Report: Oregon, Washington's Potential Move from Pac-12 to Big Ten Losing Momentum

One day after reports that Oregon and Washington were being pursued by the Big Ten, there are conflicting reports about whether a move might happen.

Per The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, the potential move for the two schools from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten "lost momentum overnight."

Auerbach noted there's "renewed optimism" around the Pac-12, with the conference scheduling a meeting for Friday.

In addition, Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports noted the Pac-12 will sign a Grant of Rights today and continue to discuss a potential media rights deal.

However, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reported the Pac-12 was unable to get the Grant of Rights signed during Friday's meeting and "nothing has changed" as far as Oregon and Washington potentially joining the Big Ten with a move "expected" when the details are worked out.

ESPN's Pete Thamel added:

Per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, there are a number of factors at play in the quest to save the Pac-12, including "true reluctance to kill one of the pillar conferences in college sports" and "some" pushback from Big Ten teams about how much they can gain by adding more schools.

The Pac-12 has felt like it was on the verge of collapsing in recent weeks. Colorado's board of regents voted last week to approve a move to the Big 12 in 2024. Thamel reported yesterday Arizona is in "deep discussions" about joining the Big 12 and a deal is expected to be finalized in the near future.

UCLA and USC announced last year they will be joining the Big Ten, effective Aug. 2, 2024.

Wetzel reported Thursday the Big Ten focused its latest expansion efforts on Oregon and Washington, with a "subgroup of Big Ten presidents" said to be "exploring expansion possibilities but only in the case that the Pac-12 splinters apart."

One of the big reasons for the fracturing of the Pac-12 appears to be the future of its media rights deal.

Thamel and Heather Dinich reported earlier this week Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented conference chancellors and presidents with a "potential, primarily subscription-based" streaming deal with Apple for its next television contract.

Other options were also presented, but the Apple deal was considered the "likely leader" in the clubhouse:

"According to sources, the first year of what's expected to be a relatively short-term contract with Apple would start in 2024-25 and begin relatively low relative to the league's hopes. But the deal, sources said, would incrementally improve and potentially be competitive with its peers in the Big 12 and ACC down the road, provided certain subscription numbers are met."

CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah noted there was no agreement reached among the Pac-12 leaders to the proposals.

The Pac-12's current television contracts with ESPN and Fox are set to expire after the 2023-24 academic year.

If Arizona ends up joining Colorado, USC and UCLA as programs leaving the Pac-12, it will leave the conference with nine full-time members as soon as next season.

Oregon and Washington are two original members of the conference when it was founded in 1915 and known as the Pacific Coast Conference.