### Instruction:
What is the Big 10 conference?

### Response:
Large universities in the United States have organized themselves into conferences primarily for playing each other in sports. One of the longest-standing conferences is called the "Big 10" because it originally included 10 midwestern universities. It has since grown to include several east coast universities and will soon welcome two schools from California, so that the Big 10 will actually be comprised of 16 universities. This supersized conference has secured huge television contracts that make it one of the two most powerful conferences in the nation.