The University of Oregon and University of Washington are both set join the Big Ten Conference for the 2024-25 season, the league announced on Friday evening. The news comes at the conclusion of a hectic week of conference realignment talks across the nation as the Pac-12 and Big 12 look to maintain their footing in the college athletics landscape.
Fellow current Pac-12 schools USC and UCLA are already slated to join the Big Ten in 2024-25, a move that was announced just over a year ago. The Big Ten voting board, which is comprised of university presidents and chancellors, met and voted to approve the addition of Oregon and Washington on Friday.
“We are excited to welcome the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Conference,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. “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.”
Oregon and Washington would likely receive only a partial revenue share for its initial years in the conference, according to reports, similar to when Maryland, Nebraska and Rutgers each joined the conference. USC and UCLA will each receive full shares from the outset. New members aside, the Big Ten distributes media and bowl revenue evenly to each institution. Under the previous media rights deal, the Big Ten handed out roughly $59 million on an annual basis to each school last year.
The Big Ten recently announced its revised 2024 and 2025 scheduling plan. According to a report by ESPN, the majority of that schedule will remain but will be tweaked to accommodate the newly expanded conference. When that schedule will be released was not disclosed.
With Oregon and Washington, the Big Ten will have added four programs since signing a seven-year media rights deal worth roughly $7 billion and runs until the end of the 2029-30 season. The addition of Oregon and Washington marks the first major move under new conference commissioner Tony Petitti who stepped into his new role in May following the departure of Kevin Warren, who left the conference’s top post to become president of the Chicago Bears.
This story has been updated from an earlier version.
