2004: The B10 famously "rolls the dice" by refusing ESPN's contract offer.
About a decade later Delany said something just as relevant today as it was then: “You can be sure that those with great, great content will always — relatively speaking — be treated very well.”
The B10 should continue betting on itself because in the poker game that is today's CFB, nobody has a better hand or a bigger stack of chips. Forget the portal, NIL and conference expansion as a slave to TV rights. If you lock up the content, things will fall into place and opportunity will emerge.
Players choose their best option (recruiting/portal) based on money (NIL) and market exposure/opportunity (expansion). Programs and Broadcasters do the same. Great content is great leverage.
Put a conference NIL program in place now. Consider "football only" membership. Do deals with ACC teams that don't trigger until their obligations expire if you need to. Refuse TV contracts that are long term or overly restrictive. Put the focus on becoming "the" national conference for CFB.
Seek to be everywhere, all the time. Play meaningful games against quality opponents Thursday, Friday, and all day and night Saturday. Commit to having every team play one neutral site game a year so you can have, say, Oregon play Wisconsin in Washington DC in a Prime Time Friday night match. Use the league NIL office to court, and be courted by, regions, cities and corporate entities. Squeeze that money lemon better than the competition and you will draw the best players.
Right now, The SEC is still focused on being a regional conference (a golden opportunity that may not last). ND will not join the B10 unless it has to. Reports say almost every team of note in the country has contacted the conference about joining. Players are still making decisions based on money that in most cases is not life changing. Networks are offering large sums for broadcasting rights. It's a wild west in search of a new sheriff.
(Mod Edit: minor correction of the former B1G Commissioner's name for you, Deacon.)
