Originally Posted by
Thurber Whyte
This is the overwhelming sentiment I see. It is a remarkably frank one from a fanbase not historically known for its rationality or self awareness. When the move was announced there was a lot of talk about finally finding a conference that appreciated them, how the big ten is stronger academically and that is where a public ivy such as Maryland belongs, how their football program needs stronger competition while their basketball team could teach the others how to play the sport, etc. Even so there were still many who hated the move from the outset and would not play the glad game. Now that they are into it and it neither feels familiar nor feels like an improvement, there is no attempt at rationalization. They understand that there was no other choice and leave it at that. Fan support for basketball remains healthy. It had already fallen off a bit since the end of the Gary Williams era. However, I do not see the same passion. A lot of that passion was driven by the outsider, we do not get any respect, the system is rigged against us mythology of their relationship with the ACC. Now they have encountered a conference full of opposing fans who actually could care less about them. In turn, they lack the familiarity needed to breed contempt. There was some tentative effort to cast Penn State as a natural rival. They are the next state over and Maryland used to play them frequently in football. However, it is hard to have a rivalry when the all time record of Maryland in that series is 39-2-1. Speaking of football, attendance there continues to fall despite the move. That was one of the things that got the Athletic Department into such dire financial trouble. They renovated Byrd Stadium with a build it and they will come expectation that never materialized. If nothing else, joining the Big Ten was supposed to mean that, in a conference full of huge state universities with fanbases that traveled well and already had lots of alumni in the area, those seats would at least be filled with opposing fans. That effect does seem to have happened, but it appears that ticket sales among Maryland's own football supporters keep falling even more precipitously.