The constantly changing landscape of College Athletics seems to be gearing up for another change in a few years. This time affecting the PAC-12 and decades worth of rivalries and traditions.
Source: USC and UCLA are planning to leave for the Big Ten as early as 2024. Move *has not been finalized* at the highest levels of power.
Jon Wilner reported this morning that USC and UCLA are looking to join the Big 10 as early as 2024. The report was corroborated by Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated.
USC and UCLA are in negotiations to join the Big Ten conference, a source tells @SInow, confirming @wilnerhotline's report.
A stunning but not all that surprising move: Teams are jockeying to get into the top two leagues of FBS - the SEC and B1G.
The biggest obstacle in such a move had long been UCLA leaving behind Cal because it meant breaking away from UC system, per sources. One Pac-12 source said they were "stunned" UCLA would make that move.
Pete Thamel @PeteThamel
We’ll have more news for you as it develops of the next few days
Knowlton has two years to come up with a solution. Why take bold, timely, and aggressive action to preserve the Cal legacy when you can dawdle and spend time working on Mark Fox' extension.
Just some rando on Reddit so take it with a grain of salt, but:
“If I were Big10 Commissioner, I would be thinking about 3 potential sets of moves:
1. If the PAC12 looks like it might fall apart, try to lure away Stanford, Berkeley and Washington. Those are all AAU schools with fantastic academics. This both: (a) effectively creates a "west" division, and (b) brings the Big10 academics to the level of the ACC - which leads to 2. Also adds San Fran and Seattle television market.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/voe3l7/usc_and_ucla_set_to_join_big_ten/iedrlsr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3