Report: Washington, Oregon to B1G
Following a series of alternating “it’s happening” and “it’s not happening” reports over the past 24 hours, it seems likely at this point that, yes, it is capital-H Happening. The era of the Super-Conference is formally upon us.
Oregon and Washington informed Pac-12 presidents earlier that they plan to accept an invitation from the Big Ten, sources tell me and @DanWetzel. An invitation from the Big Ten is expected soon. https://t.co/KhebqNamPV
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 4, 2023
This move will reportedly take effect for the 2024 season. As in the season immediately after the season we’re about to play. So those ‘24-‘25 schedules? Throw ‘em out. We gotta start over.
It also goes without saying that the Pac-12, a 108-year-old stalwart of college athletics, is functionally dead. They were mostly dead 24 hours ago, as this move was the comes on the heels of Colorado departing for the Big 12, Arizona and Arizona State flirting with the Big 12, and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff announcing an Apple TV-centric media rights deal that was underwhelming by today’s standards. But today, they are all the way dead.
The remaining question is what happens to the scraps. The Arizona schools may end up in the Big 12 after all, and may bring their Four Corners buddy Utah. There has been suggestions that the Big Ten or Eighteen or Whatever might be interested in Cal and/or Stanford. Oregon State and Washington State… uh… please come to HR, and bring your badge and keys with you.
This may not be a universal opinion, but… man, this sucks.
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August 4th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
The football topic has been discussed ad nauseum, but I really feel for the kids who busted their butts all their life to play softball at Oregon or UCLA, and are going to see their season openers postponed annually because of a freak ice storm in Iowa City or East Lansing on April 7 or something.
Eh. Big Ten baseball & softball early season tournaments in Southern Cal. Might actually get more quality players at the other schools.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
I'm not thrilled about all of this conference consolidation and the loss of the regional nature of the game that fueled so much of the traditions and passion that have created this beast.
The only thing that is giving me a glimmer of hope is that I ultimately see this ending up at two 20-24 team conferences. We all know that doesn't work in terms of travel issues for any sport other than football. What I think will end up happening is that there will be 4 divisions in each mega-conference based on reasonable geography and it will effectively take us back to where we were (less a few schools that weren't so lucky).
Let's look at a B1G example. I expect that the conference will end up at 24 teams. Throw in Cal and Stanford to geographically help our new west coast schools (and because academically the presidents love them) and add four schools associated with the ACC. Pick four of the following: UNC, FSU, UVA, Clemson and ND. (And if ND agrees, they will clearly be the first choice.)
West Division (Pac-6):
- USC
- UCLA
- Washington
- Oregon
- Cal
- Stanford
East Division (ACC Let's Play Lacrosse):
- Maryland
- Rutger
- North Carolina
- Florida State
- Virginia
- Clemson / ND
Great Lakes Division (Big Ten Good):
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Michigan State
- Indiana
- Purdue
Plains Division (Big Ten Not So Good):
- Northwestern
- Illinois
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
- Nebraska
- Minnesota
And we spent 20 years and a ton of BS to sorta end up where we started. Clearly, this is going to take twists and turns and I'm not arguing this is the perfect arrangement, I'm just guessing that it ends up something like this (move some names around, drop some and add others...) and maybe at the end of it we are closer to the thing that many of us grew up loving as opposed to what it is right now.
Not bad. Weird sorting UMin, Wisconsin, and NU out of the great lakes but what the heck. That division would already be loaded. Methinks any future divisions would not be strictly geographic… we saw how that worked out last time
August 6th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
PSU sould be in the East, ND should be in GL or plains, and NW should be in GL (they are right on Lake Michigan, after all).
there are not nearly enough people constantly asking the important question: "Why?!" during these expansion meetings.
I'm over whining about this. If I could wave a magic wand I would take it back to before Penn State joined the Big 10, let alone Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers, but that isn't happening and in today's reality, the Big 10's mission was appropriately, to make the best of it and be proactive. This they have been doing, and it beats the alternative of letting other's dictate the future. It's all $$$ and securing key TV markets. We can choose to get on board and enjoy what the sport has to offer or not.
Just for consideration of another perspective on this news:
Football primarily, and men’s basketball secondarily, fund programs for hundreds of non-revenue sports athletes. At least at Michigan, with the possible exception of the COVID year, the athletic department has been self-funding for modern history. These TV deals are helping other Big Ten schools to similarly offer more and better sports programs for hundreds more male and female college athletes.
The National Park Service lets millions of visitors trample Yosemite Valley annually to self-fund the preservation of the rest of the Yosemite wilderness. The Valley is still beautiful, even if it’s not remotely pristine. And we get a truly wild, largely undisturbed wilderness in exchange.
Just something to think about.
August 5th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
Once conference championship games became a thing, coupled with easier long-distance travel, this very result became inevitable. Conference realignment is nearly as old as college football itself. "Super Conferences" are baked into the entire setup. They simply remained regional due to logistics.
Simply put...Brian was spot on.
It's weird how so many people here keep saying the AAU is irrelevant and who gives a shit about the AAU and the BIG presidents keep inviting only AAU schools.
Call me crazy but this makes more sense from a sports perspective than Rutgers and Maryland. Not sayin, just sayin
True
Definitely makes sense to keep East - West Divisions now.
August 6th, 2023 at 12:46 AM ^
Needed to happen.
Can't have USC and UCLA on their own out west.
Oregon and Washington obvious choices.
PAC isn't really gone. It's just BigPac.
If numbers work to set up Big divisions, Stanford and possibly Cal next to get Bay Area.
Then as nearly all of NDs rivals now locked up, wait for ND to call up to get in fearing isolation. Or don't.
When they first announced this, we all just thought about football. But when you think about basketball, think about the new Big 10 tournament. The bottom 4 teams can play a wild card round. And then the 2 winners join the top 14 in a 16 team tournament, where the top 16 all play the first round. this will do away with top 4 byes.
Cal and Stanford will probably join the ACC. I guess WAST and ORST may have to join the Mountain West. Utah will probably get a big 12 offer. I'm still hearing that FSU wants to join the B1G. ND will probably remain independent but will probably end up in the Big East/ACC or B1G?
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