The USC and UCLA were accepted as the newest members of the Big Ten conference, and league officials approved their membership on Thursday night. The programs have announced their departures from Pac-12 starting in 2024 with the pair marking a significant acquisition for Big Ten that will significantly change the university’s sports landscape.
“Ultimately, Big Ten is the best home for USC and Trojan athletics as we move into a new world of collegiate sports,” said USC athletic director Mike Bohn. “We are excited that our values are aligned with the league’s member institutions. We will also benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutions; increased visibility, exposure and resources the conference will bring to our student-athletes and programs.” to our passionate alumni across the country. “
“After careful consideration and deliberate deliberation, UCLA has decided to leave the Pac-12 conference and join the Big Ten conference at the start of the 2024-25 season,” UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block and AD Martin Jarmond said in a joint statement. “… Each school faces its own unique challenges and circumstances, and we believe this is the best move for UCLA at the moment. For us, this move offers greater security in fast-changing times and ensures we remain a leader in university athletics As the oldest NCAA Division I athletics conference in the United States and with a footprint that will now stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic, Big Ten membership offers Bruins exciting new competitive opportunities and a wider national media platform for our student-athletes to compete. and show their talents. “
Big Ten presidents and sports directors met for the first time Wednesday night to discuss adding USC and UCLA to the league, sources told CBS Sports Matt Norlander. A follow-up vote was held Thursday night to officially welcome the league’s programs beginning Aug. 2, 2024.
“As a national leader in academic and athletics for more than 126 years, the Big Ten Conference has historically evaluated its membership with the common goal of pursuing an academic and athletic mission for student-athletes under the auspices of higher education,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin said Warren. “Today’s unanimous vote marks the deep respect and welcome culture our entire conference has for the University of Southern California, led by President Carol Folt, and the University of California, Los Angeles, led by Chancellor Gene Block.”
Representatives of the remaining 10 Pac-12 programs are due to speak Thursday night, Dodd sources say. The Pac-12 would prefer to stay together, but key players admit it could be difficult in the middle of a crucial period. There are reports that several Pac-12 programs have already contacted the Big Ten about potential joining its membership.
The Pac-12 remained shaken as it lost two of its distinctive programs amid ongoing negotiations for a new media rights agreement. Given that current contracts expire on June 30, 2024, Thursday was the last day for USC and UCLA to notify Pac-12 of their plans to leave without likely imposing additional financial penalties, sources told Norlander.
“While we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the news coming in from UCLA and USC today, we have a long and historic history in athletics, academics and leadership in supporting student-athletes we are confident will continue to progress and grow in the future,” it said. in a Pac-12 statement. “… We will continue to develop new and innovative programs that will directly benefit our member institutions, and we look forward to partnering with current and potential members to bring together the future of university athletics.”
This movement is also coming at a crucial time for Big Ten, which will expand its conference with several major brands while in the midst of its own negotiations on a new media rights deal. That business could start as early as next season and reportedly exceed $ 1 billion a year.
The transition of USC and UCLA to Big Ten is similar to the one that rocked university sports last summer when Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave the Big 12 for the sake of the SEC, a move that will take place ahead of the 2025 season. This triggered a realignment bonanza in which teams were seen at the Big 12, American and other conferences as teams transition and exit their membership.
A similar domino effect is expected to happen here as the Pac-12 could see the exit of additional teams.
“This is all about the SC at the end of the day: the readiness of the SC to move, and then they need a partner in crime,” a Pac-12 source told Dodd. “This boils down to the USC football value that drives this and the L.A. market.”
The move represents a startling deviation in the direction for UCLA, which is a partner with Cal in the University of California system and who has previously suggested that universities remain connected. The USC initially decided to investigate leaving Pac-12, contacting UCLA as a partner before, according to numerous reports, both schools contacted Big Ten to investigate whether the conference would be interested in their membership.
With the acquisition of the Trojans and Bruins, the Big Ten is transformed from a largely Midwestern conference to a conference stretching from New Jersey to the West Coast. This is a significant shift in the university’s sports landscape at the Power Five level, which is mostly localized with teams that mostly belong to leagues in their geographic area.
USC and UCLA bring Big Ten to a total of 16 teams, the same number as the SEC after Texas and Oklahoma enter the league. ACC has 14 teams, while the Big 12 will settle at 12 with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF after the departure of UT and OU.
This acquisition is a significant blow to four-year-old Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, the first Power Five boss to cancel the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, it’s a potentially devastating blow to Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff, whose one-year anniversary at the job came on Thursday when the news surfaced.
The Big Ten attacking the two most prominent Pac-12 programs comes less than a year after two conferences – along with the ACC – announced a strategic alliance after the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma. That alliance has been light on substantive action from the start, and Big Ten’s poaching by the USC and UCLA only further undermines the idea that leagues will work together to combat the SEC’s growing power in university sports.
