Report: USC and UCLA are planning to leave for the Big Ten as early as 2024

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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That would totally destroy the pac 12 no?

really bad for the non revenue athletes imho

(other than the sports where big 10 doesn’t compete like beach volleyball)
 

jose melendez

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Just get rid of conference at this point, make a centrally scheduled league separated from the other sports, and let college football be the pro game that it is.

This is so stupid.
 

Shelterdog

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Does this make it easier or harder for UCLA to catch Stanford’s 123 in your opinion?
Answer: Irrelevant because LA sucks and UCLA will never match Stanford's athletic greatness.

(A more considered answer is it's too soon to tell; the question is I think whether this changes the sports that UCLA and/or Stanford participate in at all. LIke is UCLA going to be playing men's vollyeball? Does stanford drop sports because there's so little remaining pac-12 pariticpation?)
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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This is all heading to two super conferences (Big Ten and SEC) which will have a bunch of teams, broken into geographically considerate divisions, that will look just like the old conferences.
 

canderson

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Jul 16, 2005
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Posted this in the other thread. B10 should take USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Arizona and put them in a B10 West with Iowa and Nebraska. Hell you could even lower yourself and get Utah and AZ State/Colorado if needed for numbers.

TV won't let it, but 2 major conferences and then everyone else in 1 makes total sense.
 

Steve Dillard

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Oct 7, 2003
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Daughter currently at USC, when I showed her the thread: "don't they have to be in the Pacific conference because they're on the Pacific coast?"
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Posted this in the other thread. B10 should take USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Arizona and put them in a B10 West with Iowa and Nebraska. Hell you could even lower yourself and get Utah and AZ State/Colorado if needed for numbers.

TV won't let it, but 2 major conferences and then everyone else in 1 makes total sense.
Where does Berkeley go?
 

DanoooME

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Mar 16, 2008
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This is all heading to two super conferences (Big Ten and SEC) which will have a bunch of teams, broken into geographically considerate divisions, that will look just like the old conferences.
Actually, the next step is those two super conferences telling the NCAA to fuck off and go on their own.
 

bsj

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Dec 6, 2003
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Disappointing. My son starts at U of Arizona this fall. The conference will likely survive in the short term but losing the LA teams is going to be a huge financial hit

I think the ACC and PAC-12 need to align in a major way
 

StuckOnYouk

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What if the ACC adds Notre Dame and UConn to get to 16?
Yeah there’s that whole ND part of not wanting to join a conference I get that. For what it’s worth part of their deal with the ACC is that they can only join that conference - if they were to join one - thru 2037.
As a UConn fan I’m just waiting on a deserted island for some miracle so let me dream.
 

Dan Murfman

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What if the ACC adds Notre Dame and UConn to get to 16?
Yeah there’s that whole ND part of not wanting to join a conference I get that. For what it’s worth part of their deal with the ACC is that they can only join that conference - if they were to join one - thru 2037.
As a UConn fan I’m just waiting on a deserted island for some miracle so let me dream.
Just stop. It's over. :)
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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What if the ACC adds Notre Dame and UConn to get to 16?
Yeah there’s that whole ND part of not wanting to join a conference I get that. For what it’s worth part of their deal with the ACC is that they can only join that conference - if they were to join one - thru 2037.
As a UConn fan I’m just waiting on a deserted island for some miracle so let me dream.
Man you really hate BC huh?
 

Jeff Van GULLY

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Jul 13, 2005
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ACC needs to do everything in their power to get Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Cal and a few other of the top PAC-12 programs now and try to make it three super-conferences, otherwise they're cooked in a few years. They of course want ND but I don't ND ever joins the ACC at this point.

The ESPN TV contract kills the ACC but this is their one--and only-- chance to get out of it and really improve their financial situation before it becomes two conferences of 20 each.
 

bsj

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ACC needs to do everything in their power to get Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Cal and a few other of the top PAC-12 programs now and try to make it three super-conferences, otherwise they're cooked in a few years. They of course want ND but I don't ND ever joins the ACC at this point.

The ESPN TV contract kills the ACC but this is their one--and only-- chance to get out of it and really improve their financial situation before it becomes two conferences of 20 each.
I'd be looking at Oregon, maybe Oregon State (their baseball may get them in), Washington, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State.

I do think there is room for a 3rd mega, but, that process needs to start now
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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What's the argument to keep conferences at this point?
For football, there is no more argument for conferences. At least not the traditional ones. For pretty much every other sport (basketball being the other outlier), conferences are an essential part of competition.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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ACC needs to do everything in their power to get Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Cal and a few other of the top PAC-12 programs now and try to make it three super-conferences, otherwise they're cooked in a few years. They of course want ND but I don't ND ever joins the ACC at this point.

The ESPN TV contract kills the ACC but this is their one--and only-- chance to get out of it and really improve their financial situation before it becomes two conferences of 20 each.
Any school worth anything to ACC is going to get a Big Ten offer
Could be Florida State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, or Oregon and it wouldn't be terribly shocking at this point. I have thrown a lot of assumptions out of the window today.
 

Joe D Reid

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Where does Berkeley go?
Berkeley loses money hand over fist on sports. Nobody there will ever say it out loud for fear of ticking off the alumni, but they would love to get off the rat wheel of big-time sports. And the central UC system stays well out of athletics issues because there is such variation campus to campus.

EDIT: To your actual question, they'd be in the rump PAC for football and either the rump PAC or maybe the WCC for everything else. The real loser would be the olympic swim/crew/rugby/etc. teams which Cal has been the feeder system for in the past.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Any school worth anything to ACC is going to get a Big Ten offer
Could be Florida State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, or Oregon and it wouldn't be terribly shocking at this point. I have thrown a lot of assumptions out of the window today.
An SEC team jumping would shock me, at least. Oregon and Washington make a lot of sense.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Also, LOL at the Big 12 for watering their conference down with the AAC teams and BYU rather than staying patient and being ready to pounce on the Pac 12/ACC when they inevitably got gutted.
 

Senator Donut

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Also, LOL at the Big 12 for watering their conference down with the AAC teams and BYU rather than staying patient and being ready to pounce on the Pac 12/ACC when they inevitably got gutted.
I was thinking that same thing. Cincinnati and UCF signed their contracts just in the nick of time
 

8slim

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Also, LOL at the Big 12 for watering their conference down with the AAC teams and BYU rather than staying patient and being ready to pounce on the Pac 12/ACC when they inevitably got gutted.
Eh, I doubt it matters. Ultimately there is going to be two major conferences and then a bunch of leftovers. Only question is how big the B1G and SEC will get. I’m guessing the B1G ends up at 24-28 teams, and the SEC with 20-24. How the others organize hardly matters.
 

Dan Murfman

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No one has tried to challenge a GOR yet. And if they are unbreakable as some suggest ACC schools GOR runs through 2037. I assume some ACC school might be the first to challenge it.
 

8slim

has trust issues
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No one has tried to challenge a GOR yet. And if they are unbreakable as some suggest ACC schools GOR runs through 2037. I assume some ACC school might be the first to challenge it.
Nothing is unbreakable with a favorable judge. An ACC school can find one somewhere.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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What's the argument to keep conferences at this point?
Seriously, it should be promotion/relegation, like in footy leagues around the world.

On the theory that a league should have 14 teams, so each team has a 13-game season. Bottom three schools from each get sent down, top three schools from each go up. These would be interesting divisions and the promotion-relegation games at the end of the season would be incredible.

So using 2021 power rankings from ESPN, we'd have:

Transcendent League (first tier 1-14)

Georgia (national champions)

Alabama
Ohio State
Michigan
Oklahoma
ND
OK ST
Clemson
Iowa St.
Cinci
Utah
Pitt relegated to Stupendous
Wisconsin relegated to Stupendous
TAMU relegated to Stupendous

Baylor promoted from Stupendous
NC ST promoted from Stupendous
Penn St promoted from Stupendous


Stupendous League (second tier 15-28)

Pitt relegated from Transcendent
Wisconsin relegated from Transcendent
TAMU relegated from Transcendent
Ole Miss
Mich ST
Auburn
Arkansas
Wake
Miami
Texas
Purdue
Tennessee relegated to Formidable 8
Minnesota relegated to Formidable 8
Kentucky relegated to Formidable 8

Nebraska promoted from Formidable 8
Oregon promoted from Formidable 8
UCLA promoted from Formidable 8


Formidable 8 (third tier 29-42)

Tennessee relegated from Stupendous
Minnesota relegated from Stupendous
Kentucky relegated from Stupendous
Iowa
Appalachian St.
Florida
Kansas St.
Mississippi St.
Houston
Boise ST.
Arizona St.
BYU relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
Western KY relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
LSU relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
North Carolina promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate
SMU promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate
Coastal Carolina promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate


Confabulation of the Adequate (fourth tier 43-56)

BYU relegated from Formidable 8
Western KY relegated from Formidable 8
LSU relegated from Formidable 8
Louisville
Virginia
Louisiana (Cajuns)
West Virginia
Texas Tech
FLorida St
Oregon ST
Fresno St
Wash St relegated to AmbitoUSA
UCF relegated to AmbitioUSA
Liberty relegated to AmbitioUSA
Texas-San Antonio promoted from AmbitioUSA
USC promoted from AmbitioUSA
Nevada promoted from AmbitioUSA


AmbitioUSA (Fifth tier 57-70)

Wash St relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
UCF relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
Liberty relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
UAB
Army
Washington
Maryland
Va Tech
Toledo
Air Force
Illinois
TCU relegated to Circle of Ennui
South Carolina relegated to Circle of Ennui
Marshall relegated to Circle of Ennui

Boston College promoted from Circle of Ennui
San Diego St promoted from Circle of Ennui
Cal promoted from Circle of Ennui


Circle of Ennui (sixth tier 71-84)

TCU relegated from AmbitioUSA
South Carolina relegated from AmbitioUSA
Marshall relegated from AmbitioUSA
Utah St
Western Mich
Tulsa
Syracuse
Missouri
Cent Mich
Memphis
East Carolina
GA Tech relegated to Conference SUCK
GA State relegated to Conference SUCK
Indiana relegated to Conference SUCK
Miami (OH) promoted from Conference SUCK
Rutgers promoted from Conference SUCK
Mid Tenn St promoted from Conference SUCK


etc etc etc

Darwin's Waiting Room (124-130 and FCS 1-6)

New Mexico
Temple
FIU
New Mex St
Akron
UConn
UMass
North Dakota St (FCS #1)
Montana St
James Madison
Sam HOuston St
South Dakota St
Missouri St
East Tenn ST


etc
 

Awesome Fossum

Member
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Jul 20, 2005
3,894
Austin, TX
That’s fun to think about. But fantastical.


Eh, I doubt it matters. Ultimately there is going to be two major conferences and then a bunch of leftovers.
I guess you’re mostly right. And it’s not like schools in the Big 12 can’t go leave for the PAC 12 if they want.

On the other hand, if it doesn’t matter, why bother even adding schools in the first place? Maybe it’s all futile, but still seems like you should play out the string as best you can.

Only question is how big the B1G and SEC will get. I’m guessing the B1G ends up at 24-28 teams, and the SEC with 20-24. How the others organize hardly matters.
The question is “who can each league add and make the size of the slices of pie bigger for everyone?” Notre Dame, definitely. After that, I think we approach diminishing returns faster than most people think. Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, maybe. I think UNC has a lot to offer. Is Clemson still a big deal in a decade? FSU? Miami? UVA maybe? Idk. I think it’s going to be closer to under 40 than over 50.

What will be fascinating is if they ever decide to make the slices bigger by reducing the number of slices. Purdue and Vanderbilt have to be wondering what happens when expansion reaches its natural end point.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
46,274
View: https://twitter.com/Ryan_Kartje/status/1542710598844026880

So, what about the Big Ten suits USC?

A few factors USC AD Mike Bohn noted to me: “intensity of interest in their base”, "elite academics", “a longstanding tradition in investing in intercollegiate athletics”, and “strong values that match ours”.
I love how an AD can say this with a straight face when everyone who wasn’t born yesterday knows its bullshit and the main reason is
$$$$

(The top15 reasons for them moving to the big 10)
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
24,375
I get it. I really do. But man I absolutely HATE how college football $$ drives *everything* else in college athletics. For these schools, literally no other sport matters. Even to a school like UConn which has fantastic other programs (baseball, soccer, field hockey, and of course, basketball) but bad football. Football STILL rules and every other sport and every other athlete has to live with the ramifications of chasing after football $$.
 

grsharky7

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Jul 15, 2005
1,243
Berlin, PA
College football has really reached the abyss. During the 90's and 2000's they pretty much had a perfect product and now they have nuked it out of greed. During those two decades we had geographically based conferences that a great deal of parity, look at the national title numbers from those decades
SEC-8
Big 12 (8)-6
B10-2
ACC-2
Big East-2

That does include split titles in 1990 and 2003 respectively. You had also tons of teams that were right there in the mix for a championship but didn't reach the summit like WVU , K-State, Virginia Tech, etc that today are no where near the conversation. The sport is becoming more inclusive and that is not better for the health of it overall. Things that made college football unique are dying rapidly, bowl games used to matter and were a reward for a good season, now the good players sit them out or you have tons of kids hitting the portal after the last regular season game. Look at Pitt, they just had their best season in four decades and their reward was their best player sitting out of the bowl game. The rapid change with the portal and NIL (just saying it is changing the landscape, not saying whether it is positive or negative).

It's a shame what has become of the sport and that is to say nothing of the collateral damage such as the NCAA tournament which will end up being a casualty of all of this before it is all said and done.

Pigs live, hogs get slaughtered.
 

axx

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
8,126
I get it. I really do. But man I absolutely HATE how college football $$ drives *everything* else in college athletics. For these schools, literally no other sport matters. Even to a school like UConn which has fantastic other programs (baseball, soccer, field hockey, and of course, basketball) but bad football. Football STILL rules and every other sport and every other athlete has to live with the ramifications of chasing after football $$.
This has to be the end of non-revenue sports, doesn't it? You're not going to want to spend the money flying the soccer team all the way across the country to play Rutgers.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Seriously, it should be promotion/relegation, like in footy leagues around the world.

On the theory that a league should have 14 teams, so each team has a 13-game season. Bottom three schools from each get sent down, top three schools from each go up. These would be interesting divisions and the promotion-relegation games at the end of the season would be incredible.

So using 2021 power rankings from ESPN, we'd have:

Transcendent League (first tier 1-14)

Georgia (national champions)

Alabama
Ohio State
Michigan
Oklahoma
ND
OK ST
Clemson
Iowa St.
Cinci
Utah
Pitt relegated to Stupendous
Wisconsin relegated to Stupendous
TAMU relegated to Stupendous

Baylor promoted from Stupendous
NC ST promoted from Stupendous
Penn St promoted from Stupendous


Stupendous League (second tier 15-28)

Pitt relegated from Transcendent
Wisconsin relegated from Transcendent
TAMU relegated from Transcendent
Ole Miss
Mich ST
Auburn
Arkansas
Wake
Miami
Texas
Purdue
Tennessee relegated to Formidable 8
Minnesota relegated to Formidable 8
Kentucky relegated to Formidable 8

Nebraska promoted from Formidable 8
Oregon promoted from Formidable 8
UCLA promoted from Formidable 8


Formidable 8 (third tier 29-42)

Tennessee relegated from Stupendous
Minnesota relegated from Stupendous
Kentucky relegated from Stupendous
Iowa
Appalachian St.
Florida
Kansas St.
Mississippi St.
Houston
Boise ST.
Arizona St.
BYU relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
Western KY relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
LSU relegated to Confabulation of the Adequate
North Carolina promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate
SMU promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate
Coastal Carolina promoted from Confabulation of the Adequate


Confabulation of the Adequate (fourth tier 43-56)

BYU relegated from Formidable 8
Western KY relegated from Formidable 8
LSU relegated from Formidable 8
Louisville
Virginia
Louisiana (Cajuns)
West Virginia
Texas Tech
FLorida St
Oregon ST
Fresno St
Wash St relegated to AmbitoUSA
UCF relegated to AmbitioUSA
Liberty relegated to AmbitioUSA
Texas-San Antonio promoted from AmbitioUSA
USC promoted from AmbitioUSA
Nevada promoted from AmbitioUSA


AmbitioUSA (Fifth tier 57-70)

Wash St relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
UCF relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
Liberty relegated from Confabulation of the Adequate
UAB
Army
Washington
Maryland
Va Tech
Toledo
Air Force
Illinois
TCU relegated to Circle of Ennui
South Carolina relegated to Circle of Ennui
Marshall relegated to Circle of Ennui

Boston College promoted from Circle of Ennui
San Diego St promoted from Circle of Ennui
Cal promoted from Circle of Ennui


Circle of Ennui (sixth tier 71-84)

TCU relegated from AmbitioUSA
South Carolina relegated from AmbitioUSA
Marshall relegated from AmbitioUSA
Utah St
Western Mich
Tulsa
Syracuse
Missouri
Cent Mich
Memphis
East Carolina
GA Tech relegated to Conference SUCK
GA State relegated to Conference SUCK
Indiana relegated to Conference SUCK
Miami (OH) promoted from Conference SUCK
Rutgers promoted from Conference SUCK
Mid Tenn St promoted from Conference SUCK


etc etc etc

Darwin's Waiting Room (124-130 and FCS 1-6)

New Mexico
Temple
FIU
New Mex St
Akron
UConn
UMass
North Dakota St (FCS #1)
Montana St
James Madison
Sam HOuston St
South Dakota St
Missouri St
East Tenn ST


etc

This is from The Athletic's daily news blast email:

The news that USC and UCLA will be joining the Big Ten is a perfect case of Two Things Can Be True. ・Truth No. 1: This does make college sports look different. As The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel writes, “This one feels like the last dam has broken.” College football in particular is moving toward a power structure more in line with English football (yes, soccer), with a Premier League and lower leagues. This also makes any new geographic conference “barriers” laughable. UCLA and Rutgers are in the same conference. College football conference Manifest Destiny is complete. ・Truth No. 2: Yes it's huge, but we are inured to this. It’s a friend trying to convince you that tattoo No. 37 is the game-changer. “This is the one, man. It’s a whole new me.” Just nod. In reality, college football has done this a LOT lately. Conferences re-align, title set-ups shift, players making big money is normal, and coaches talking about their team salary needs is also normal. And because TV money drives the sport, the rivalry games and key early-season matchups will remain. And by the way: The same handful of teams can win a title. That already describes the Premier League. More key intel:
 

Joe D Reid

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
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Jan 15, 2004
4,208
This has to be the end of non-revenue sports, doesn't it? You're not going to want to spend the money flying the soccer team all the way across the country to play Rutgers.
They're betting that the football TV rights will generate enough money to do just that.