USC and UCLA, two of the Pac-12's flagship programs, are planning to leave the conference for the Big Ten as early as 2024, and a move is considered imminent, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.
There is still a formal notification process, as the two schools have to let the Pac-12 know their intentions to leave. USC and UCLA also have to formally apply to the Big Ten. According to a source, that process is underway.
Multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday that the move is expected to happen. A source called the next steps "formalities," and an announcement could come within the next 24 hours.
The PAC is done as a major football conference and the ACC is rendered even more "almost competitive." Major and totally sensible move by the schools and the B1G, which is taking dead aim at the SEC for football dominance. And the B1G likely isn't done. Membership stood at 14, a robust number, before today. Sixteen has often been talked about as the number for a "super-conference" and the B1G will get to that threshold in 2024 with U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. But there will still be a hole in the geography of the B1G in the middle of the country. The conference has long coveted Notre Dame and the addition of its annual rival U.S.C. will only make the B1G more alluring to ND. The "Irish" would be the 17th member. Geographically, Notre Dame does not plug that empty middle but would garner the conference the Queen on the chessboard. If they lure ND, and the betting money is they will, they could then look to expand into the mountain time zone to plug that hole. Utah would be a bridge between mid-west and west coast and would bring membership to 18. I would bet that's what the B1G does. U.S.C., U.C.L.A., Notre Dame and Utah would near contiguously stretch the conference from Maryland to California with Utah the bridge between mid-west and West Coast.
