Conference realignment: Could this Big Ten/Pac-12 superconference rival new-look SEC?
Big Ten expansion and Pac-12 realignment rumors are heating up after the move of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC.
Conference realignment is back for another spin with Texas and Oklahoma officially telling the Big 12 they intend to leave for the SEC.
A move to the SEC could be completed before the start of the football season and they could begin playing an SEC schedule for the 2022 academic year.
What’s the ripple effect of this move? What does it mean for the Big Ten and Pac-12, specifically?
The talk of superconferences has been around for the last decade after the wave of conference realignment last decade with Texas A&M and Missouri joining the SEC, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers joining the Big Ten, West Virginia and TCU joining the Big 12, Boston College, Pitt, Virginia Tech and Syracuse joining the ACC, Colorado and Utah joining the Pac-12 and the death of the Big East.
Big Ten and Pac-12 should join powers to form a superconference
Instead of raiding the leftovers in the Big 12, which aren’t all that appealing, what if the Big Ten and Pac-12 combined powers to form their own coast-to-coast superconference?
Okay, first of all, this is just a fun and wild theory and not meant to come across as something that is either imminent or something the Pac-12 and/or Big Ten is actively considering. But maybe their conference commissioners and university presidents read this and want to do it? I would give them my blessing. Andy Staples of The Athletic lists out the pros for the Big Ten to team up with the Pac-12.
The first step in considering conference realignment isn’t quantity but quality. It’s not about the number of teams in a conference, it’s what those teams can bring to the league. Specifically, how much money can they deliver and can they win national championships.
That’s the biggest reason the Big 12 leftovers aren’t appealing.
Pac-12 realignment: Big Ten gets AAU schools from Pac-12
What is important to consider in any Big Ten expansion talk is whether the universities are AAU members. This is why you can make a case for Kansas and Iowa State to the Big Ten. But it’s also why the Big Ten and Pac-12 superconference is an ideal fit.
Consider USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Arizona are all AAU schools. These eight schools could represent the Big Ten West division.
Pair them up with the existing 14 members of the Big Ten and you have a Big Ten East with the current East teams and a Big Ten Central division which is currently the Big Ten West.
A three-division conference could take some getting used to but it’s a heck of a lot easier to understand than remembering who was in the Leaders Division and who was in the Legends Division.
Big Ten expansion doesn’t make sense with Big 12 leftovers
The Pac-12 is entering a new era with conference commissioner George Kliavkoff who hopes to erase the Larry Scott stain and get the league back to being an afterthought in college football. Meanwhile, the Big Ten suffered a bit of a black eye and tarnished their reputation after initially canceling the football season last summer due to COVID concerns. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren is not a popular person in Big Ten country. However, a Big Ten – Pac-12 alliance lifts both parties in their quest to match or overtake the SEC, at least in terms of revenue generated for the universities.
The SEC has a significant advantage when it comes to winning college football national championships and baseball too. But the Big Ten already has a better TV contract that pays each member school the same amount and it could only swell to unprecedented numbers in a new media contract with schools from coast to coast.
Adding the Los Angeles market with USC and UCLA gives the conference the nation’s No. 2 market but it also gives them Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, Denver and entry into Oregon and Arizona. All told, it would give the Big Ten-Pac-12 superconference 13 of the 21 biggest TV markets.
That’s a lot more attractive than adding Kansas and Iowa State. No other league could compare with that.
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