This isn't pandering to MD & Rutgers, this is about growing the DC & NYC markets & the $ he hopes they bring to the conference. ACC played there tournament in Brooklyn this past year, I expect the B1G could have done that and kept the usual weekend, but Delany wanted MSG & NYC. Playing a week early isn't ideal, but this is also why Illinois will take in $51 million in conference money next year and a large part of paying for State Farm /Memorial Stadium upgrades. Sort of sucks, but it is a long term play to expand the brand & just maybe it puts B1G tourney in the solo spotlight the week earlier for additional nationwide TV coverage. So feel good that we are getting paid more for this than MD & Rutgers.
I care a lot less about growing the brand (read: money) than watching a good season of competition in the conference. I think the spirit of college conferences broke when the conferences became too large for football to play a full round robin, and basketball to play a double round robin. It is time for the NCAA to show some backbone and restrict conference sizes to 10.