The Big Ten Conference is ready to look at expanding the league beyond the current 11 teams in the conference.

The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors released a statement on Tuesday, saying that it "believes that the timing is right for the conference to once again conduct a thorough evaluation of options for conference structure and expansion."

The Council has asked the conference office to seek the information that will be the basis for initial recommendations without formally discussing anything with leadership of any non-Big Ten school.  The Council has asked the conference commissioner "to provide recommendations for consideration by the [Council] over the next 12 to 18 months."

After the initial recommendations, the Council would decide whether to proceed by contacting other conference commissioners and the schools themselves.

The Big Ten conducted similar reviews of expansion possibilities in 1993, 1998 and 2003, according to the statement.  Penn State was the last school to join the Big Ten when they joined in June 1990.