Big Ten, Pac-12 & ACC Reportedly Expected To Announce Alliance

The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC, three of the NCAA’s Power Five conferences, will reportedly announce an alliance in the near future, sources told The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach.

The formal announcement could take place “as early as next week,” with governance issues primarily at the forefront of the conversations involving the three conferences.

News: The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC are expected to make a formal announcement about their alignment soon, perhaps as early as next week, multiple sources told @TheAthletic.

This isn’t just about scheduling. More: https://t.co/OyBicG7uiv

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 20, 2021

According to Auerbach, schools within the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC “believe they are like-minded,” and want to continue their broad-based sports offerings while also upholding the academic profile of their institutions.

Many of the conference’s administrators reportedly want to keep the collegiate model intact, and fear that college football could become more like a minor league system for the NFL, especially with the aggression shown by the SEC of late.

The SEC extended invitations that were accepted by powerhouse schools Texas and Oklahoma, who will leave the Big 12 for the conference in July 2025.

The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC also reportedly hope to delay the expansion of the College Football Playoff format by aligning, with a proposal submitted by a CFP subgroup—one that included both the Big 12 and SEC Commissioners—submitting a proposal to expand in June. This group is said to not have approached representatives from the three conferences about the proposal.

What an alliance between the three could mean for swimming & diving, if anything, is unclear for the time being.

The NCAA will hold a special constitutional convention in November, where the organization’s core principles will be re-drafted by a 22-person committee as they looked to modernize their governance model.

One of the issues surrounding these conferences, and the current NCAA constitution, has to do with too much representation of the lower Division I levels, along with D2 and D3. That is, the constitution helps the smaller schools with issues that don’t necessarily impact the bigger schools, which is believed to be a primary reason why the SEC has begun to chart its own path.

An alliance between the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC would give them the opportunity to do something in a similar vein. Auerbach notes that the three of them can “control their future” if the three leagues and 41 schools they represent can stay aligned as a voting bloc on major issues moving forward.