What’s next for Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 in college football expansion?
By Ryan Kay
Breaking down what could be next in college football expansion as the rise of the super conference could lead to changes in the Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12.
Big 12 football is once again looking to expand as within a couple of years it will lose its top two revenue-generating programs — Texas and Oklahoma when they leave and become members of the SEC conference.
The Big 12 now is looking to possibly expand by possibly adding some PAC-12 teams as it attempts to solidify its status as a power five conference and for long-term stability.
The Big Ten and the SEC conferences look to continue to expand further by possibly creating two super conferences with 18 or 20 teams. The SEC is expanding to 16 teams with the additions of the Longhorns and Sooners and the Big Ten is adding the Trojans and the Bruins to expand to 16 teams.
The PAC-12 and especially the Big 12 may look to expand in the near future in response to both conferences losing two powerful and influential programs each.
The Big 12 looks to expand into larger stream/TV media markets that its are not currently in and may also need to expand its geographical footprint as well.
The conference already is scheduled to add Cincinnati, UCF, BYU, and Houston by 2023 giving the Big 12 temporarily, for potentially two seasons, 14 teams before Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC.
Recent reports have the Big 12 possibly adding up to six PAC-12 teams led by Oregon and Washington. If the league was able to add six Pac-12 schools, then the Big 12 would easily survive conference realignment and possibly end reduce the Pac-12 to such few schools that it would no longer exist like the Big East in football or at minimum, no longer be considered a power five conference. However, the PAC-12 has a plan.
It was reported that the Pac-12 is in the process of negotiating a media rights deal that was set to expire in 2024 because it currently has the lowest money distribution for its members among the Power Five conference schools. Also, the PAC-12 is talking to the ACC conference of discussing a partnership that would include a championship game between the two conferences that would take place in Las Vegas.
The failed alliance between the Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12 didn’t work but an alliance between the ACC and PAC-12 could help save and even boost revenues for both conferences. The Pac-12 after losing UCLA and USC is looking at all viable options moving forward as the Big Ten may not be done expanding.
Many people on social media and college football fans from the West to East coast have been saying, “UCLA and USC are geographically far from Big Ten schools, especially Rutgers and Maryland.” That is true but both the Bruins and UCLA look to receive at least an increase of 26.3 million annually by joining the Big Ten and that extra money will easily cover the increase in travel costs for their teams. The question now is because “geographic fit” is not an issue for the Big Ten, will the conference add more teams, and if so, who?
Let’s take a look at candidates that the Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 may add and what may the conferences look like in the near future.