Getty Image / Sam Wasson
The Pac-12 and Big 10 have some big changes coming.
In a couple of years, UCLA and USC are going to be heading from the Pac-12 to the Big 10.
There have even been rumors about a couple more schools heading that way.
Washington and Oregon have continued to be the subjects of rumors as fas anticipate more moves to come.
It turns out that the Big 10 may have actually preferred one of those schools over UCLA.
University of Arizona president Robert Robbins told CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd that the deal he originally heard would have sent USC and Oregon to the Big 10.
My biggest takeaways from this Robert Robbins (Arizona prez) interview is he believes @pac12 will get the @Big12Conference all-in number, $50 million per year. https://t.co/xudzPStA6O
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) March 16, 2023
When I heard it first, the deal was going to be USC-Oregon [to the Big Ten]. That makes sense. … Their TV market is not that big, [but] they play in different colored uniforms, and they win. That’s where I would have started this thing off. I think FOX wanted to consolidate LA and not let anybody else in [with USC-UCLA]. I think it’s brilliant. Well played.
Oregon certainly has a lot more appeal for a strong football conference, but UCLA should be a good fit for a conference that put 8 teams in the NCAA Tournament this year and only had one of them make it to the Sweet Sixteen.
This could mean that the Pac-12 really isn’t done losing more of their top programs.
As much as they’ve talked about keeping the conference together, they have had issues putting together a media deal and a school like Oregon that is usually pretty successful in both basketball and football could end up getting a strong offer to leave.
For now they’re still sticking around, but if the Big 10 had their way it seems they’d have been heading east for games instead of UCLA.