Pac-12 Expansion: With UCLA leaving, what happens next?
By Ryan Kay
There are still a select group of UCLA and even USC alums and fans who wish that they were not leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten conference. However, for those who still want to see the Pac-12 move on and not dissolve as the Big East did in football, here is a look at the possible additions to the Pac-12.
This may sound counterproductive as there have been numerous reports that the Big 12 is in talks to add certain Pac-12 teams to their conference but it seems to be more talk than action as these “rumors” have been going on for over a year and no “substantial” confirmation from any of the rumored about Pac-12 schools that may leave to the Big 12 have been verified by the schools in question.
The Pac-12 conference is also confident that they will get a deal worth more than that of the Big 12’s media rights deal. Also, the Pac-12 seems to be united as they recently agreed verbally to grant rights for sharing of media revenue deal and it is a step in the conference being united and staying intact for the future.
Even though the Pac-12 and Big 12 are both losing two schools each in Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC and UCLA and USC to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 still will have financially stronger revenue-generating schools at the top of their conference in comparison to the Big 12.
In 2024 when each conference loses two schools, here is a comparison of the two conferences and the top six schools from each conference according to a report from USA Today ranking the schools in total revenue received for each school.
Pac-12 Big 12
Oregon No. 19 Kansas No. 35
Washington No. 25 Iowa State No. 39
Arizona No. 31 Texas Tech No. 41
Arizona State No. 33 West Virginia No. 45
California No. 34 Oklahoma State No. 46
Utah No. 36 Kansas State No. 49
Now, if Oklahoma and Texas stayed in the Big 12, then the Big 12 conference can make a strong argument that joining their conference is more financially beneficial to certain schools in the Pac-12 to join their conference as the Longhorns and Sooners are top revenue-generating schools. However, if the Pac-12 can get a new media rights deal that will give each individual school more money annually than the Big 12 can do for their schools starting the 2024 football season, then expect the Pac-12 schools to possibly add a Big 12 school or two and not the other way around.