While realignment made sense financially to the power conferences in football, it makes no sense at all in hockey. Exactly what will MN, UW, Michigan, MSU, and OSU gain by grouping together? I can't comment on the others, but in MN's case, they already have a tv contract with FSN. There's little likelihood the BTN would be able to improve on that arrangement financially. Geographically, it doesn't make a lot of sense, either. Hockey fans like to do the road trip thing - and what are the odds that a lot of them are going to want to make the 12 hour trek to Columbus for a weekend series? Compare that trip with an hour to St. Cloud/Mankato, two hours to Duluth, 4 1/2 hours to Grand Forks, 5 1/2 hours to Omaha, and 6 1/2 hours to Houghton.
Even if they found a way to also poach Notre Dame from the CCHA to get to six teams, it just makes zero sense. I also fail to see how their postseason tournament would manage to come close to the financial power of the final five (plus the Big Ten typically has tournaments in Indianapolis - can anyone imagine this working for hockey?!).