It appears we may be on the verge of an alliance between the Big Ten, Pac-12, and ACC being announced.
According to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach (subscription required), the conference alliance could come as early as next week. It’s unclear what the specifics of the announcement and agreement will be, but you can almost bank on there being more scheduled games between the conferences in various sports, and some sort of realigning of principles, values, academics, and money.
“Schools within the three conferences believe they are like-minded, that they want to continue to prioritize broad-based sports offerings and that the academic profile of their institutions matters — as does graduating athletes,” Auerbach writes.
The move can only be considered a response to Big 12 members Texas and Oklahoma making the move to join the SEC, thus disrupting the balance of power in college athletics. Though we may not see massive realignment from the other Power Five conferences (still to be determined), something of a pact between the others makes sense.
“There are many administrators in the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC who believe in the collegiate model and want it to continue; even those who have enthusiastically embraced name, image and likeness reform don’t want to see college football become an actual minor league system for the NFL with a draft, player salaries and the like,” continues Auerbach. “They worry that the SEC’s aggression could lead to something like that.”
The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC are expected to make a formal announcement about their alignment soon, perhaps as early as next week, sources tell @NicoleAuerbach.
The alliance will go far beyond scheduling.
More: https://t.co/qy37HdzBVc pic.twitter.com/mlMuvBrU9i
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 20, 2021
Ohio State will still have a seat at whatever table is available in college football because of the reach, money, and brand that OSU is, but it’s becoming even more clear that we are in a very aggressively changing era of the sport.
Hang on for the ride.
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