Hawaii, now that would be compensation
One word should dominate Big Ten expansion discussions: Hawaii.
Of course, conference power brokers will take that to mean they should hold future meetings out there.
"Hey," they surely think, "if it's good for us it must be good for the league."
Expansion is headed in that direction, too. If it's good for the adults it must be good for the Big Ten as a whole, right?
Conference athletic directors and coaches are meeting in Chicago this week with expansion on their minds if not on their agenda.
So far most of the talk about adding teams to the Big Ten centers on economics (meaning money from television).
Sad to say, intercollegiate athletics have come down to how schools can generate the most revenue at whatever expense.
Any conference, not just the Big Ten, would kick off football games at midnight and tip off basketball games at 3 a.m. if some broadcast outlet would ante up enough dollars.
But wouldn't that place additional burden on the student-athletes? Wouldn't it leapfrog athletics over academics? Wouldn't it further expose the hypocrisy of college athletics?
Sure, but that lesson plan escaped the classroom long ago.
For forever, universities have been suspected of abuse by misuse of their football and basketball players.
You know, like when the NCAA approved a 12th regular-season football game. Players didn't have a union to help negotiate a trade-off in exchange for the extra workload.
When I mentioned to a Big Ten athletic director that football players were being asked to do more for the same compensation, he simply looked at me like he didn't understand what I was talking about.
Anyway, it would be nice to hear that athletes would benefit from Big Ten expansion in some way, shape or form.
No, I'm not advocating paying football and basketball players. I'm still enough of a dreamer to think a college scholarship alone is valuable.
The problem is that athletes are working harder than ever for an education, not just in season with more games but in year-round workouts and weight training.
Big Ten expansion will only require bigger, faster, better athletes as more emphasis is placed on their sports.
A football championship is going to be more valuable nationally to a school if, say, Notre Dame and Nebraska are added to the league.
The degree of difficulty competing against those programs will increase the pressure on premier athletes to thrive and lesser athletes to survive.
These players - who will try to earn victories while in theory also trying to earn a degree - deserve a bonus for their trouble.
That's where Hawaii enters the equation.
If the Big Ten adds one school for a total of 12, it should be the University of Hawaii. Conference athletes would get a trip to paradise about once every two years as part of their benefit package.
If the conference expands to 14 schools, include Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii-Manoa. If we're talking 16 schools, is there an Aruba State and College of Club Med?
Seriously, the Big Ten should at least give the appearance that its student-athletes will receive something from expansion rather than an added responsibility.
mimrem@dailyherald.com