Moments after the Wisconsin Badgers Athletics Department released an official statement on the Xavier Lucas drama, the Big Ten also weighed in with their own statement. That release was in strong support of Wisconsin and it had extreme words for the University of Miami. This will end up being a messy process, but ultimately, it could be the confrontation college athletics needed to fix the broken chaos it has become in the last few years.
As expected, the Big Ten has now released a statement strongly supporting Wisconsin’s actions over DB Xavier Lucas and the revenue-share contract that he signed before deciding to transfer to Miami.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 19, 2025
Friday’s @YahooSports story with details - https://t.co/SJg2MVpN4r pic.twitter.com/Cu60RdnD2O
The Big Ten released a statement calling the tampering of the University of Miami as "very troubling."
The Big Ten does not seem to be messing around in this case and they are already backing Wisconsin up in their fight that is now close to becoming legal action. According to Pete Thamel, who made contact with a Big Ten league source, "The Big Ten believes that Miami’s actions are “inconsistent with all the work toward a new framework being done by the A4 leagues, including the ACC." The full statement, if you can't read it above, is as follows:
"The Big Ten Conference stands in full support of the University of Wisconsin regarding the contractual agreement between student-athlete Xavier Lucas and the Wisconsin football program.The Big Ten
As student-athletes become active participants in revenue sharing, it is critical that agreed-to obligations be respected, honored, and enforced. In light of current laws and association rules, information suggesting tampering and contract interference in this case by the University of Miami is very troubling. These actions undermine the efforts of its own conference as the ACC continues its collaboration with the other A4 conferences in developing a sustainable framework for college sports.
This situation is just the latest example of the critical need for substantive governance reform."
All indications between the official Wisconsin stance and now the Big Ten stance are that they are preparing for a legal battle. This situation is going to be a string of a bunch of things that happen next. There's hope that it will actually lead to something beneficial for college athletics. It's a mess for now, and Wisconsin fans are growing tired of the drama.