Get ready to go back to the drawing tab;e with the Big Ten schedule in 2024, because it is going to need some massive reconstruction. The Big Ten has officially announced the additions of Oregon and Washington beginning in 2024, bringing the conference membership up to 18 members effective next year.
In a released statement on Friday evening, the Big Ten confirmed both schools will officially join the Big Ten to compete in all sports for the 2024-25 academic year effective August 2, 2024. The two schools will also join the Big Ten Academic Alliance.
“We are excited to welcome the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Conference,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti in a released statement. “We look forward to building long-lasting relationships with the universities, administrators and staff, student-athletes, coaches and fans. Both institutions feature a combination of academic and athletic excellence that will prove a great fit for our future.”
B1G things ahead. #GoDucks
— GoDucks (@GoDucks) August 4, 2023
The University of Washington will join the Big Ten Conference in 2024.#GoHuskies
— Washington Athletics (@UWAthletics) August 4, 2023
The Big Ten will now be adding four new members to the Big Ten in 2024; Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. The additions of USC and UCLA were announced a little more than a year ago and a football schedule format for 2024 and 2025 had already been released with the Trojans and Bruins. But now, with Oregon and Washington set to join the Big Ten in 2024, a schedule revision for football will have to be done relatively quickly.
Since 1993, the Big Ten has nearly doubled in size with the additions of Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers in addition to the upcoming additions of the four west coast schools. It may be safe to assume the Big Ten is not looking to add any more members, but it also would not be totally out of the question at this point as it seems nothing is ever truly off the table in the era of the super conference.
The latest move not only makes the Big Ten the first true superconference among power conferences with a massive membership but also is a catastrophic blow to the stability of the crumbling Pac-12. Already set to lose USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 is also losing Colorado to the Big 12, its two top northwest programs in Oregon and Washington, and there could be more changes on the way with an eye on Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah as potential Big 12 candidates.
We’ll keep our eyes plugged to the continuing developments of conference realignment madness. There could still be many more dominoes to fall from coast to coast.
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