Will the Big 10 Pile on the NCAA’s Punishment of Penn State Football?
As if things weren’t going to be rough enough for everyone involved with the Penn State Nittany Lions football program in the next 24 hours, rumors are starting to surface the Big 10 may go ahead and pile on it’s own penalties and sanctions on the program after the NCAA makes its formal sanctions known at a press conference tomorrow morning at 8 central time.
Iowa University President Sally Mason expressed in an interview with the Des Moines County Register, that the conference would be watching the NCAA’s decision closely, and would act accordingly:
I think you can expect when the NCAA is ready to talk about what the appropriate actions are with regard to Penn State, that we’ll be ready to talk about appropriate actions with regard to the conference as well. We’re watching the NCAA closely.
Quote from Des Moines County Register interview.
The most likely sanction to be handed down by the Big 10 in this instance would be a denial of shared revenue which is generated by the appearance of any member schools in post-season games. While it’s a foregone conclusion the NCAA punishment will include a post-season ban, this would be one way to ensure Penn State was not able to profit from this shared revenue during a time period where post-season play is an impossibility.
A more remote possibility is that Penn State’s Big 10 membership could be terminated all-together should those involved in the conference’s administration determine its inclusion as a member would be more detrimental than once thought as the Jerry Sandusky trial began to become a part of our daily discourse.
Is it in “good taste”– at least in the traditional sense– for the Big 10 to pile on to the punishments handed down by the NCAA?
Perhaps not.
Does it make sense from an organizational perspective for the conference to act decisively to ensure its members in good standing continue to keep faith in its operations?
Yes. Undeniably.
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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America.
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Kris is also the host of Rant Sports Radio on the Blog Talk Radio Network Wednesday evenings at 8 Central Time.
