This.......Maryland had leverage and Rutgers did not. When the ACC raided Cuse and Pitt, and subsequently ND, the Big Ten became very concerned about the lack of presence in the DC Metro and NY Metro areas that they had been looking at.
Maryland was very upset that their "natural rival" selected by the ACC was Pitt. They would have preferred it to be Duke, UNC or even Virginia. That move was a slap in the face to Terp Nation. With the expansion of the ACC they knew there would no longer be the "home and home": with Duke or UNC. Maryland had just cut a few sports a year or 2 earlier.
When the B1G came calling, Maryland made its move. The Maryland fans I spoke to were livid for a week or 2 but when stepping back saw that they were treated as an "outcast" by the ACC and the B1G was showing them the love. The AD said that the objective is for them to never cut another sport and in fact they want to restore the ones that were cut in the future.