It’s official: Washington, with Oregon, to Big Ten; Pac-12 disintegrating, WSU left behind
It’s done and official.
Washington has walked away from tradition, dysfunction and lower revenues to take a surer thing — in the Big Ten.
The University of Washington announced Friday all Huskies intercollegiate sports programs are leaving the Pac-12 conference after 108 years as a founding member to join an 18-team Big Ten beginning next year. Oregon is coming with UW.
“The Big Ten is a thriving conference with strong athletic and academic traditions, and we are excited and confident about competing at the highest level on a national stage,” UW president Ana Mari Cauce said in a statement issued by her school. “My top priority must be to do what is best for our student-athletes and our university, and this move will help ensure a strong future for our athletics program.”
The Apple Cup? That’s in serious jeopardy of ending after the 115th meeting this November 25 in Seattle. Washington and Washington State first met in 1900.
Now, they would have to meet in a non-conference game, and work out the logistics of one around UW’s new Big Ten schedule.
The Huskies said they are “committed to preserving the rich tradition of the Apple Cup rivalry with Washington State University in all sports, including football.”
Washington State, with Oregon State, are left behind as the Pac-12 disintegrates around them.
USC and UCLA started the league’s demise last year when they agreed to leave for the Big Ten beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. This summer, Colorado left to join the Big 12 Conference next year.
Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are reportedly on their ways to joining the Big 12, too.
“We are proud of our rich history with the Pac-12 and for more than a year have worked hard to find a viable path that would keep it together. I have tremendous admiration and respect for my Pac-12 colleagues,” President Cauce said. “Ultimately, however, the opportunities and stability offered by the Big Ten are unmatched. Even with this move, we remain committed to the Apple Cup and to competing with WSU across all of our sports.”
Huskies athletic director Jen Cohen recognized the history and legacy of the now future-less Pac-12.
“We have tremendous respect and gratitude for the Pac-12, its treasured history and traditions,” Cohen said in UW’s statement. “At the same time, the college athletics landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. The Big Ten’s history of athletic and academic success and long-term stability best positions our teams for future success, and we are energized at the opportunity to compete at the highest level against some of the best programs in the country.”
In the end — through the chaos of seismic college conference realignment, dying loyalties and tens of millions of dollars in media rights — Washington had to look out for itself.
A source with direct knowledge of UW’s plans told The News Tribune Friday morning Washington and Oregon were headed toward announcing they are leaving the diminished, teetering Pac-12 Conference to join the Big Ten for all sports — dependent on the Big Ten officially inviting them.
Then ESPN reported midday Friday the Big Ten officially voted in Washington and Oregon.
The Big Ten released a statement Friday, officially announcing the arrival of UW and Oregon.
“I’m thrilled that the University of Oregon has the opportunity to join the nation’s preeminent academic-athletic conference,” said University of Oregon President John Karl Scholz. “Our student-athletes will participate at the highest level of collegiate athletic competition, and our alumni, friends, and fans will be able to carry the spirit of Oregon across the country.”
The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference are now the two behemoth leagues in big-time college sports.
Sources have told The News Tribune for the last year this is the result top UW leaders have sought since USC and UCLA stunned the Pac-12 in 2022 and agreed to join the Big Ten after the 2023-24 academic year.
USC and UCLA left amid years of mismanagement and incompetence by former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, and a fatal lack of foresight by the league’s presidents.
UW’s and Oregon’s moves show how in today’s college-sports landscape — Texas and Oklahoma are leaving the Big 12 for the mighty SEC next year — it is every school and athletic department for itself. That is at the expense of tradition, relationships, geography and sometimes common sense.
Sure, everyone sees UW football at Ohio State on national television as a win-win. But are you ready for Washington at Rutgers softball in April?
Yes, as always, the reason for this chaos is money.
Washington and Oregon had big concerns with the proposed new media-rights deal the Pac-12 was presenting to its nine remaining members: a streaming-based deal with Apple. It would be heavily reliant on gaining subscribers and perhaps net each Pac-12 school no more than $20-25 million annually beginning with the 2024 college football season.
The Big Ten has a new rights package with traditional television giants NBC, CBS and Fox that is reportedly going to pay each of that league’s schools $50-70 million or more per year.
Washington and Oregon have reportedly been offered entrance to the Big Ten at a share below and perhaps half that, then increasing each year through the 2029-30 academic year. That’s when the Big Ten’s upcoming television deal with NBC, CBS and Fox ends. That reduced-share stipulation had both schools exploring the possibility of staying in and saving the Pac-12. Early Friday morning, that appeared a distinct possibility.
Yet both UW and Oregon will still take in more with a reduced Big Ten share than it would in what the Pac-12 has been offering. It’s believed Washington’s and Oregon’s Big Ten shares will increase each year, to far above what the Pac-12’s Apple deal would give them.
Apple reportedly pulled its offer Friday because it doesn’t see a future Pac-12 league to televise.
Washington and Oregon don’t have to pay exit fees to leave the Pac-12 because the league’s media-rights deal is expiring next spring.
UW’s board of regents held a special meeting Thursday night but made no announcements coming out of that 90-minute gathering.
Friday morning, the Pac-12’s nine remaining university presidents and leaders held a meeting in hopes of signing a grant of rights to approve the Apple media deal. But the diminished, streaming-based media-rights package is proving to be a risk of lower revenues UW doesn’t want to take on.
The 18-team Big Ten is about to be the largest conference in college sports history.
This story was originally published August 4, 2023 at 4:21 PM.
