BREAKING: Pac-12 rivals USC and UCLA ‘plan to move to the Big Ten in 2024’ in major NCAA shakeup
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Two collegiate sports powerhouses prepare to defect from the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten in the latest shake-up of the NCAA’s competitive landscape.
As multiple outlets reported Thursday, Los Angeles-based rivals USC and UCLA are in talks to join the Big Ten (née: Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, and Pacific-10) after decades in the Pac-12. . Not only would the move deprive the 107-year-old conference of two of its most prestigious athletic divisions, but it would cost the Pac-12 its foothold in the lucrative Southern California media market.
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren has not yet raised the issue publicly as talks are reportedly underway.
SC wide receiver Washington, right, UCLA defending defender Cameron Johnson fended off a first quarter pass at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Nov. 21. As multiple outlets reported Thursday, Los Angeles-based rivals USC and UCLA are in talks to join the Big Ten after decades in the Pac-12 for the 2024 season, though the deal isn’t finalized yet.
The move hasn’t been finalized yet, according to syndicated sports reporter Jon Wilner, who also reports the move could happen as early as 2024.
While UCLA is best known as a basketball powerhouse, with 11 men’s NCAA titles, any move to the Big Ten would likely be due to football, which is the most profitable in the college sports hierarchy.
The reported rapprochement of the Big Ten to UCLA and USC comes after the Southeastern Conference successfully lured Oklahoma and Texas away from the Big-12 for the 2025 season.
By adding USC 11-time national soccer champions to a conference already made up of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State, the Big Ten hopes to compete with an SEC widely regarded as the toughest, most popular conference in the world. college football.
Including the 2021 Georgia Bulldogs National Champion, five of the last seven title winners have come from the SEC. Meanwhile, the Big Ten has won just one national championship in the past two decades: the 2014 Ohio State title.
USC has been in the Pac-12 since 1922, while UCLA joined in 1928.