Last summer, the Big Ten made a shocking move in the world of college football when it brought in the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins. But as one Pac-12 president explains, the Big Ten was initially targeting a different school instead of UCLA.
During an interview with Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, University of Arizona president Robert Robbins revealed that the Big Ten was initially targeting the Oregon Ducks to join the conference instead of the UCLA Bruins.
“USC started this whole thing [to move to the Big Ten]. I think UCLA was a reluctant follower in this whole thing. But [USC] needed a travel partner close by so it makes sense,” Robbins explained. “If Oregon calls Washington up and says, ‘I can double the amount of money you’re getting; come with me to the Big Ten,’ Washington is going to say, ‘OK, I’m in.’ They would love to have gone,” Robbins said.
“When I heard it first, the deal was going to be USC-Oregon [to the Big Ten]. That makes sense. … Their TV market is not that big, [but] they play in different colored uniforms, and they win. That’s where I would have started this thing off.
“I think Fox wanted to consolidate L.A. and not let anybody else in [with USC-UCLA]. I think it’s brilliant. Well played.”
It turned out to be good business decision, as Robbins points out. But we’ll have to see if Oregon eventually joins the conference, too.
