Kevin Warren touts future of Big Ten expansion, integrating USC, UCLA ahead of 2024 arrival

At Big Ten Football Media Days in July, the news of USC and UCLA’s additions to the league was still somewhat fresh. More than two months later, discussion is now about how the conference will look with the two new teams, and Kevin Warren spoke about that integration process Tuesday.

Warren, speaking during his opening press conference at Big Ten Basketball Media Days, said USC and UCLA’s integration is a top priority in the future. The two programs are preparing to join the Big Ten in 2024, but Warren said work is being done now to make sure they wind up fitting in well with the other 14 teams in the league, especially with the new media rights deal coming, as well.

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“The biggest thing right now that we have come up with, what we’re calling some of our ‘can’t-miss priorities,’ and one of the can’t-miss priorities is to make sure that we flawlessly integrate our new media partners,” Warren said. “But the other big one is to make sure that we flawlessly integrate USC and UCLA into the Big Ten Conference. In the climate that we’re in right now in college athletics, you also always have to be mindful of expansion.

“But our priority is just to make sure one, we take care of our 14 member institutions now, from a basketball standpoint, from a conference standpoint, and that we do everything that we possibly can to make sure that we flawlessly integrate USC and UCLA into the Big Ten Conference. We have a lot of work to do. It’s one thing to negotiate contracts, to make an announcement. But it’s another thing to actually get the work done, and that’s what we’re focused on right now.”

Kevin Warren: Student-athletes will remain No. 1 priority after USC, UCLA additions

Warren noted the significance of having a true coast-to-coast conference in the next few years. When USC and UCLA join the Big Ten, the league will stretch from Piscataway, N.J. to Los Angeles. Some have expressed concerns about travel, but Kevin Warren reassured the league will take steps to help with that.

“We now are coast to coast, from New Jersey and in 2024, all the way to Los Angeles,” Warren said. “We are very, very pleased and grateful, we are blessed every day, for our 14 member institutions who comprise the Big Ten Conference. But we also are extremely excited about our two new family members who are scheduled to join our conference in the fall of 2024: the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. Two outstanding academic and athletic institutions with rich history, tradition and legacy. … One of our key focus points this year is to make sure that we flawlessly integrate both UCLA and USC into the Big Ten Conference, that our student athletes have been our No. 1 priority and during this integration period, they will continue to be our No. 1 priority.

“You’ll be able to see it in how we schedule, how we handle multi-team events, the experiences that they’ll be able to have by now being able to travel to play different institutions across the country. We’ll ask ourselves, ‘What can we do on a daily basis to strengthen this academic opportunity? To strengthen these athletic opportunities? How will this relationship and expansion create new opportunities for our student-athletes to broaden their platform both on and off the court?’ We think of the many future student-athletes, the thousands of student-athletes in the future who will call themselves Big Ten student-athletes. So with that, we will methodically, strategically position the Big Ten Conference not only for success now, but for success 100, 200, 300, 400 years from now as we build a much stronger conference.”