Under the Rumors section of ESPN:
Despite what on the surface appears to be a good match (and reports a couple weeks ago that it was a "done deal"), Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that
questions remain about whether Missouri is all but guaranteed an invite to the Big Ten.
In the early 1990s, when the Big Ten was studying further expansion following the addition of Penn State, the Missouri chancellor said he was told by three or four Big Ten presidents that they were more interested in the New York and Philadelphia markets, and that they considered St. Louis covered by Illinois. Has that changed?
Missouri is just 102nd in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings, far behind three Big East schools under consideration (Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers), which are between 56th and 66th, and the lowest current Big Ten school, which is 71st. The school's athletic budget of just under $59 million would place it ninth in the Big Ten. And the Tigers are a lowly 42nd in the latest Directors Cup standings measuring overall athletic department performance, which would also be ninth in the Big Ten.
One source also told Gregorian that some of the posturing that has been done on the school's behalf "creates an impression that it is both whining and rattling a tin cup to the Big Ten," which could turn off its prospective partner.
So despite the things Missouri has going for it -- a more natural geographic fit, built-in rivalry with Illinois, longtime membership in the Association of American Universities -- the school could still find itself on the outside looking in if the Big Ten only adds one or three schools.