In an effort to combat the political and marketing dominance of a pending 16-team Southeastern Conference, three additional Power 5 leagues are expected to announce an alliance today.
As reported by CBS Sports, citing sources close to the situation as well as an initial indication on timing by The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast Conference are expected to formally announce their long-awaited alliance Tuesday afternoon. The agreement will focus on NCAA governance and football scheduling, but the leagues also plan to get on the same page regarding future College Football Playoff expansion.
At least two weeks of talks among the three conferences have been described to CBS Sports as a "non-aggression pact" against the SEC, which will add Texas and Oklahoma no later than 2025. The departures of the Longhorns and Sooners from the Big 12 leaves that conference destabilized, with a projected 50 percent drop in revenue. Despite the Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC alliance, the SEC will likely maintain its advantage as the conference with the most quality teams, turning the nation's first so-called super conference and its media partner ESPN a dominant force in college athletics.
The NCAA will hold a constitutional convention in November to essentially deregulate college athletics, leaving conferences to have more control over legislation moving forward. The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC hold similarly conservative (read status quo) views regarding governance and could wield significant influence.
As for scheduling, if the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 agree to play scheduled nonconference games against one another, it would enhance certain teams' schedule strengths and create interesting matchups for both fans and TV networks, CBS Sports reported. However, any scheduling piece of an alignment would not have an immediate impact in terms of TV revenue, and existing nonconference schedules would delay a switch to alliance matchups for years.
At the same time, the alliance would not make a point of boycotting the scheduling of games against SEC opponents, according to CBS Sports.
