In an historic move that would change the landscape of college sports on the West Coast, USC and UCLA are planning to depart the Pac-12 for the Big Ten as early as 2024, according to a source.
The move isn’t official and must be approved at the highest level of power at the two schools and in the Big Ten.
A departure by the Los Angeles schools would have massive consequences for the Pac-12, stripping it of the campuses in its most important recruiting and media hub and the two storied teams — USC football and UCLA basketball — that serve as the face of the conference in their respective sports.
It is not known whether the schools are joining the Big Ten in all sports, only in football, or just in football and men’s basketball.
But the future of the conference is suddenly in serious doubt — a potential merger with the Big 12 could be on the table, or the remaining schools could go their separate ways. Washington and Oregon, in particular, have valuable football brands.
The planned move creates significant political questions, especially for UCLA, which is connected to Cal through the UC system — the schools share the same regents.
It also comes 11 months after Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, creating a 16-team powerhouse league supported by a sweeping media rights deal with ESPN.
Grabbing USC and UCLA would provide the Big Ten, and its major network partner, Fox, with a 16-team counterweight.
After the Big 12 lost the Longhorns and Sooners, it responded by adding BYU, UCF, Houston and Cincinnati.
The Pac-12 will assuredly seek additional members if the L.A. leave as planned.
The development comes one day before the first anniversary of George Kliavkoff becoming commissioner of the Pac-12 and leaves him with a shredded conference that was planning to begin media rights negotiations later this year.
Those negotiations will take on an entirely different tone without the two universities in the nation’s No. 2 media market.
