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Jim Delany, the Big Ten commissioner, wants his league to have a major presence in New York -- and that starts with Rutgers.

(Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports)

CHICAGO — Jim Delany was standing in the city where his conference was founded in 1895 and where, for most of the next 118 years, it has held its biggest events — basketball tournaments, media sessions, fan luncheons, etc.

But he can’t help himself if his mind is wandering about 800 miles to the east these days. Delany knows that Chicago is the capital of Big Ten country, and that will never change, but the league commissioner has planted his flag in the New York market now.

And he is clear on this: He’s not just visiting.

"Make no mistake about it: We’re going to be out there with events and with press opportunities, and we’re going to work hard to build relationships and friendships," Delany said. "We know it’s a competitive area for everything, and so we won’t dominate anything, but we want to be relevant for years to come."

That means, as he told The Star-Ledger Thursday, that "everything is on the table" — even the Big Ten football kickoff, an annual event that attracts thousands of fans at $100 a pop for a luncheon and autograph session with coaches and players.

That one has a long history here and won’t move any time soon. But the Big Ten basketball tip-off? The postseason hoops tournament? All of that could be coming to a hotel ballroom or an arena in the New York area, sooner than later, because Delany wants to conquer the media capital of the world.

Some will snicker at that, of course. New York will always be a pro sports city, with the Giants and Jets dominating everything during the peak months of college football season in a way that Ohio State-Michigan — or, for that matter, Ohio State-Rutgers — never will.

Still: Don’t bet against Delany, one of the savviest men in college sports, on this one. He believes he can make his league, and by extension its marquee sport, matter in a way that it never has in the New York area.

That process, he said, starts with the foothold in Rutgers.

"It’s really hard to be part of the community if you’re not in it," Delany said. "Rutgers and Maryland put us in that community. I grew up in New Jersey, so I understand the challenge. What the Big East tried to do in football and what others have tried to do, it didn’t have a regular influx of traditional, historic teams."

So it wasn’t just punishing the new guy when the Big Ten made sure the best of those historic teams — Penn State on Sept. 13 and Michigan three weeks later — come to Piscataway right away in 2014.

This is shock and awe, Big Ten style. If it turns out that the Scarlet Knights are good enough to pull an upset in that first season, the man in charge won’t be crying in his Park Ridge, Ill., office.

"Obviously, Texas A&M’s win over Alabama integrated them in the SEC faster than anything else," he said with a smile.

The eastward move has energized Delany, who grew up in South Orange and attended St. Benedict’s in Newark. He told his coaches in a meeting this week that everyone should benefit from the Big Ten "corridor" that now extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Midwest.

But the real benefits — i.e., the cash infusion from cable TV — could take a while. Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman gave a timetable of next summer for when his network would become a fixture on basic cable (and the windfall that comes with it), but anyone who follows the TV industry thinks that is wildly optimistic.

If Cablevision fought for years before adding YES, the BTN figures to have an even bigger challenge. Will people in New Jersey demand access to Minnesota-Iowa wrestling matches?

Not likely. That will only happen if Rutgers climbs in popularity and brings the Big Ten with it, and that will take time. Delany is prepared for the long haul, and this is about more than an occasional Big Ten basketball game in the Meadowlands. It will take a sustained presence.

"We’re going to work over the next year in an organic way to build some relationships and make some friends so that, when Rutgers and Maryland come in, they’re not coming in without feeling welcome or without feeling part of it," Delany said.

That first introduction will take place here in Chicago, the capital of Big Ten country, one year from now. But soon after, if the man in charge has his way, Rutgers will be making a much shorter trip to that familiar city up the Turnpike for something like this.