USC, UCLA could leave for the Big Ten. What does that mean for Utah and the rest of the Pac-12?

If you’ve been hoping Rutgers would one day play football against USC and UCLA as conference rivals, well, it appears you’re in luck.

In a cataclysmic move that will change the nationwide landscape of college sports, the Trojans and Bruins are planning to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten as early as 2024, according to a report by Jon Wilner of The Mercury News.

Per Wilner, the move is not official and must be approved at the highest levels of power at each school. The Big Ten is currently at 14 schools, while the Pac-12 moved to 12 in 2011 with the additions of Utah and Colorado.

USC and UCLA potentially leaving the Pac-12, taking with it the conference’s largest media market and two of the conference’s flagship programs, Trojans football and Bruins basketball, immediately puts the future of the conference in doubt.

The prevailing notion after the news broke was that the Big Ten might not be done, as Oregon and Washington are viewed as the Pac-12′s next-most attractive brands after the two Los Angeles schools. Regardless of whether or not the Big Ten comes West again for more schools, how there are questions to be answered about how this specifically affects the University of Utah.

One option is for the Pac-12 to replenish itself with schools from the Mountain West. Another scenario could see the Big 12 poach other Pac-12 schools, or the two conferences combine resources and become one league.

The Utes, reigning Pac-12 champions in football, have been to the three of the last four conference championship games and will enter this season likely as a favorite to again win the Pac-12.

A year ago, in response to the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas, the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 entered into essentially a handshake agreement, dubbed The Alliance. They agreed to work on various issues, including scheduling, in an effort to help stabilize college football and not poach each other’s members.

With Thursday’s bombshell, that handshake, as tenuous as it was a year ago, is likely null and void now.

The Tribune will update this story.

from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/u8H6CYh