The Big Ten announced Tuesday it is joining forces with two other major college sports conferences.
The Big Ten, the Pac-12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference say they have entered into an alliance in response to what a statement calls the “unique environment and challenges currently facing intercollegiate athletics.”
Among other things, the alliance includes a scheduling component for football and women’s and men’s basketball designed to create new inter-conference games.
The new three conference alliance will be composed of 41 universities spread from the East to West coast, with a presence in some of the largest media markets in the country.
This is not a surprise. There have been reports for weeks the conferences were talking of forming an alliance.
The talks started earlier this year after the University of Oklahoma and University of Texas announced they were exiting the Big-12 conference to join the Southeast Conference.
There has been a shifting of power in college sports as major conferences have added schools.
According to the Big Ten, the new alliance will give the 41 universities involved the ability to provide leadership on the “future structure of the NCAA” and pending “federal legislative efforts.”
