BTN asking fans if Legends and Leaders division names should stay

That would be fantastic for everybody except Nebraska. (Unless we add more western teams, but still the expansion division would be crossing half the country several times each season.)

Also, there is a large proportion of Michigan fans that really don't give a damn about our rivalry with Sparty. All of the Michigan alumni who came from outside the Midwest didn't care from the start, and those of us like me who left Michigan after graduation don't see any Sparties to razz anymore.

I think MSU should be our protected cross-division rivalry though.  I'm very excited by this survery and here's what I had to say in the "additional comments" section regarding divisions

Plains (or West)

Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota

Atlantic (or East)

Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue

Protect:

Michigan vs. MSU

Ohio State or Penn State vs. Wisconsin or Nebraska (and the other...)

Northwestern vs. Illinois

Maryland or Rutgers vs. Iowa or Minnesota

Purdue vs. Indiana

I see balance in football (& hoops if we choose that route), geography, and most rivalries protected with potential few new ones to grow.  If we choose to go 16 teams the the new guys would likely come from the East, so simply shift Purdue over.  I also think a 9 game conference slate is almost necessary.  3 NC games --> 1 cupcake, 1 SOS builder, 1 middling should be the goal.  

See here's the thing: how many times are you really going to play MSU twice in a season? Given their track record of only spotty success, we won't play them in the BTCG except once in a great while. OTOH, we'd play OSU all the time if we were in seperate divisions. I have no problem with playing somebody twice, it's just that in a lot of scenarios, we'd go into the Game knowing that it was meaningless because we'd rematch them for the championship the week after.

Not me. I want that game to be a once a year thing. Winner get's bragging rights for the next year. Can you imagine if we beat them in the regular game and lost in the championship? That would suck ass.

It's one thing to talk about it in the abstract, but think about it. Imagine beating Ohio and then having to play them again - and losing the rematch. Wouldn't that absolutely suck? It'd make the first game (the game actually played on campus) meaningless.

the University of Bologna. Populated market, tons of tradition as the first ever university, plus it will totally help soccer recruiting.

There's an untapped market on Mars, should it present itself viable.

That's certainly a good counter-argument.  But I don't see any other way of putting UM and Ohio in the same division without giving Nebraska an easy ticket to Indy (should be Chicago) more-or-less every year.  Maybe if Penn State hadn't gotten nuked by the NCAA and I had more confidence in Wisconsin...  

Some nut above said the same thing about associating with tradition Midwestern themes. That would be great if we didn't annex the east coast, but it won't work and it far more ridiculous than legends and leaders. If they keep the same names, frankly I don't care, but make them regionally divisions. Divide as mentioned above by east vs west or north vs south.



North: minn, msu, UofM, Rutgers, NW, Purdue,UW. (Random team)



South: Maryland, PSU, Ohio, IU, UI, Iowa, NU (gatech soon)

And why should I listen to you?  You don't like hot dogs.  Your argument is invalid.

Just realized that as smart as they are with naming things, the Big Ten will probably go with East/West divisions and put Michigan in the East.  So then the "Champions of the West" can't actually win the West division.