Big Ten Has its Own Sanctions for Penn State
Not wanting to miss out on this most unfortunate of parties, the Big Ten kicked the dying body of Penn State football shortly after the NCAA dropped a piano on its head.
The conference announced two things: 1) Penn State will not be eligible to play in conference championship games for four years (of course, they probably wouldn’t have had to worry about that anyway) and 2) they will forfeit Big Ten bowl game revenues for the next four seasons – about $13 million – with that money going to charity.
Ineligibility: As referenced in the NCAA release, Penn State’s football team will be ineligible for postseason bowl games. It will also be ineligible for Big Ten Conference Championship Games for four years, a period of time that runs concurrently with the NCAA postseason bowl ban imposed this morning.
Fine: Because Penn State will be ineligible for bowl games for the next four years, it will therefore be ineligible to receive its share of Big Ten Conference bowl revenues over those same four years. That money, estimated to be approximately $13 million, will be donated to established charitable organizations in Big Ten communities dedicated to the protection of children.
Combined with a $60 million fine from the NCAA (also going to charity), Penn State will lose about $73 million. Or, half a Cole Hamels.
