College football expansion: Oregon, Washington will leave Pac-12, join Big Ten
Before college football fans went to sleep on Thursday night, they learned that the Big 12 had voted to add Arizona to its conference, that Arizona State and Utah might be following behind, and that Washington was in a special meeting on the subject amid rumors that it and Oregon were almost certainly headed to the Big Ten.
And, as they woke up on Friday morning, they read reports that Oregon and Washington were leaning towards staying in the Pac-12 amid news that the conference was moving towards signing a new grant of rights agreement.
But then, events went the other direction yet again, as the Big Ten voted unanimously to add Oregon and Washington to the conference effective Aug. 2, 2024 with competition to begin in all sports for the 2024-25 academic year.
That development follows a decision this week by Big Ten presidents to give commissioner Tony Petitti permission to pursue further expansion, with a particular emphasis on those two Pacific Northwest brands.
Initially on Friday morning, the consensus of opinion at both Oregon and Washington appeared to be a reluctance to enact a decision that would in effect kill the historic conference, but there were also some similar feelings from the Big Ten, as well, as insiders at that league noted that there was some trepidation from B1G members to be seen as helping destroy a rival conference, and that the whole process seemed rushed.
There was also a financial motivation for some Big Ten personnel for not wanting to poach Oregon and Washington: the fact that any further expansion may dilute the per member revenue each school will earn in its new media contract.
But now, after the Pac-12 failed to get its membership to sign the media proposal, those concerns could be overruled by two major brands looking to find the best option for them. That appears to be the Big Ten.
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