USC and UCLA are joining the Big Ten conference, they announced Thursday. The two new member schools will join the conference on Aug. 2, 2024, with all conference sports set to begin competition in the 2024-25 academic year. The latest on Big Ten's plan to add USC and UCLA can be found here.
(Photo: Richard Mackson / USA Today)
We need to stop calling it conference “realignment” or “expansion.” The more accurate word would be “consolidation” — at least for the people who actually control what we currently know as college sports.
It’s coming. Maybe in a few years. Maybe in a decade or two. But there’s no stopping it now. With USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten, one year after Texas and Oklahoma accepted invitations to the SEC, the college Super League(s) is on its way. College football as we knew it is on its last legs. It will eventually be replaced by an NFL Jr.-type sport, and the TV executives who have long dreamed about this will finally get their wish for a simpler product to package. The people at the right schools will make a lot of money, and the fans at the wrong schools will be left behind.
Big Ten adding USC, UCLA further ruining charm we love about college football: Vannini
When he learned this week that he was one of only a few people in possession of a copy of the ACC’s original grant of rights agreement, Mark Wilhelm took another look at it. He also examined copies of the Big 12 and Pac-12’s agreements, which he obtained around the same time period as a Villanova law student authoring an article on conference grant of rights agreements that would appear in 2014 in the Harvard Law School Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law.
Staples: How would a school challenge a grant of rights? We asked a lawyer (who happens to have ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 copies)
In an interactive room at the ground floor of his league’s semi-new headquarters, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren met two reporters from The Athletic to discuss a mountain’s worth of issues facing collegiate sports.
As almost a throwaway question as Warren was ready to step away to his second-floor office, expansion became a topic. “Regarding Big Ten membership,” Warren was asked, “things happen out of the blue here from time to time. Do you anticipate (the conference) remaining at the current 14 teams?”
Big Ten expansion fallout: 10 lingering topics league officials must now ponder
How will the ACC respond to Big Ten adding USC and UCLA?
Source: The spirit and candor on the ACC’s AD call today was mostly positive, with commissioner Jim Phillips reiterating that the league’s Grant of Rights holds things together, and with ADs going over potential options, be it to expand, stay pat or talk to the Big 12 and Pac-12.
When will the Big Ten nail down additional new members?
Notre Dame is in a class by itself when anyone — the Big Ten, ACC, etc — thinks about potential new membership. So, if the Irish are interested in the Big Ten, it's a safe bet that the ball would get rolling as soon as possible. But for other potential candidates? Well, the Big Ten’s expansion subcommittee has its list of criteria and a whole process by which to evaluate.
Schools that want to join the Big Ten today will still want to join the Big Ten two weeks, two months or two years from now. “There’s not a huge rush,” one Big Ten source said re: nailing down next round of new members.
Will the Pac-12 stay together ... and add replacement members?
From the Pac-12: “The Pac-12 Board of Directors met this morning and authorized the Conference to explore all expansion options. The 10 university presidents + chancellors remain committed to a shared mission of academic and athletic excellence on behalf of our student-athletes.”
Arizona officials released a statement Friday.
A statement from @UArizonaPres and @Dave_Heeke. pic.twitter.com/CpyvuhfC7M
What we heard yesterday — that USC and UCLA are going to the Big Ten, seemingly hastening the rush to bloated, geographically far-flung super leagues — that did happen? OK, OK, so a quick question:
Quick follow-up: No really, what exactly are we doing here?
Emerson: College football super leagues — What are we doing here?
Gene Smith forecasted this in February. Not the specific move to expand the Big Ten by adding USC and UCLA, per se, but the idea that the conference would always look out for No. 1. Any perceived “alliances” with other leagues be damned.
Adding USC, UCLA helps Gene Smith, Ohio State continue to drive the agenda for the Big Ten
Washington released a statement on the USC/UCLA to the Big Ten move.
A joint statement from @UW leadership on USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12. @amcauce @JenniferCohenUW pic.twitter.com/5jQ4bCUhDR
What's next? Who knows. But it's coming.
College sports realignment isn't done, and everything is on the table. Don't be surprised by anything.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said Friday that the Big Ten’s move to add USC and UCLA to the conference starting in 2024 was not a direct response to the SEC’s adding Texas and Oklahoma in 2025, but he admitted that it does better position the league relative to its counterparts in the south.
Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman and AD Warde Manuel put out the following statement on Thursday's:
"On Thursday (June 30), the Big Ten Conference unanimously voted to accept the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California as full members in all sponsored sports effective August, 2024.
We are pleased to confirm this decision and extend a warm welcome to our newest members, both of which are renowned research universities, members of the Association of American Universities and championship-level athletic departments.
In the coming days and months, and ahead of UCLA and USC officially starting Big Ten Conference competition, there will be many logistical questions and considerations for the membership to carefully consider. We will be inclusive and thoughtful in the many important aspects of our new conference makeup with a full commitment to a positive student-athlete experience and fiscal sustainability to support our mission.
In the midst of a changing college sports landscape, we hope that you will join us in welcoming the Bruins and Trojans to the B1G family."
No, you have not slipped into another branch of the multiverse. USC (alongside UCLA) will officially be a member of the Big Ten starting on Aug. 2, 2024. As stunned as the college football world was by the revelation, it was necessary for USC to make this move.
USC football in the Big Ten: Best matchups, toughest tests and Lincoln Riley’s work ahead
Ohio State AD Gene Smith on Notre Dame: "I love my alma mater. I’ve always thought they should be in a conference. I hope that they’re considering that. I don’t know what that next step would be. But I hope they consider that opportunity and I hope it’s the Big Ten. But who knows? They’ve been operating the way they’ve been operating for a long time. I’m not sure what would happen there."
Gene Smith on Notre Dame: “I love my alma mater, and I’ve always thought they should be in a conference … I hope they consider it, and I hope it’s the Big Ten.”
An athletic director called a few moments after the news broke Thursday that USC and UCLA were finalizing a move to the Big Ten.
“That SEC football tournament idea doesn’t sound so crazy now, does it?” the AD said.
Staples: USC and UCLA show anything is possible and that 2 super leagues might be inevitable
Nearly a year ago, following Texas and Oklahoma’s jump from the Big 12 to the SEC, the Big Ten Conference quietly formed an exploratory committee to look into its own expansion.
Publicly, the Big Ten aligned itself with the ACC and the Pac-12 in a handshake agreement they called “The Alliance,” an effort to work together on issues that ranged from student-athlete welfare to College Football Playoff expansion. In effect, though, it served as a tacit agreement that they wouldn’t raid each other’s leagues for future membership — an attempt to soothe the broader landscape amid pervasive anxiety and distrust.
How did USC and UCLA join the Big Ten so quickly? Inside a game-changing shift in CFB
Maybe the first potential cracks in Notre Dame’s independence showed before USC and UCLA traded a century of tradition for a better deal halfway across the country with the Big Ten on Thursday.
Will Notre Dame join a conference? How USC, UCLA have changed Irish independence math
How will this all play out?
(The real endgame of realignment is when the super-conferences kick out members in a decade or two)
Iowa president Barbara Wilson and AD Gary Barta released statements on today's news:
Wilson: “The addition of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten will enhance the conference’s existing comprehensive excellence in academics, research, and athletics. I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to Iowa City and the UI campus.”
Barta: “We are excited about the addition of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten Conference. Both institutions fit our department’s “Win. Graduate. Do it right” culture. There are many logistics to work out over the coming months, and we are eager to begin the process.”