Rutgers becomes the 14th member of the Big Ten

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As expected, Rutgers became the 14th member of the Big Ten on Tuesday afternoon, just one day after Maryland was added to the mainly mid-western conference.

Similarly to Maryland's move, Rutgers' change in conferences was highly based on financial decisions to lower costs and attain financial security, rather than paying top dollar to play their traditional rivals.

In part of other recent moves in conferences from other colleges around the country -- such as Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, etc. -- Big Ten commissioner James Delany was prepared to expand.

"What we saw happening around us, was most of the major conferences moving out of their historical boundaries, and we thought we needed to at least be aware of what the potential was," said Delany. "And as we looked around our neighborhood and out of our neighborhood, we recognized that Rutgers was not only a great institution, but was an institution that we had a lot in common with, and we wanted to reach out."

By leaving the Big East, Rutgers will avoid paying the hefty 24 million annual cost while also keeping the team relevant and away from a conference that's beginning to fall off the map.

In addition to the financial aspect of it all, the expansion will help the conference get greater recognition across the country. Being close to New York City, the Big Ten will have a much stronger pull in the nation's largest metropolitan area.

"This relationship is the perfect storm of relationships," added Rutgers' director of athletics Tim Pernetti. "Our job, starting today at Rutgers, will be to help create new value for the Big Ten conference. To bring new things to the party that's going to help further this conference as the greatest conference in college sports."

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