PHILADELPHIA– USC and UCLA have made a seismic decision the landscape of college athletics..
The two franchise members of the Pac-12 located in Los Angeles media center announced they had applied and been approved for membership in the 14 team Big Ten, which sees the decision as a proportional response to Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the talented loaded SEC.
The Bruins and Trojans have been cleared to begin play in the Big in 2024.
Their addition gives the Big a true national conference and should create a monster TV contract that could pay the league over $1 billion dollars
“Ultimately, the Big Ten is the best home for USC and Trojan athletics in new world of college athletics,” USC AD Mike Bohn said. “We benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutons; the increased stability, exposure, and resources the conference will bring our student-athletes and programs. and the ability to expand engagement with our passionate alumni nationwide”
UCLA AD Martin Jarmond added the Big Ten will ensure UCLA preserves and maintains all 25 current teams and more than 700 student athletes.
That being said, the move comes across as somewhat hypocritical for the Big Ten, which last winter formed an alliance with the Pac-12 to stabilize their conferences after the Texas-Oklahoma decision.
But it didn’t take long for the Big Ten to backstab its Rose Bowl partner.
College sports, particular football, has become a huge armed race and this latest move comes across as greed with the Big Ten and SEC set to devour everything that stands in their way.
The Pac-12 had a chance to save itself in January, but the conference chose to block a 12-team, six-automatic bid College Football Playoff proposal, which will go down as one of the most ill advised decisions in the history of college athletics The deal was expected to earn over $1 billioin per year and guaranteed more teams would have a pathway to the national championship. But the Pac-12 and the ACC voted against it..
The result is two super conferences and others struggling for politial and economic survival.
There is already speculation that more schools in the depleted Pac-12 are looking for the exit ramp, which could destroy the league. And the ACC, which has been unable to bring Notre Dame in as a full-time partner, will undoubtedly see its stock drop
No one says the transition will be easy for UCLA and USC
Travel will be more difficult, especially even it means flying into the snow country in the winter. tjhe student-athletes will suffer from endless road trips even if the Big 10 goes to divisions, but when it they ever matter in big business. If the Big puts in divisions, the resources offered by the Big Ten will allow for more efficient travel options with private jets. Both UCLA and USC will benefit from the fact the grant of rights tied to Pac-12 TV deal expires at the end of the 2023 season with both schools making $50 million more in TV money than they did in the Pac-12.
The Pac 12 could turn to ashes with only one football team — Oregon– capable of making the College Footbal Playoff and not enough population in the Bay area and Pacific northwest to merit a competitive TV deal. .
Once the dominos fall, we could eventully see the Power 5 turn into four leagues of 16 teams, the Big, the SEC, ACC and a combination of the Pac-12 and Big 12, with the Big Ten and SEC dominating the TV markets.
The days where Yale-Harvard was “The Game” are over.
