On August 24, 2021, the Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12 announced a “historic alliance that will bring 41 world-class institutions together on a collaborative approach surrounding the future evolution of college athletics.”
Less than a year later, the Big Ten poached UCLA and USC from the Pac-12 and reasserted itself as the main competition to the SEC, leaving their Alliance brethren to fight it out amongst themselves for the table scraps.
“The three conferences remain competitors in every sense but are committed to collaborating and providing thought leadership on various opportunities and challenges facing college athletics,” read the statement from the Big Ten, which is laughable now.
On the one-year anniversary of the “historic alliance,” the college football world had a field day on Twitter commenting on how flimsy the partnership was and the mess that the Big Ten left in its wake.
Happy Anniversary!! Time flies. It only seems like it was yesterday y’all tied the knot 🥂 https://t.co/pi3ANR24ov
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 24, 2022
Y’know, sometimes people change after one year. https://t.co/4oPB0BgJYL
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 24, 2022
12 months later, it's safe to say, mission accomplished. https://t.co/5RQOpkWiCd
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) August 24, 2022
It's officially been one year since the Big Ten announced a partnership with the PAC-12.
Less than 12 months later, the Big Ten raided the PAC-12 for its two best programs and is in the process of stealing four more.
A storyline straight out of "Game of Thrones." https://t.co/LUMKuKN0e5
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) August 24, 2022
One year ago today. No contracts signed. Just a bunch of honorable folks keeping their word! https://t.co/VFVnPCow0A
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) August 24, 2022
WHOOPS!!! https://t.co/epnNe3WUG3
— Jeff D. Lowe (@JeffDLowe) August 24, 2022
https://t.co/NGfcvmdW46 pic.twitter.com/HN677bw0qS
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) August 24, 2022
The Alliance was meant to stem the tide of the SEC after conference realignment shuffled the deck in their favor. However, while the move sounded good at the moment, the Big Ten soon realized that it held way more cards than the Pac-12, ACC, and Big 12, and did what it had to do to capitalize on that, and is apparently still working on expanding more.
The Pac-12 has since tried to put together a “loose partnership” with the Big 12 but those plans fell apart. In general, you’d think everyone would have learned by now that it’s every conference for themselves. Maybe they’ll learn that lesson before it’s too late…if it’s not already.
[Big Ten]
