in the wake of lucrative TV deals recently signed by the ACC and SEC, the Pac-10 felt a need to expand its footprint to gain more leverage in broadcast negotiations. Expansion to at least 12 teams would also allow the Pac-10 to host a conference championship game. While television was undeniably a factor in the realignment speculation, it was not the only one; Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick claimed that at most schools, realignment was being driven primarily by university administrators who saw an opportunity to improve the academic image of their schools—not by athletic directors. Also, for at least three schools—Hawaii, Belmont, and Denver—travel costs played a major role in their decisions to change conferences. The realignment process consumed much of the resources of conference administrators. Karl Benson, who was commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) when the cycle started and became Sun Belt Conference commissioner in March 2012, estimated that about 90 percent of his workload in his first two months as Sun Belt commissioner had been taken up by realignment-related issues—either recruiting new members or trying to keep current members in the conference. Major FBS conferences affected Big Ten Conference First wave After the Big Ten's initial announcement that it was looking at expansion in December 2009, rumors about possible expansion targets and the possibility that the conference might expand to as many as 14 or 16 teams circulated into May 2010. On June 11, 2010, Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school. Its membership became effective July 1, 2011. Big Ten officials later stated that they had no plans to expand beyond 12 teams in the near future. Second wave However, in mid-November 2012, the landscape changed, as ESPN reported that the University of Maryland, a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), was in "serious negotiations" to join the Big Ten, ultimately concluding in the Big Ten making an offer to Maryland to join the conference. Rutgers University of the Big East Conference was also reported to be in consideration to join the Big Ten as well. On November 19, 2012, the Maryland regents voted to accept the Big Ten's offer, and the Big Ten presidents unanimously approved Maryland's entry later that day. Rutgers announced the day after that they would also join the Big Ten. Maryland and Rutgers officially became the