Big Ten, Pac 12 work together on sports scheduling
12/28/2011The Big Ten Conference and Pac-12 Conference announced Wednesday a collaborative effort for scheduling regular season games against each other in all sports.
In football, this will take effect by no later than the 2017 season and could come sooner depending on schedule openings. In other sports, such as men's and women's basketball, the union could be in place by the 2012-13 academic year.
In football, the plan calls for each school to play an opponent from the other conference every year. Both conferences have 12 teams.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 will square off in the Rose Bowl, as they do almost every year, on Monday when Wisconsin plays Oregon.
“As other conferences continue to grow through expansion, we believe there is great merit in deepening the historic relationship between the Big Ten and Pac-12,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said in a statement.
“We believe that both conferences can preserve that sense of collegiality and still grow nationally by leveraging our commonalities in a way that benefits student-athletes, fans and alumni. This collaboration can and will touch many institutional undertakings, and will complement our academic and athletic missions."