While the Pac-12 looks to finish its next media deal and the Big 12 looks to finish its conference expansion. The Big Ten has been exploring its own options.
According to a report from Dan Wetzel of Yahoo, four Big Ten presidents have had “exploratory” conversations regarding potential conference expansion. College Sports Wire went further in-depth on the reports regarding the Big Ten’s possible expansion.
In his report, Dan Wetzel notes that the Big Ten is exploring the potential options of expanding to 18 or 20-member institutions. The conference currently holds 14 member institutions and will have 16 members next July following the additions of Southern California and UCLA.
The programs being evaluated in these exploratory conversations include the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, the University of California-Berkeley, and Stanford University. Notably, Oregon and Washington would be the two institutions first targeted, while Cal and Stanford would be potential options for expansion to 20 member institutions.
The Big Ten, however, is not in a rush to make any decisions as the conference does not want to be responsible for delivering “the final destructive blow” to the Pac-12, as Wetzel put it in his report. Though the conference’s poaching of Southern California and UCLA certainly has played a significant role in the Pac-12’s potential collapse.
Beyond the Pac-12, Brett McMurphy of Action Network has reported that the Big Ten is also closely monitoring the ACC and its universities.
Beyond the Big Ten looking to expand potentially, notable other headlines include the Pac-12 approaching NBC multiple times over the last year regarding the conference’s media deal, an experienced Big Ten safety entering the transfer portal, and more from the College Wires.