the accession of Iowa and Indiana, the first mention as "Big Ten" happened in 1917 when Michigan rejoined after a nine-year absence; Ohio State was added in 1912.

The conference became the "Big Nine" again when Chicago left in 1946; the University of Chicago had interrupted its football program in 1939 and after the Second World War decided to promote the university sport less. To this day, Chicago remains in contact with the Big Ten Conference as a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. Michigan State joined in 1950 and helped the conference back to the name "Big Ten", membership list and (nick) name remained the same for the next 40 years. It was not until 1987 that the conference, which has since been known as the "not-for-profit corporation", was officially renamed the "Big Ten Conference", until then it was actually still called the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives and was also known as the Western Conference .

When Penn State joined in the early 1990s, it was decided to keep the Big Ten name; only the logo was changed to document the change: The number 11 was inserted into the white area of ​​the traditional blue "Big Ten" lettering.

After the joining of the previously independent Penn State , efforts were made to integrate the last traditionally independent football great with the University of Notre Dame and in 1999 a formal invitation was sent. Although the Senate was in favor of joining, the Board of Trustees voted against, and Notre Dame turned down the invitation.

In 2011 Penn State announced its own ice hockey team, which initially played in an independent organization in the 2012/13 season. However, this made a restructuring of the ice hockey conference system of the NCAA necessary, since now six members of the Big Ten provided an ice hockey team, with six being the limit for the formation of a new conference. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association was dissolved for the 2013/14 season , from which Michigan State University , the University of Michigan and Ohio State University joined the Big Ten. The University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin – Madison (from the also reorganized Western Collegiate Hockey Association ) and Penn State complete the six teams in the new conference.

Members

university place Team name founded joined Sponsorship students
University of Illinois Urbana and Champaign , Illinois Fighting Illinois 1867 1896 state 40,670
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington , Indiana Hoosiers 1820 1899 state 37,958
University of Iowa Iowa City , Iowa Hawkeyes 1847 1899 state 38,945
University of Maryland College Park , Maryland Terrapins 1856 2014 state 37,631
University of Michigan Ann Arbor , Michigan Wolverines 1817 1896
(inactive from 1907 to 1916)
state 39,000
Michigan State University East Lansing , Michigan Spartans 1855 1950
(games from 1953)
state 45.166
University of Minnesota Minneapolis and Saint Paul , Minnesota Golden Gophers 1851 1896 state 42,481
University of Nebraska Lincoln , Nebraska Cornhuskers 1869 2011 state 22,973
Northwestern University Evanston , Illinois Wildcats 1851 1896 Private 13,595
Ohio State University Columbus , Ohio Buckeyes 1870 1912 state 50.504
Pennsylvania State University State College , Pennsylvania Nittany Lions 1855 1990
(games from 1993)
state 41,289
Purdue University West Lafayette , Indiana Boilermakers 1869 1896 state 38,653
Rutgers University New Brunswick and Piscataway , New Jersey Scarlet Knights 1766 2014 state 41,565
University of Wisconsin Madison , Wisconsin Badgers 1848 1896 state 42,000

Associate members

university place Team name founded sport Membership time Sponsorship Main Conference students
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore , Maryland Blue Jays 1876 Lacrosse (men and women) 2014 (men)
2016 (women)
Private Centennial Conference (Div. III) 5,066
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame , Indiana Fighting Irish 1842 Ice hockey (men) 2017 Private Atlantic Coast Conference 12,179

former members

university place Team name founded Membership time Sponsorship students
University of Chicago Chicago , Illinois Maroons 1890 1896-1946 Private 13,870

Conference venues

Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor
Ohio Stadium in Columbus
university Football stadium capacity Basketball stadium capacity
Illinois Memorial Stadium 60,670 State Farm Center 16,618
Indiana Memorial Stadium 52,180 Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall 17,456
Iowa Kinnick Stadium 70,585 Carver-Hawkeye Arena 15,500
Maryland Maryland Stadium 51,802 Xfinity Center 17,950
Michigan Michigan Stadium 109.901 Crisler Center 13,751
Michigan State Spartan Stadium 75.005 Breslin Student Events Center 16,280
Minnesota TCF Bank Stadium 50,805 Williams Arena 14,321
Nebraska Memorial Stadium 81,067 Pinnacle Bank Arena 15,147
Northwestern Ryan Field 49,256 Welsh-Ryan Arena 8,117
Ohio State Ohio Stadium 102,329 Value City Arena 19,500
Penn State Beaver Stadium 107.282 Bryce Jordan Center 15,261
Purdue Ross-Ade Stadium 57,236 Mackey Arena 14,846
Rutgers SHI Stadium 52,454 Louis Brown Athletic Center 8,000
Wisconsin Camp Randall Stadium 80,321 Kohl Center 17,190

Web links