I sure wouldn't want those guys giving me any investment advice. The Big Ten football product is boring. Always has been. They need southern kids to make their games watchable. They live off of their large state diploma mills that produce 80,000+ new Big Ten lifers a year. School pride keeps them afloat. The Big Ten footprint isn't growing at the pace of the ACC or SEC or even the new expanded Big 12. Maybe NBC knows that the B1G will eventually expand into Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia? They better because in 20 years that conference will be 4th out of the 5 in the Power 5 population-wise. Their last expansion added much needed television viewers, but that expansion won't keep pace with the rapid growth in the ACC and SEC footprints.

2040 Population Projections for Power 5 Conference Geographic Footprints:
ACC = 144.16 million
SEC = 128.25 million
Big 12 = 97.47 million
Big Ten = 89.28 million
Pac 12 = 82.78 million

In 2040, North Carolina will become the 7th most populated state. It will pass Illinois and Ohio and almost be equal to Pennsylvania. Virginia will be almost the same population as Michigan. Georgia will be the 5th largest populated state and will pass Pennsylvania.

The SEC has to be eyeing the state of North Carolina. They already added to their western side.
If I'm the SEC, I'd add NC State, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Clemson and call it quits. The B1G will add UNC, Duke, UVA, GA Tech and add 2 more to get to 20. If I'm the B1G, those 2 would be Miami (even if they aren't an AAU school and are private) and Syracuse (get into NY state and the heck with AAU status). The B1G keeps their contiguousness. They better be glad NC borders GA. ;)