So Pitt related news is rather slow during these down months. Basketball is taking a break. Football has completed spring camp and will be rather quiet until later in the summer. Not much else is going on in Pitt Sports that’s news-worthy right now.

However, there has been a lot of buzz in general in the college sports world these days. Almost all of it relates to conference expansion and realignment.

We learned our lesson once already when we reported on speculation and rumors the last time we heard them. Those rumors turned out to be completely false and we were left standing in public with our pants down. So you won’t hear any more reports on rumors from us. But we would like to address all the expansion/realignment talk that’s going on right now. More specifically, we’d like to point out the facts to all of our readers so that they know which reports to listen to, and which reports to let pass in one ear and out the other.

Let’s take a look at the facts surrounding conference expansion/realignment.

FACTS:
1. The Big Ten Conference is exploring expansion options. This one is no secret. The Big Ten’s announcement back in December has caused quite a stir in the college sports world. This is what started the whole fuss. We’ve heard countless rumors and speculation since the announcement. Almost all of it has been unfounded (and false). The simple fact is that the Big Ten is EXPLORING expansion on a 12-18 month timetable. The keyword here is “exploring”. The Big Ten has not made a decision on whether or not they will expand. They’re simply looking into the possibility. That means we might wait until fall just to hear the Big Ten tell everyone that they’re ok without expanding. Whatever the case, their timeline remains the same. So unless something changes, the Big Ten will announce their plans no sooner than late fall.

2. The PAC 10 Conference is exploring expansion options. This is recent news. The PAC 10 has just recently decided that they will explore their own expansion options this year as well. Again, they’re just exploring options. This doesn’t mean that they will expand. Just like the Big Ten, the PAC 10 is taking a look at the options for expansion and whether or not it makes sense for the conference.

That’s it. There are no more facts. Everything else that you read out there is speculation and unfounded rumors. The only tidbit of information that even approaches the credibility of a fact is that Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon, also the chair of the Big Ten’s council of presidents/chancellors, both mentioned that if other conferences take action before the Big Ten has decided what to do about expansion, it may speed up the Big Ten’s timeline. Keep in mind though, the PAC 10′s timeline ends at about the same time as the Big Ten’s original timeline, and the PAC 10 is the only other conference that’s even mentioned expansion. So the chances of seeing something from the Big Ten sooner than their original timeline are still somewhat small.

It’s somewhat surprising that after all of the rumors we’ve seen fall through so far, the major networks like ESPN are still reporting on these rumors that are floating around. But then again, ESPN also erased all of their stories on the “Pitt to the Big Ten” rumor once it turned out to be false. I guess it’s easy to report on rumors when you don’t have to own up to your coverage, isn’t it?