College football expansion, realignment update: Big Ten targeting 5 schools, including Notre Dame, per report
The latest phase of college football expansion and realignment could involve the Big Ten again if the conference gets its way.
The league is targeting four schools from the Pac-12 in addition to Notre Dame for further expansion, according to Action Network.
This latest push comes after representatives from Washington met with Big Ten officials in "preliminary discussions" about potentially joining the conference in the future.
In all, the league is interested in adding Oregon, Washington, Stanford, and California to its portfolio in addition to the Fighting Irish.
Big Ten busy behind the scenes
The Big Ten kicked off the latest college football realignment blitz
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That meeting comes a week after people from Oregon met with the Big Ten for the same reason.
Though, notably, the Oregon meeting didn't include the school's president or AD or Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, suggesting any would-be process of joining is still in the very early stages.
Big Ten in latest college football realignment
The Big Ten kicked off the latest round of college football expansion and realignment when it voted to add USC and UCLA in time for the 2024 college football season.
That move expanded the Big Ten's reach into the highly valuable Los Angeles media market, and adding these other Pac-12 schools would further increase the league's scope into the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest.
Notre Dame Factor
Notre Dame has been central to college football realignment, even though it hasn't moved
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Notre Dame has maintained its football independence since the beginning, but the Big Ten hasn't kept its interest in the Irish a secret.
But for its part, Notre Dame sounds like it's not joining any conference if it doesn't absolutely have to.
“I could argue that our independence has never been more valuable than it is right now,” AD Jack Swarbrick said this offseason.
Notre Dame has been able to stay independence thanks to three key facts, as Swarbrick said earlier this summer: 1) the school's deal with NBC, 2) access to the college football bowl season and playoff, and 3) being able to avoid any "adverse financial consequence" of not joining a conference.
Now, with NBC signing up to air Big Ten games, it would theoretically have enough money to increase the value of its deal with Notre Dame.
Thereby allowing the Irish to have the financial cushion to stay independent.
But that doesn't mean the Big Ten won't be interested going forward.
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