USA TODAY Sports
The Pac-12 will “explore all expansion options” as it tries to regroup after the sudden and startling news that USC and UCLA will leave in favor of the Big Ten in 2024. With the landscape of college athletics once again in a state of upheaval, . all options are on the table as the Power Five West Coast League looks to stay afloat any way possible moving forward.
“The Pac-12 Board of Directors met this morning and authorized the conference to explore all expansion options,” the conference said in a statement released Friday. “The 10 university presidents and chancellors remain committed to a shared mission of academic and athletic excellence on behalf of our student-athletes.”
Expansion may suddenly be on the radar for the Pac-12, but keeping its remaining membership intact is also a priority. Oregon and Washington, two other Pac-12 brands that could potentially bail, have reached out to the Big Ten to gauge their interest, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, but have been told the conference is on for now.
Of course, all things related to the conference realignment are moving. Plans could change quickly after the departures of USC and UCLA left college athletics presidents and athletic directors scrambling to figure out where to go from here.
The move by the Trojans and Bruins signals a huge change in the landscape of college athletics. Texas and Oklahoma’s decision to move to the SEC last summer was a huge blow to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, but the Big Ten is the first Power Five conference to make a concerted effort to have an Atlantic-to-Pacific footprint.
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