You have a good point but I am not sure the quote I was responding to meant it the way you do.
Also, during the non full revenue early years in the big 10, they weren't (the big 10) weren't treating us that way and maybe a little disrespectful, especially when marlyand and rutgers got a full share right away, when NU didn't, IMO
Maryland and Rutgers got a full share because they needed cash to remain solvent.
Maryland needed help to pay a $30M exit fee to the ACC and Rutgers was so broke they couldn't even afford their $11.5M exit fee.
Nebraska had plenty of money in the reserve fund to cover paying the up front buy-in. We had enough to not only cover the Big 12 buyout and both Pederson and Callahan's buyouts but to cover the $25M East Stadium expansion comfortably as well. (When Osborne was AD, Nebraska netted enough that about $15M was put into the reserve fund each year and I bet that figure is higher today.)
Maryland and Rutgers still have to pay their buy in, the Big Ten is just letting them wait to do it in a few years once they have built up their own reserve funds and are no longer in danger of being bankrupt.
Also understand, the buy-in wasn't for joining the conference itself, it's the cost each of the other schools had put in as the startup fund for the Big Ten Network. We were paying into a full share of BTN ownership and both Rutgers and Maryland will do the same, when they can afford to.
That's also why schools like Missouri, Colorado and A&M didn't have a buy in. There was no conference network for them to buy in to.
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Also you think we were disrespected? The Big Ten stacked the hell out of our schedule those first few years. That wasn't disrespect, that was fear. They handed us crossovers with Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin so we couldn't just walk in and win the conference immediately.
Coversely, the SEC didn't respect Missouri at all and it cost the SEC. Missouri rode a soft schedule to a division title because the SEC gave them a crossover slate that skipped Bama, Auburn and LSU - the three top teams in the West.