NFL
By: George Lopez
On June 30th, the Big Ten Conference announced that it has accepted USC and UCLA into their conference beginning as early as the 2024 season. The announcement sent shock waves throughout college sports. The move by both schools presents an interesting question…what impact will the move have on college sports going forward?
The decision to make this move makes sense financially for both USC and UCLA. Schools in the PAC12 were generating approximately $33 billion dollars of revenue annually. In comparison, schools in the BIG Ten were generating approximately $54 billion annually. The Big Ten Conference has a new T.V. deal that will see its revenue increase by adding the two schools from Los Angeles
In college football, the SEC is seen as the dominant conference with at least one school making the college football playoffs each year. Outside of Clemson, the BIG Ten Conference has been a constant participant in the college football landscape. The PAC12 has been viewed as an inferior conference in recent years. By being able to play the likes of Ohio St., Michigan, and Penn St. in conference play, both USC and UCLA will see their strength of schedule increase. This move will also help in recruiting. USC and UCLA will now be more active in the Midwest in terms of recruiting. They can use the angle that athletes from the Midwest will still be able to play in front of friends and family if they choose to attend USC or UCLA.
The move to the BIG Ten will also change kick-off times for USC and UCLA. In the PAC12, it was not uncommon for either school to have 7:30 pm kickoff times. Fans of both teams will not see that anymore. When USC and UCLA travel for conference games, expect to see early start times on the west coast. When BIG Ten schools come to LA for games, gone will be the late kickoff times to accommodate fans in the Midwest.
A concern USC fans had with the move was the status of their annual game against Notre Dame. Earlier today, it was announced that USC will continue their annual intersectional rivalry game with Notre Dame. The battle for LA annual game with UCLA will also continue.
The PAC12 has been greatly weakened by this move. Will other schools such as Oregon, Washington, and Utah look to make similar moves to other conferences, or will the PAC12 look to expand by adding new schools to the conference? The moves made recently by Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC and now USC and UCLA moving to the BIG Ten is pushing college sports into an era of super conferences. The college sports we grew up watching no longer exist.
