You have to respect Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany. He doesn’t douse his shit with perfume. He spoke at a recent panel of conference commissioners and presented the wealthy conferences’ view bluntly. They would rather dismantle the BCS entirely in 2014 than grant more access to Non-AQ teams.

Delany presents the Big Ten and the SEC as losers under the status quo.

“We gave up the Rose Bowl, the SEC gave up access to the Sugar Bowl, others were included but they never had access to any of this before,” Delany said. “You have to understand who brought what to the table. Who’s continuing to give and who’s continuing to get.”

He emphasizes that they’re mad as hell and they aren’t going to take it anymore.

“The only thing I would say, if you think you (the non-automatic qualifying leagues) can continue to pressure the system and we’ll just naturally provide more and more and more,” Delany said. “I don’t think that’s an assumption that our presidents, athletic directors, football coaches and commissioners necessarily agree with.

“Karl (Benson) says we like this contract and we want more. Well, we’ve got fatigue for defending a system that’s under a lot of pressure. The pressure is for more. It’s never enough.”

He also doesn’t understand why those Non-AQ arrivistes no longer tip their caps or step into the street when he passes by on the sidewalk. Their teams weren’t relevant in 1902. Who do they think they are?

Delany’s sentiments suggest we are far from a playoff or a plus one, in 2010, but where will be in 2014 when the BCS contracts are renegotiated? Money always wins out, in every human endeavor. Big Conference Commissioners may be content sacrificing profits to maintain their privileged status, but ESPN and sponsors with their spoons in the pot won’t be. This group may stay stubborn, but will the next generation be opposed?

There’s already significant support for a plus one (SEC, ACC, the one Non-AQ vote). The bulwark is opposition from the Big Ten and Pac 10/12. Does Jim Delany waver if an undefeated Big Ten team gets screwed out of the title game? BCS computers hammered the Big Ten for their strengths of schedule. Had Wisconsin, Michigan State or Ohio State gone undefeated they would have been the odd team out. Auburn’s plight was enough to convert Mike Slive.

Tradition only has value when it is valuable financially. After initial reluctance, the BCS money was enough for the Big Ten and Pac 10 to give up access to the Rose Bowl every year. The money from a plus one and a playoff will eventually be enough for those conferences to give up privileged access to it in most years.

[Photo via Getty]