Editing Big Ten Conference (section)

===1990 expansion: Penn State===
[[File:Big Ten Conference former logo.svg|thumb|Big Ten logo (1990–2011). To reflect the addition of the 11th school, Penn State, the number 11 was placed in the negative space of the "Big Ten" lettering.]]
In 1990, the Big Ten universities voted to expand the conference to 11 teams and extended an invitation to [[Atlantic 10 Conference]] member and [[NCAA Division I FBS independent schools|football independent]] [[Pennsylvania State University]], which accepted it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/wchamp25/spec-rel/091106aaa.html|title=An Ingenious Inception: Penn State Joins the Big Ten Conference|access-date=February 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070328195006/http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/wchamp25/spec-rel/091106aaa.html|archive-date=March 28, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> When Penn State joined in 1990, it was decided the conference would continue to be called the Big Ten, but its [[logo]] was modified to reflect the change; the number 11 was disguised in the [[negative space]] of the traditionally blue "Big Ten" lettering.

Missouri showed interest in Big Ten membership after Penn State joined.<ref>{{cite news | title = Missouri Interested In Jumping To The Big Ten | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=DSNB&d_place=DSNB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F3608419978C745&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM| access-date = June 14, 2010 | date=January 16, 1993}}</ref> Around 1993, the league explored adding [[University of Kansas|Kansas]], [[University of Missouri|Missouri]] and Rutgers or other potential schools, to create a 14-team league with two football divisions.<ref>{{cite news | title = Kansas, Big 10 a good fit? | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/12/10/kansas-big-10-a-good-fit/ | access-date = November 10, 2009 | work=Chicago Tribune | first=Ed | last=Sherman | date=December 10, 1993}}</ref> These talks died when the [[Big Eight Conference]] merged with former [[Southwest Conference]] members to create the [[Big 12]].

Following the addition of Penn State, efforts were made to encourage the [[University of Notre Dame]], at that time the last remaining non-[[United States service academies|service academy]] independent, to join the league. In 1999, Notre Dame and the Big Ten entered into private negotiations concerning a possible membership that would include Notre Dame. Although Notre Dame's faculty senate endorsed the idea with a near-unanimous vote, the school's board of trustees decided against joining the conference.<ref>{{cite web| title=MDO – Irish say 'no thanks' to joining Big Ten – 02/08/1999 | website=mndaily.com | date=2007-12-20 | url=http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1999/02/08/sports/irish/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220054555/http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1999/02/08/sports/irish/ | archive-date=2007-12-20 | url-status=dead | access-date=2019-02-02}}</ref> (In 1926, Notre Dame had briefly considered official entry into the Big Ten but chose to retain its independent status.<ref>{{cite news | title = Notre Dame shuns Big Ten, fears losing 'distinctiveness' | newspaper = National Catholic Reporter | date=February 19, 1999 | author=Pamela Schaeffer | url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_16_35/ai_80680415 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050826112727/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_16_35/ai_80680415 | url-status=dead | archive-date = August 26, 2005 | access-date = January 14, 2007}}</ref>) Notre Dame subsequently joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports except football (and hockey), in which Notre Dame maintains its independent status as long as it plays at least five games per season against ACC opponents. This was believed to be the major stumbling block to Notre Dame joining the Big Ten, as Notre Dame wanted to retain its independent [[Notre Dame Football on NBC|home game broadcasting contract]] with [[NBC Sports]], while the Big Ten insisted upon a full membership with no special exemptions.