Official: USC/UCLA Joining B1G in 2024

[Plague of Crickets]

if stanford comes, hope cal comes along as well. that’s a great rivalry. and cal has top notch olympic sports, and has had decent stretches with football (plus there’s a ton of talent in the east bay area, such as de la salle)

It makes no financial sense to take both Stanford and Cal, and it might not make financial sense to take either one of them. But here are some reasons to include Cal.

1. The Big Ten presidents and chancellors care a lot about academics. Every public university in the B1G – with the exceptions of Iowa, Rutgers and Nebraska – ranks among the top public research universities in the US. UCLA adds one of the very best public research universities. Cal would add another, including the public university with the most Nobel laureates and the most members of the National Academy of Sciences.

2. The Big Ten cares about non-revenue sports. Cal football stinks, and has for much of the past 90 years. One reason for this is a lack of investment. But Cal does invest in a broad range of athletic programs, and is overall really good. For example, over the past 20 years, Cal has finished in the top ten in the Directors' Cup rankings eight times, and finished third in 2010-2011. For comparison, Nebraska has never finished in the top ten over the past 20 years (although they were in the top ten five times in the ten years before that).

3. Reduced travel for UCLA and USC. Plus, it maintains some rivalries (Cal-Stanford if Stanford joins, Cal-UCLA).

Again, I know that it doesn’t make financial sense for the Big Ten. It’s probably even more likely that Cal, and maybe Stanford, decide that NIL, and making players employees, are steps too far, leading them to drop big time athletics. I'm sure that both faculties would favor the latter. But one can dream.

Edit: number 1 is potentially important because the ultimate decision will be made by the presidents and chancellors.

 

[Quality Czech]

RUMOR: Heard, from a source, that USC had the condition that if they were to join, that they did NOT want Oregon to become a member of the B1G. I know USC/UCLA asked to join but this was one of the very few conditions they had, though, since they were the ones that asked the B1G to join, and not the other way around, beggars shouldn't be choosy. Again, just something I heard from a source, I have absolutely no idea if true or, even if it was, that it would be made public. Oregon still may end up in the B1G.

Interesting - I’ve heard similar rumblings from (mostly) Oregon fans that I know.
They don’t attribute it so much to ‘rivalry’ as they do the dislike of the oversized influence and machinations of “Uncle Phil” Knight. In their opinion, his money and influence in the sports world are the only reason Oregon has any standing in CFB right now and if not for him, Eugene would still be a truck stop between SF and Seattle.
I don’t know about any of that, but I do know that despite swimming in Uncle Phil’s Nike money, the cost of an education for non-athletes at UO is astronomical - my youngest is a rising Senior there and they have taken a LOT of our money for her education.

As for me, I’d rather not have Oregon in the B1G. They have a pretty good national brand and a decent following, but they just don’t bring enough eyeballs to justify cutting them in on the conference media deal. Washington and Stanford would probably deliver better television markets and have better football history and academics, to boot…

 

[MiniDisk]

ND, UNC, Duke, Va, and Pitt, for one example. No one scenario is very likely given the unknowns, which is why I threw out a “worst”one. All I am saying is we don’t want an odd number of West Coast teams that need one more to create a pod or division, because we would be the plus 1.

va/pitt, no way. never happens. va tech maybe, pitt no chance at all.

 

[MiniDisk]

It makes no financial sense to take both Stanford and Cal, and it might not make financial sense to take either one of them. But here are some reasons to include Cal.

1. The Big Ten presidents and chancellors care a lot about academics. Every public university in the B1G – with the exceptions of Iowa, Rutgers and Nebraska – ranks among the top public research universities in the US. UCLA adds one of the very best public research universities. Cal would add another, including the public university with the most Nobel laureates and the most members of the National Academy of Sciences.

2. The Big Ten cares about non-revenue sports. Cal football stinks, and has for much of the past 90 years. One reason for this is a lack of investment. But Cal does invest in a broad range of athletic programs, and is overall really good. For example, over the past 20 years, Cal has finished in the top ten in the Directors' Cup rankings eight times, and finished third in 2010-2011. For comparison, Nebraska has never finished in the top ten over the past 20 years (although they were in the top ten five times in the ten years before that).

3. Reduced travel for UCLA and USC. Plus, it maintains some rivalries (Cal-Stanford if Stanford joins, Cal-UCLA).

Again, I know that it doesn’t make financial sense for the Big Ten. It’s probably even more likely that Cal, and maybe Stanford, decide that NIL, and making players employees, are steps too far, leading them to drop big time athletics. I'm sure that both faculties would favor the latter. But one can dream.

Edit: number 1 is potentially important because the ultimate decision will be made by the presidents and chancellors.

their not making these moves out of academic goals. its a sports related decision and football is the driver here, cal is a dumpster fire. they dont get in. that is unless its to be believed that usc joined contigent on oregon not being able to.

 

[Plague of Crickets]

their not making these moves out of academic goals. its a sports related decision and football is the driver here, cal is a dumpster fire. they dont get in. that is unless its to be believed that usc joined contigent on oregon not being able to.

The Big Ten, unlike other conferences, is partly an academic alliance. It's not irrelevant. Thus the long-standing AAU criterion for schools other than Notre Dame, which no other conferences have. That said, the fact that Cal would be a financial sink is a problem.

 

[MiniDisk]

The Big Ten, unlike other conferences, is partly an academic alliance. It's not irrelevant. Thus the long-standing AAU criterion for schools other than Notre Dame, which no other conferences have. That said, the fact that Cal would be a financial sink is a problem.

dumpster fire

 

[TFrazier]

It makes no financial sense to take both Stanford and Cal, and it might not make financial sense to take either one of them. But here are some reasons to include Cal.

1. The Big Ten presidents and chancellors care a lot about academics. Every public university in the B1G – with the exceptions of Iowa, Rutgers and Nebraska – ranks among the top public research universities in the US. UCLA adds one of the very best public research universities. Cal would add another, including the public university with the most Nobel laureates and the most members of the National Academy of Sciences.

2. The Big Ten cares about non-revenue sports. Cal football stinks, and has for much of the past 90 years. One reason for this is a lack of investment. But Cal does invest in a broad range of athletic programs, and is overall really good. For example, over the past 20 years, Cal has finished in the top ten in the Directors' Cup rankings eight times, and finished third in 2010-2011. For comparison, Nebraska has never finished in the top ten over the past 20 years (although they were in the top ten five times in the ten years before that).

3. Reduced travel for UCLA and USC. Plus, it maintains some rivalries (Cal-Stanford if Stanford joins, Cal-UCLA).

Again, I know that it doesn’t make financial sense for the Big Ten. It’s probably even more likely that Cal, and maybe Stanford, decide that NIL, and making players employees, are steps too far, leading them to drop big time athletics. I'm sure that both faculties would favor the latter. But one can dream.

Edit: number 1 is potentially important because the ultimate decision will be made by the presidents and chancellors.

Please do not forget that tv executives are big players in these type of decisions now.

 

[Quality Czech]

The Big Ten, unlike other conferences, is partly an academic alliance. It's not irrelevant. Thus the long-standing AAU criterion for schools other than Notre Dame, which no other conferences have. That said, the fact that Cal would be a financial sink is a problem.

I agree with you. The best part about the Big Ten is that they at least consider academics when determining invitations. In that respect, Cal would be a slam dunk. But as you also mention, they would be a financial sink, which when looking at additions from the media rights aspect, they will likely be on the outside looking in. Extremely sad for the most prestigious public university in the nation.
Such is the state of college athletics. Fox and ESPN the puppet masters and the conferences dancing on their command…

 

[dparks]

not familiar with the usc/oregon relationship. is there a hatred there?

I am not sure but maybe they want to escape the constant Oregon lovefest from Uncle Phil?

 

[dparks]

Interesting - I’ve heard similar rumblings from (mostly) Oregon fans that I know.
They don’t attribute it so much to ‘rivalry’ as they do the dislike of the oversized influence and machinations of “Uncle Phil” Knight. In their opinion, his money and influence in the sports world are the only reason Oregon has any standing in CFB right now and if not for him, Eugene would still be a truck stop between SF and Seattle.
I don’t know about any of that, but I do know that despite swimming in Uncle Phil’s Nike money, the cost of an education for non-athletes at UO is astronomical - my youngest is a rising Senior there and they have taken a LOT of our money for her education.

As for me, I’d rather not have Oregon in the B1G. They have a pretty good national brand and a decent following, but they just don’t bring enough eyeballs to justify cutting them in on the conference media deal. Washington and Stanford would probably deliver better television markets and have better football history and academics, to boot…

Per bolded, just what I replied to another commenter without even seeing your reply yet. But it makes the most sense since basically Oregon only became relevant after Phil started donating millions upon millions to Oregon.

 

[weaver75]

va/pitt, no way. never happens. va tech maybe, pitt no chance at all.

Maybe, but VA and Pitt are AAU, and VTech is not, and that still matters somewhat to the B1G presidents who will decide. I think any guesses involving ACC schools are even more speculative than PAC schools.

 

[Red Reign]

 

[Ackos]

ND can pound sand, hope they rot.

 

[Cornjob]

I don't see it making sense financially for UCLA and USC without a few teams closer to them geographically.

4-5 conference football road games per year at a minimum of 1,300 miles times two (Lincoln, the closest). And the other sports will mostly be 2-3 times that many road games. Can you imagine Ohio State having to play all of their conference road games on the West Coast (all sports)? I can't. But that's basically what USC and UCLA currently will have to do but in reverse.

I'll bet there will be at least four total Pac-12 teams in the Big Ten.

That’s TWO more PAC teams then, not four, after USC and UCLA. I was responding to proposals people are throwing out with 6 total PAC teams.

I believe there will be more western expansion, but Notre Dame is being given some time and a window to claim a B1G seat. I think Notre Dame probably would reduce one of the western teams by taking a spot. How much time will the Irish be given? My guess is no more than a month before we hear that they’ve declined (again) or that Notre Dame is joining.

 

[Cisco]

Might depend on if it's 18, 20, 22, or 24.

If 24, an ideal situation for the Big Ten might be...

Pre 2024:

Rutgers
Maryland
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska

2024:

USC
UCLA

2024 Or Later:

Notre Dame
Stanford
Washington
Oregon
One of Arizona or Arizona State
One of Virginia or Virginia Tech
North Carolina
One of Duke or GT