Big Ten Expansion: Westward Bound? Pac 12 Expert's Take

Jon Wilner's latest mailbag suggests that two teams out west aren't done trying to get into the Big Ten.

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[lpslover]

Stanford, yes...Cal, no.
Stanford should come in with ND, after FSU and Clemson/Miami.

[sgtpickles]

Two cents from a former P12 fan, Stanford is the only school out West that could bring value to the B1G right now. They wouldn’t share research as required by the BTAA. If the ACC should lose more than 4 members, Stanford may reconsider and would be a natural partner for Notre Dame.

[wally]

The B1G's first expansion move was to create a West Wing of four to six teams. USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington were at the top of the target list. Contrary to what we heard from several prominent sportswriters, USC and UCLA were never going to be the only B1G schools on the West Coast.
The numbers (college TV eyeballs) didn't work for Stanford and Cal.
If you recall Kevin Warren took a shot at a deal that included those two schools and couldn't sell it. He also proposed a Notre Dame/Stanford deal.
I think there is a possibility that that deal could be resurrected sometime in the future. The Fighting Irish can financially carry any school into the B1G as their Plus 1. A fifth school in the West Wing helps with Olympic sports. B1G presidents would love to have an excuse to add Stanford's research capabilities.
I don't see the B1G expanding beyond twenty-four teams: FSU #19, Clemson #20, ND #21, Stanford #22. Now step back and look at the B1G map. There is a big hole that needs to be filled--it's called The Lone Star State.

[josephross]

No one's moving. NCAA school owe money to players 10 years ago.

North Carolina can't move because ACC allow the sate of North Carolina to host championship so that would lose all revenue it generates for all the tournaments and championship games they host.

[papacade]

This sounds like the Wilner during the Pac 12 saga. Disconnected from reality.

[joshwhite]

I think Stanford has a case for B10 still (if) Notre Dame wants in B10. Cal though, I don’t ever see in B10

[josephross]

Why not Utah to Big Ten? They meet academics and competitive football?

[tarheel]

a) The BIG12 has already fallen apart.

b) Very doubtful that the ACC would have added CAL+2 without ESPN approval and assurances.

c) CAL & STANFORD are Tier 2 fits in the future ACC, but they don't look like Tier 1 P2 fits.

[kapow]

Very unpopular take, but if the B1G doesn't expand southeast, I think Cal, Stanford, Utah, Arizona State, Colorado and Kansas would be great additions for them. All are AAU schools, it would connect the whole conference and add the Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, Kansas City, and the Bay Area markets. To be clear, I do not want this to happen, but I could see something like that happen.

[philstamper]

Stanford and cal don’t care enough about football, I can see the Big Ten letting them in for academic reasons only which sucks as a football fan! Maybe Cal and Stanford should join the ivy league

[gustavobianchi]

I see no one has mentioned that Stanford, UCLA, USC have the most national championships across the entire spectrum of sports and Cal is not that far behind. Football may bring the money for now but does include all sports and academics. Not all BIG 10 schools are great in as many sports.
Its seems like we are heading for 2 leagues anyways.

[DocSkirv]

Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State, SMU, Tulane, San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State, and UNLV….rebooted PAC. Would love to see it.

[theocooper]

Honestly, I don't want to see EITHER of those teams joining. Make the league stronger...not smarter...make the league more competitive, not weaker 🤦‍♂️ screw all that!

[johnw]

The Big Ten really needs to make a play for the State of Texas. Go get Texas A&M, Texas Tech and TCU.

[toast]

The thing about Stanford is they just have to choose to be great. Money is not the issue for them. But, I still don't think the ACC completely disappears. Shoot, I'm not completely convinced Clemson/FSU have a path out before 2033.

[TheLAGopher]

People seem to forget that Stanford was a national football power 15 years ago under Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck.They were winning the PAC-12,
going to the Rose Bowl, and would have made the 4 team playoff had that been a thing at the time. This means that Stanford football was more nationally
relevent, more recently, then most of the existing B1G schools including my Gophers, and UCLA.

Only Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, USC, and Washington, have enjoyed as much or more on the field success
within the last 15 years as Stanford.

[RedRaiderLC]

I don't get the hate for CalFord. The bay is a huge and very rich area. If CalFord would commit to promote their FB and BB, they could create interest in their market. Maybe they don't see any value for their institutions from athletics.

[DavidKreitzer-ngfe]

Cal/Stanford would need to live with a partial share for at least two contract cycles.

[stripes]

This has become CONSOLIDATION: not realignment.

[YourNormalMusician]

Texas and ou to the sec made sense both financially and geographically the big 10 is over all four time zones which more power to them but football isn’t the only sport so just doesn’t make any sense from a financial standpoint how much money are they going to spend traveling across the country for other sports the sec will remain financially viable while the big 10 will have a gradual erosion of value over the course of time 🤷‍♂️