Looks like Maryland is on the way

An article placed at cbs sports an hour ago says Maryland will vote as early as tomorrow on their invitation to join the Big Ten. Says that university's biggest donor backs the move. Hard to imagine that this is not a twofer deal, with Rutgers right behind. 

The article notes that the $50 million exit fee might be a stumbling block for Maryland. But from what I've read elsewhere the league may take all or part out of future revenue to the school.

Perhaps it's been noted elsewhere, but this gives the Big Ten access to 35% of the nation's viewers, bringing in the DC and NY areas, and extends the league across a fairly contiguous--that is, plausible--swath of the country, from Nebraska to the Atlantic coast. I realize that Rutgers and Maryland aren't the most appetizing draws in an immediate sense, but I like having the league entering NY and DC, taking in part of the South now, too. (And there's no reason why those schools cannot get better, including in football.) Obviously, the expanded TV revenue is the big draw for the league itself. Will be interesting to see if the league uses the pretext of expansion to reconfigure the divisions, which are pretty unpopular, at least here.

Link:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/2…