As we await Jim Delany‘s appearance in front of the assembled media in Scottsdale, the Big Ten commissioner has given USA Today a preview of what he’ll say at some point this afternoon.
And what it looks like he intends to utter will put the brakes on the accelerated expansion talks that have taken over the sport for the past four days.
In his brief phone conversation with USA Today, Delany denied a Chicago Tribune report that the timetable for expanding the Big Ten -- initially set at 12-18 months back in December -- has been fast-tracked.
In fact, he refuted it completely and entirely.
“We have not accelerated anything,” Delany told the paper. “We’ll work with our athletic directors and our presidents. If there’s a need to have formal discussions about expansion with another institution, we’ll reach out.
“But we’re still in the process of analyzing and gathering information, and we’re not anywhere near what I would describe as formal expansion discussions with any member. We haven’t changed anything, neither the timetable nor the process that was described.”
Delany admitted the expansion issue did come up at this past weekend’s semiannual meetings of the Association of American Universities -- of which all 11 conference schools are members -- but said it was part of the routine according to the paper.
Whatever Delany ultimately says this afternoon, it seems, based on his quotes in the USA Today piece, that the Tribune and their sources may have gotten a little bit ahead of themselves.