There were rumors about a Big Ten / Pac-12 merger...

[Buckeye_Democrat]

... almost a year ago, to preserve their Rose Bowl contract, and I suspect the recent news of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten is just the beginning of that plan.

Dan Patrick: Big Ten, Pac-12 Could Create 'Merger' to Preserve Rose Bowl Contract
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10008834-dan-patrick-big-ten-pac-12-could-create-merger-to-preserve-rose-bowl-contract.amp.html

Washington and Oregon have already applied for Big Ten membership per reports, but were put on hold by the Big Ten who is yet again hoping Notre Dame will join the conference.

Report: Big Ten Waiting on Notre Dame Decision; 'Standing Pat' on Oregon, Washington
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10040714-report-big-ten-waiting-on-notre-dame-decision-standing-pat-on-oregon-washington.amp.html

It won't surprise me if many more Pac-12 teams eventually join the Big Ten as well (probably only the AAU member schools). Then the new super-conference will be divided into two divisions, with the Rose Bowl serving as their conference title game.

Notre Dame, if they indeed join, probably makes more sense in a western division given their years-long rivalry games against USC and Stanford.

And if it all goes down more like a merger, with two large divisions within the newly expanded conference, there probably won't be so much ridiculous traveling as currently speculated by several people online -- e.g., USC regularly playing Rutgers in New Jersey. If almost all of the regular season games are played within the divisions, with the Rose Bowl later pitting the division winners against each other, such long-distance traveling for the student-athletes would be a rare occurrence.

[underpants]

1. Time and logistics

Are they going to play at 9am in La? Big Ten games are a standard at noon eastern. If they play at noon in LA they are going head to head against the 3:00 SEC schedule.

The logistics of the smaller sports are going to be a big change for trans used to PAC-12 travel.

I read a good piece on ESPN about it.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34173790/usc-ucla-big-ten-next-pac-12-how-impacts-cfp-more

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. Yes, and that's why I suspect (or hope) it will be...

... more like a merger of the two conferences, with them continuing to be mostly separated geographically by conference divisions -- within which most of their competitions will be played.

If it's instead too weird, and the familiarity of tradition is lost, such an expansion might lower TV viewership overall. The Big Ten wants more revenue from an expanded "TV market" (with LA currently ranked #2 in the country in that regard), but they should be careful to not damage the CONTENT of that TV entertainment too much.

And it just might work out that the student-athletes from other sports won't have to endure so much ridiculous traveling for the conference competitions, if it's done right.

Grants for scientific research is another consideration, and it's supposedly why the Big Ten prefers AAU members to become a part of their academic alliance.

Big Ten Academic Alliance:
https://btaa.org/about

[Sneederbunk]

2. When they travel, a lot of West Coast fans will not be traveling with them.

[brush]

4. Looks to me like USC and UCLA don't give a crap...

about the rest of the PAC-12. They're looking out for themselves just as Texas and Oklahoma did last year when they abandoned the Big-12 for the SEC.

Both of these jiltings show that nationally-recognized rivalries like USC v UCLA and OKlahoma v Texas can be sold for the big TV money shared by all the schools in the two super conferences. And both USC and UCLA know it and went for the gold.

I doubt the Big-10 would be interested in PAC-12 also rans like Cal and Oregon State. They just want the cream of the crop. They'll probably Welcome Oregon which has a top football program, plus a nationally reconized track and field program.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. They MIGHT be interested in Cal, but not Oregon State.

I think Washington, Oregon and Stanford would be their main targets from the Pac-12. Then maybe Cal?

Maybe even Arizona, Colorado and Utah -- which are all AAU member schools too -- but possibly not? They'll surely want new members that will offer more than they'll take from the conference's revenue-sharing.

Notre Dame is not an AAU school, but their football team gets lots of TV viewers. Hence, more revenue for the conference overall.

[AZProgressive]

10. Arizona State has the Phoenix area market

Arizona is in a smaller market and they are not as prestigious even though they pulled in a top 25 recruiting class this year.

As a Sun Devil fan I don’t even like college football anymore now that the PAC 12 is gone.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. Maybe they'll be invited too?

I was surprised to learn that Arizona State spends more on scientific research than schools like Utah and Colorado, yet the latter schools are AAU member schools while Arizona State is not.

AAU members:
https://www.aau.edu/who-we-are/our-members

The Big Ten school presidents value their research alliances (pooling resources to help keep costs down), which is where their BIG MONEY comes from, but a large TV market for the sports programs is a major consideration too. Or simply getting more viewers, period, in the case of a school like Notre Dame.

[Botany]

6. I grew up loving Ohio State Football but this madness ... time to shut down big time college sports

Let the colleges and universities teach, do research, help the farmers, and the people of their states
and dump this unneeded crap.

Besides most schools lose money on sports.

[brush]

7. Maybe some schools lose money on sports but not...

schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, LSU, Clemson, USC, UCLA. They make millions from TV money, game day revenue, apparel and sports related paraphenalia.

They even pay big money to the "opponent" schools on their schedule to come to their huge stadiums to get defeated. They're not going broke by any means. It's big business.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. The universities will still teach and do research.

It's certainly not athletic directors or football coaches who make these decisions.

It's university presidents and boards of directors trying to increase revenue.

TV revenue from football and other sports is actually a lesser consideration compared to grants for scientific research, at least for the Big Ten schools.

That's why they'll definitely be interested in schools like Washington and Stanford to join their academic alliance too.

Ohio State's research expenditures recently surpassed a billion dollars a year, and they're only #24 in research spending across the country:
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22311

The university presidents might've been more excited about adding UCLA than USC, given that UCLA gets more research money than Ivy league schools like Harvard and Yale. (Yet a sports-based conference also needs to consider the competitiveness of their teams.)

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. The Big Ten is supposedly confident that...

Last edited Sat Jul 2, 2022, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

... Notre Dame and Oregon will next join their conference.

REPORT: There Is ‘Confidence’ Notre Dame And Oregon Will Eventually Join The Big Ten
https://amp.dailycaller.com/2022/07/02/report-big-ten-possibly-adding-notre-dame-oregon

EDIT: Notre Dame "only" gets $15 million from their TV contract with NBC. Yet the TV revenue from the Big Ten Network is expected to be more than a billion dollars when it's renegotiated, and that's over $50 million even if it's divided equally among 20 schools.

If that happens, they should invite Washington and Stanford too. Then they'd have the Seattle and the San Francisco / San Jose TV markets too.

Then they'd have 20 teams (Big Ten x 2). If they have two divisions, with most regular season conference games played within them, it makes more sense to place Notre Dame with their long-time rivals, USC and Stanford, in the west.

Maybe something like this:

WEST
USC
UCLA
Stanford
Oregon
Washington
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Notre Dame

EAST
Rutgers
Maryland
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern