The Big Ten and Pac-12 could begin 12 inter-conference matchups in every season starting as soon as 2023 according to a report from Brandon Marcello of 247Sports.
Before the next steps in this plan can be taken though, each conference must determine what exactly the future of their conference scheduling looks like. Major realignment among college football conferences has been a large topic of conversation this year and that won’t cease to be the case for the foreseeable future. To protect themselves in the aftermath of Oklahoma and Texas’s jump to the SEC, the Big Ten and Pac-12 and ACC formed “The Alliance” back in September (when this inter-conference scheduling idea was first conceived).
As of right now, both the Big Ten and Pac-12 play nine conference games and three non-conference games, but if they were to cut out one conference game each, it would allow these new matchups to start taking place.
“We’re ready to do that now,” Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said during the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in Las Vegas on Thursday. “The moment after [the Big Ten] can get there, we’re playing 12 games the following season.”
There are several contractual obligations standing between today and when these can start taking place, but the first step in planning is already in motion. The next step will be deciding whether the games these conferences should be home-and-home series or if new opponents should rotate each year. Additionally, neutral site games are not out of the realm of possibility.
We may not have things set in stone just yet, but the wheels are turning and the future of college football is as exciting as ever.
