2010–2014 Big Ten Conference realignment

U.S. sports media credited expansion plans by the Big Ten as being the trigger for a massive wave of conference realignment during this period.

The first hints of the coming realignment came in December 2009, when Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league would consider adding one or more teams.

Thus, in 2011, the Big Ten member institutions voted to add men's ice hockey as a conference-sponsored sport beginning in 2013.

[9][10] However, in mid-November 2012, the landscape changed, as ESPN reported that the University of Maryland, a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), was in "serious negotiations" to join the Big Ten.

However, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) that ultimately oversees the school, Brit Kirwan, had been on the College Park campus for 30 years and, according to ESPN, had a strong affinity for the ACC.

[13] The Big Ten unanimously accepted Rutgers' application on November 20; however, the announcement only said that the school would join "at a date to be determined".

In the week before the Big Ten negotiations were revealed, Under Armour filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that Plank would sell 1.3 million shares in the company.

[16] However, ESPN later reported that the Forbes speculation was inaccurate, with unnamed sources saying that Plank would not use the funds from the sale for the school's benefit.

In December 2012, another part of the Big Ten's rationale for its latest round of expansion was revealed by Barry Alvarez, athletic director of conference charter member Wisconsin.

[19] However, his comments also included his takes on current and possible future Big Ten realignment:[18] In June 2013, the Big Ten announced that with the arrival of Maryland and Rutgers, both of which sponsor lacrosse for both men and women, the conference would begin sponsoring the sport for both sexes in the 2014–15 school year (2015 lacrosse season).

With five men's lacrosse schools set for 2014–15, the Big Ten added its sixth program by inviting Johns Hopkins University as an affiliate member for that sport only.

[20] The official Johns Hopkins press release announcing this move indicated that it was driven largely by the school's desire to join a conference with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Jays' familiarity with the Big Ten's present and future men's lacrosse programs was also a major factor in the school's decision to affiliate with that conference.

[21] The Big Ten reportedly allowed Hopkins to keep its then-current television contract with ESPNU for its home games.

The Colonial Athletic Association, which would lose Penn State to the Big Ten, was tentatively left with six men's lacrosse teams in 2015.

"[23] Within weeks of Hopkins' move, three of the four remaining ECAC Lacrosse teams announced their departure for other conferences, signaling the demise of that league after the 2014 season.

First, on June 18, Fairfield announced it would move its men's lacrosse team to the CAA for 2014–15, effectively replacing Penn State in that league.