Illinois Senate: SIU to Big Ten

by **MVCfans** » April 4th, 2014, 2:00 pm

I can't believe this passed an actual legislative body.

Sick of seeing conference realignment spread the Big Ten into the Atlantic Ocean?

Not to worry: Illinois State Representative Michael Connelly has proposed a bill to create a commission that would study the feasibility of adding another Illinois public school to the Big Ten. The bill passed the Illinois State Senate this week and will move on to the House.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... ege-sports

**Sponsor**

by **BTbird** » April 4th, 2014, 3:42 pm

"This is something that has been under the radar but is now getting a much stronger drum beat," Connelly said. "I've got three kids that are college age and we know that there are a lot of kids with 34 ACT scores and high class rank that are rejected by the University of Illinois and wind up going to places like Kansas and Indiana and other states. Michigan has Michigan and Michigan State - two Big Ten public schools - and we thought why not do a feasibility study to see if we could do the same?"

We have Northwestern and U of I so we also have 2 Big Ten schools in our state. I'm sure it would go over well if our bankrupt state started dumping a lot of money in NIU/SIU/ISU/WhateverU to upgrade athletic facilities etc. to be Big Ten worthy. What a waste of time.

by **ShockValue** » April 5th, 2014, 8:30 am

What a bunch of morons.

by **Drakey** » April 5th, 2014, 9:26 am

The Iowa legislature just put Drake in the ACC.

by **squirrel** » April 6th, 2014, 11:45 am

This would only be for Northern Illinois' admission, as a Chicago-area entry.

by **Mikovio** » April 8th, 2014, 1:27 pm

BTbird wrote:
"This is something that has been under the radar but is now getting a much stronger drum beat," Connelly said. "I've got three kids that are college age and we know that there are a lot of kids with 34 ACT scores and high class rank that are rejected by the University of Illinois and wind up going to places like Kansas and Indiana and other states. Michigan has Michigan and Michigan State - two Big Ten public schools - and we thought why not do a feasibility study to see if we could do the same?"

We have Northwestern and U of I so we also have 2 Big Ten schools in our state. I'm sure it would go over well if our bankrupt state started dumping a lot of money in UNI/SIU/ISU/WhateverU to upgrade athletic facilities etc. to be Big Ten worthy. What a waste of time.

Northwestern doesn't count. It has an 8k undergrad population and I'd be surprised if 20% are from Illinois. The point is to get a second public Big Ten school to stop Illinois kids with 30 ACTs from subsidizing the economies of Iowa City and West Lafayette. Illinois families spend $40k/year to send their kids out of state because they don't see a good in state alternative. It's not the craziest idea to invest $100MM into a secondary school to stop this brain and money drain. Now, is it feasible now, politically or otherwise? Probably not. Maybe down the road. But the money it's taking to explore the feasibility now is a drop in the bucket.

by **agrinut** » April 8th, 2014, 3:18 pm

SIUE would be the logical decision in this illogical idea.

by **Red** » May 7th, 2014, 1:28 pm

Rumor out on twitter by well known folks that the Big 10 plans to go to 16 schools soon. Looks like SIU is in luck!

by **musiccitybulldog** » May 7th, 2014, 2:57 pm

Can't wait to see the Saluki's in the Rose Bowl and playing Duke in the BB shootout.

by **Aargh** » May 7th, 2014, 3:16 pm

Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State - sending their teams to Carbondale - to play Football.

Yeah, that's gonna happen. And not when monkeys fly out of someone's ass. That's gonna require flying pigs flying out of someone's ass.