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If at any point in the last decade or so you’ve watched a college football game on the Big Ten Network, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen the iconic “Maps” commercial.
Yoy know, the one that makes it seems like you’re flying over a fictional (and oddly shaped) map of the U.S while marking the location of the 14 Big Ten (math is hard) institutions?
It looks a little something like this.
But there was a problem with the commercial. The Big Ten is no longer 14 teams. It’s also not 10 teams but that’s conversation for a different day.
The Big Ten Conference added four West Coast schools: Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA to the equations ahead of the 2024-25 academic year. That made the iconic commercial obsolete.
So what did the Big Ten do? They did what any self-respecting conference with a legendary commercial would do – plug the holes.
On Friday, the Big Ten released a new version of “Maps” and it was everything we wanted and more.
We know you’ve been waiting for this one…
“Maps” is here and it’s beautiful. #B1GWelcome pic.twitter.com/vPfVeEdonn
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 2, 2024
This version of the commercial is even a little bit more geographically accurate, if I do say so myself.
Fans were overjoyed that the Big Ten did not just do away with the ad.
“The map is very detailed for UW: Rainier, boats, seaplane, space needle, cherry blossoms, stadium. Oregon: here’s our stadium and a couple buildings we have. And here’s the duck,” one Washington fan wrote.
“This commercial has held me hostage for years and I have stockholm syndrome, apparently. They really did it. Realignment bad, but commercial still good,” a longtime BTN viewer said of the commercial.
Conference realignment has been awful for college sports. There’s really not much to argue that point. But kudos to the Big Ten for keeping around one of the few things that fans actually enjoy.