College football realignment: Big Ten updates expansion plans
College football realignment picked up again this summer when the Big Ten voted to add USC and UCLA in time for the 2024 football season.
And ever since that bombshell move, the rumor mill has been overactive with claims that the Big Ten isn't done yet on the expansion front.
Speaking at Big Ten Media Days, commissioner Kevin Warren updated where the conference stands with its plans going forward.
Where college football realignment goes next
“Where we are right now, I’m focused on being realistic about the state of college athletics,” Warren said at the Big Ten Media Days.
Translation: the Big Ten is open for business, if the price is right.
Warren added he wants to accept “our responsibility to shape college athletics, lead and fortify, to be bold, strong, and innovative.
“Regarding expansion, I get asked every single day, ‘what’s next?’ It may include future expansion, but it will be done for the right reasons, at the right time, with our student-athletes’ academic and athletic empowerment at the center of any and all decisions that we make.”
Big Ten about to cash in
Already ahead of the SEC in terms of media money, the Big Ten is expected to take a bigger lead as it negotiates its next TV contract.
Analysts predict that deal could be worth up to $1 billion per year after the Big Ten added the two premier brands in the Los Angeles media market.
Those additions, Warren noted, will give the Big Ten content to show to a national TV audience from early in the morning to late at night.
Big Ten officials want to add college football power Notre Dame to the conference, and reports indicate Oregon, Stanford, and Washington could be in the mix, too.
But that's still in the realm of speculation as Notre Dame wants to remain independent in football and there are questions if the other Pac-12 additions would bring enough revenue and prestige to the table to warrant another move.
Whatever the Big Ten does, it will have to add value.
“We will not expand just to expand,” Warren added.
“It will be strategic. It will add additional value to our conference and it will provide an even larger platform for our student-athletes to build their careers and have an opportunity to grow and learn.”
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