Report: Big Ten Commissioner to Explore Expansion Amid Oregon, Washington Rumors

As the conference realignment wheel spins on, the Big Ten reportedly took a step toward eventually adding Oregon and Washington.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported the conference's presidents met Thursday and "authorized Commissioner Tony Petitti to explore expansion and bring them back more information on Oregon and Washington as potential Big Ten members."

Thamel cautioned that there were no official offers and the entire situation is "uncertain" with a number of "significant road blocks," such as USC's past desire about limiting West Coast teams and financial aspects of such a move:

Brett McMurphy of The Action Network shared more details:

To say the Pac-12's future is uncertain at this point would be a massive understatement.

Powerhouses USC and UCLA are already departing for the Big Ten starting with the 2024 football season, and Colorado is returning to the Big 12 on the same timeline. Losing Oregon and Washington would be yet another blow for a conference that seems to be teetering.

This comes after Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports reported Wednesday that the Big Ten was considering adding Cal and Stanford in addition to Oregon and Washington if it decided it wanted to move to 20 teams.

As is often the case, money is a driving force in these developments.

Wetzel explained that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff recently presented a media rights package to his league that was estimated to pay schools as little as $20 million each. That pales in comparison to the Big Ten, where schools will make at least $50 million each thanks to its lucrative media rights deal.

In terms of football, Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten would provide a much bigger platform for the two programs.

Playing in a league with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan State and others would mean more marquee games and high-profile showdowns as teams compete for College Football Playoff berths in comparison to what will be left in the Pac-12.

The entire situation seems to be headed toward two power conferences in the Big Ten and SEC. The SEC is already widely considered the best football conference and will add headline programs in Texas and Oklahoma starting with the 2024 season.

Florida State school president Richard McCullough may have said aloud what others are thinking when he said Wednesday, "I believe that FSU will have to, at some point, consider very seriously leaving the ACC—unless there were a radical change to the revenue distribution" and specifically mentioned the Big Ten and SEC:

Oregon and Washington may have a way into the marquee conferences in the near future depending on how the Big Ten's exploration unfolds.