I am just at total loss of words when I heard about UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 Conference they will join the Big 10 Conference staring in August of 2024. It makes no sense from geographical standpoint, but it’s all about the money and these new TV contracts throughout college athletics. In College Football I think their will be 2 super conferences in the Big 10 and the SEC while the other conferences will be far behind them. It all started last year with longtime Big 12 members Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC beginning in 2025 and then the rest of the domino’s fell. UCLA and USC joining the Big 10 Conference will not only make it a stronger conference on the athletics side but on the academics side as well. This is the future of College Sports as all these schools try to join a big conference to generate all this revenue.
When I think of the Big 10 Conference I think of Midwestern schools. Penn State a school out on the East Coast joined the conference in 1990, then Nebraska in 2011 where they use to be in the Big 12 conference for so long joined the Big 10, then Rutgers and Maryland in 2014 where Rutgers use to be in the Big East while Maryland ACC. I could see other schools down the road join the Big 10 conference maybe more schools from the Pac-12 Conference like Oregon, Stanford, California, Arizona or Arizona State. I don’t see Notre Dame joining the Big 10 Conference as the Irish are in the ACC for most sports except football. With USC and UCLA joining the new look Big 10 Conference I am excited about USC vs Ohio State in football who met so many times over the years in the Rose Bowl and UCLA vs Michigan State in men’s college basketball 2 traditional powers. I think UCLA has the best chance to end the Big 10’s drought for a National Championship in the NCAA Tournament where the conference hasn’t won it all on the hardwood since Michigan State during the 1999-2000 season. The future is here in College Sports.