Big Ten formally adds Oregon, Washington after Pac-12 exit

After a week of starts and stops, hold ups and holding out, the Big Ten Conference has finally expanded westward again, adding Oregon and Washington to the league after league presidents voted to accept them, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. A formal announcement is expected shortly.

The move throws the Pac-12 Conference into further crisis as Arizona is simultaneously poised to potentially leave for the Big 12 Conference with an announcement slated for Saturday. Utah and Arizona State are following closely behind in pushing to be Big 12 members.

The Oregon board of trustees voted unanimously on Friday to accept an invitation to the Big Ten.

The Big Ten released a statement shortly after the mechanics of the moves, welcoming the new members while spelling out the timeline. They will become official members of the conference on Aug. 2, 2024 and also become members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Multiple reports also state that both schools will enter the conference at a reduced revenue share slated for about $30 million, with $1 million increases each year of the current deal.

The release also included a bevy of quotes from various stakeholders in the process from both Washington and Oregon and the Big Ten.

“We are excited to welcome the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Conference,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said in the release. “We look forward to building long-lasting relationships with the universities, administrators and staff, student-athletes, coaches and fans,” Petitti said. “Both institutions feature a combination of academic and athletic excellence that will prove a great fit for our future.”

Both the Huskies and Ducks are slated to join the Big Ten in 2024 at the conclusion of the Pac-12’s current Grant of Rights. Neither school will get a full payout from the Big Ten league revenue, something that was potentially a sticking point in negotiations. On3’s Pete Nakos reported the two schools are expected to get payouts somewhere in the $30-40 million range.

However, the payouts are expected to increase over years and Oregon president John Karl Scholz said on Friday he anticipates Oregon and Washington will get a full share when the Big Ten’s next media negotiation comes up.

After Colorado voted to leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12, the focus shifted to Arizona potentially following. And that unsettling move from the Buffaloes apparently put the Big Ten’s focus back on the two northwestern powerhouses as it appeared the Pac-12 was melting down.

Momentum grew throughout the week, building up to a fever pitch on Thursday evening, as the University of Washington board of regents met at midnight EST and it seemed Oregon and Washington were getting the moves squared away.

But late on Thursday news broke that the Pac-12 presidents would meet on Friday morning and potentially get the nine remaining programs — Arizona, Oregon and Washington included — to sign the new Grant of Rights for a media deal primarily via Apple TV streaming. It seemed the Pac-12 might’ve rallied to keep the league whole(ish).

However, Oregon reportedly raised some last-minute concerns about the revenue totals in the Pac-12 deal and the Grant of Rights didn’t get consummated by the league on Friday. Shortly after it broke that the Pac-12 hadn’t staved off the poachers, the intensity rose once again in the Big Ten’s pursuit of the northwestern schools.

The Big Ten presidents met mid-day on Friday to keep pushing ahead and hammer out finer points of the deal. Shortly after noon on the East Coast, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the Big Ten was planning to vote later that day to send formal invitations to Oregon and Washington, barring any further snags.

Hold ups in the process hadn’t been entirely on the Oregon and Washington side, as Thamel reported on Thursday that several current Big Ten members — and incoming West Coast member USC — might’ve opposed adding more West Coast presences to the league. Thamel added that the vote was anticipated to be unanimous — certainly a feather in the cap for relatively green league commissioner Tony Petitti.

However, it seems whatever concerns existed within Big Ten leadership were quashed as formal invitations to Oregon and Washington were extended.

Around the same time, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that Oregon and Washington informed the Pac-12 presidents they intended to accept an invitation from the Big Ten when it was offered.

And now all eyes turn to the corner schools to see if the next dominoes fall in the Pac-12 exodus.