Pac-12 powerhouses, USC and UCLA, are finalizing talks to leave the conference for the Big Ten as early as the 2024 athletic season, CBS Sports sources tell Matt Norlander and Dennis Dodd. While the move is not yet official, it looks like the Big Ten wants to make a major acquisition that will change the college sports landscape.
An announcement that is expected to address USC and UCLA’s intentions is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, sources close to the situation tell Dodd.
“Everything is on the table,” a Pac-12 source tells Norlander.
According to The Athletic, Big Ten presidents and sporting directors met Wednesday night to discuss the incorporation of USC and UCLA into the league.
The transition from USC and UCLA to the Big Ten would be similar to the one that shook college sports last summer when Texas and Oklahoma chose to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, a move planned before the 2025 season.
This started a readjustment boom in which Big 12, American and other conferences saw teams coming in and out of their members. A similar situation is likely to occur here if USC and UCLA formalize their intentions to leave the Pac-12. The move would also be a striking divergence in direction for UCLA and Cal, system partners at the University of California.
By acquiring Trojans and Bruins, the Big Ten would transform from a midwestern conference to one that stretches along the west coast. It would be a significant change in the college sports landscape at the Power Five level, which has been located largely with teams that mostly belong to leagues in their geographic area.
USC and UCLA would lead the Big Ten to a total of 16 teams, the same number as the SEC once Texas and Oklahoma take their place. The ACC has 14 teams, while the big 12 will be left with 12 with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF in the fold after the departure of UT and OU.
This acquisition would be a significant coup for Big Ten fourth-year commissioner Kevin Warren, the first Power Five boss to cancel the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The news comes less than a year after Big Ten and Pac-12, along with the ACC, announced a strategic alliance following SEC incorporations in Texas and Oklahoma. This alliance was light on substantial action from the start, and the Big Ten’s poaching of two Pac-12 powers only further undermines the idea that leagues will work together to combat the SEC’s growing power in sports. university students.
With the Pac-12 media rights agreement expiring in 2024 and the Big Ten in the midst of negotiating a new media rights agreement that could begin as early as next season and is said to surpass the $ 1 billion a year, the timing is natural for these discussions. The expiration of this Pac-12 agreement should leave USC and UCLA with little financial burden if they finally decide to leave for the Big Ten.
Jon Wilner of San Jose Mercury-News reported for the first time that USC and UCLA planned to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.