USA TODAY Sports
The Pac-12 will “explore all options for expansion” as it tries to regroup after the sudden and startling news that USC and UCLA would leave in favor of the Big Ten in 2024. With the college athletics landscape once again more in a state of convulsions, all options are on the table, as the West Coast league of Power Five seeks to stay afloat in any way possible to move forward.
“The Pac-12 Board of Directors met this morning and authorized the conference to explore all expansion options,” a conference statement released Friday said. “The 10 presidents and rectors of universities continue to be committed to a shared mission of academic and sporting excellence on behalf of our student-athletes.”
The expansion may suddenly be on the radar of the Pac-12, but keeping its remaining members intact is also a priority. Oregon and Washington, two other Pac-12 brands that could potentially get out of bail, contacted the Big Ten to assess their interest, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, but they were told the conference moment remains.
Of course, everything related to conference realignment is fluid. Plans could change quickly after the USC and UCLA march sent presidents and athletic directors from all over college athletics struggling to figure out where to go from here.
The Trojan and Bruins movement signaled a massive shift in the college athletics landscape. Texas and Oklahoma’s decision to move to the SEC last summer was a massive coup for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, but the Big Ten is the first Power Five conference to make an effort. arranged to have a footprint from the Atlantic to the Pacific.