USC and UCLA are leaving the PAC-12, making the Big Ten the only college athletic conference to go coast to coast. This is the first time the Big Ten has expanded since it added Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. Galen Clavio, director of IU’s sports media program, that UCLA and USC made this decision due to finances.
“The PAC-12, the conference that both these teams were in, just was not able to deliver the type of television revenue and media revenue that the Big Ten can,” Clavio said.
Clavio described this relationship between the two schools and the Big Ten as symbiotic. By adding these two schools, the Big Ten will get more revenue, new viewers, and potentially bigger television contracts.
“What we are looking at right now, with the new media deal that the Big Ten is likely to sign, is the possibility of Big Ten schools each and every year getting somewhere between $80 and $100 million simply off of media rights,” Clavio said.
When asked how these new additions would affect travel costs for current Big Ten schools, Clavio said it wouldn’t be much of factor due to the large amount of revenue they will receive from these additions and the ease of traveling to Los Angeles.
Other schools also may join the Big Ten, according to Clavio, however, schools such as Oregon and Stanford from the PAC-12, may not join the Big Ten any time soon.
“Notre Dame is probably the one other school that could bring more revenue to the table for the Big Ten than they would take off the table by just joining,” Clavio said.
