Although I am a fan of a theoretical conference contraction back to a true BigTEN conference, practicality would dictate this would never happen. There was too much money to made by the BTN when it added the New York market held by Rutgers and MD. Even Nebraska brings in a million TV sets as the Huskers are the only show in the state for any sport. They sold out their 90k seat stadium for the spring game, for crying out loud.
Can Indiana stomach the loss of $10 to $20 million in ANNUAL revenues from those markets for the sake of a more favorable football schedule? I don't think any school, even Indiana would be in favor of that.
neither you nor anyone else, including Delany, can prove expansion generated so much as 1 extra dollar in tv revenue.
in fact, prior to adding RU and UMd, the league released BTN revenues for the past yr, every yr, to tout the increased amount BTN made that yr.
that no longer continued after RU and UMd were added, highly suggesting they weren't a per school BTN revenue booster for the league, as had they been, the league would have bragged about it publically, as they always had in the past.
the B10 does still release total payout per school, but no longer breaks down the BTN portion. (which were always much less than the tier 1,2 portions).
the increased revenue this past yr or 2, was due to the expiration of the old tier 1,2 contracts, and the signing of new ones (involving Fox as well in tier 1 and 2 for the 1st time), which always brings a huge jump in revenues, not only for the B10, but all major conferences and all major sports.
there is zero evidence that expansion was responsible for any per school gains, and again, not even Delany could prove or even knows their impact on the new tier 1,2 contracts. (he only knows the immediately before and after of BTN revenues for the RU and UMd geographical areas, and his sudden silence there does not point to hoped for gains).
the only way to know the tier 1,2 impacts, (which are league wide rather than broken down by geographic area like BTN revenues), would be for an alternate universe to also exist in which there was no expansion, and compare the revenues per school of the 2 different universes. (one with expansion. one without).
think of selling a house you bought 15 yrs ago, in a market where selling prices have gone up mostly between 75-85% over that time for homes in the area, with some going up more than others.
1 yr before selling, you did new tile in the tub/shower surround of one of the existing baths.
you then sell the house for 80% more than you originally paid 15 yrs ago.
how much of the increased selling price was due to increased market value of the specific home over the 15 yrs, and how much was due to the new tile in the surround.
absolutely zero way for anyone, including the owner and the RE agents involved, to ever know.