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This Day In Sports…July 27, 2021, five years ago today:
Less than a week after word of the jaw-dropping move was leaked, Oklahoma and Texas officially ask for applications to the Southeastern Conference. The Sooners and Longhorns shocked the Big 12 with their plan to move, and they inspired other schools and conferences to think outside the box. Less than a year later, USC and UCLA would announce their stunning departure from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. And so a trickle-down effect in conference realignment began, and it lasts to this day, punctuated by the debut of the new version of the Pac-12 this month.
The Big Ten was dismayed by the Oklahoma-Texas news (to say the least). The league initially reacted by joining the Big 12 and ACC in a “Gentlemen’s Agreement Alliance” in an effort to create a voting bloc to stymie the SEC’s power. But it wasn’t a legal entity and it quickly fell apart. So the Big Ten got aggressive and pulled the Trojans and Bruins out of the L.A. market in a 2022 chess move. The Big Ten then claimed to be done with expansion, and Oregon and Washington tried to keep the shell-shocked Pac-12 together.
But the Pac-12 botched its TV negotiations in 2023, and Colorado bolted for the Big 12 in June. Oregon and Washington desperately reached out to the Big Ten—and finally agreed to a half-share of Big Ten revenues in order to get out of the Pac-12 in August. That further separated the SEC and Big Ten from the rest of the pack. The Ducks’ and Huskies’ departure were enough to send Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12 to join the Buffaloes shortly thereafter. Only Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State remained. The Bears and Cardinal panicked and accepted a steeply reduced revenue offer from the ACC.
Instead of waving the white flag and merging with the Mountain West, OSU and WSU kept their Pac-12 memberships and fought in court for the conference’s assets. They won and went on the offensive in September, 2024, inviting Boise State. Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego—and eventually Utah State (after UNLV elected to stay in the Mountain West). Then at the end of September, the Pac-12 lured Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference for non-football sports. And in June of last year the Pac-12 added Texas State and called it good (for now). It’s all so exhausting, and there’ll be more to come.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
