Pac-12, Big Ten announce historic partnership

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The Pac-12 and Big Ten announced Wednesday that the conferences have signed an agreement to play each other in football, starting in 2017, and other sports starting in 2012.

Plans include a preseason game at the Rose Bowl, possibly as soon as 2013 or 2014, involving schools from each conference. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the initial plan is for the games to be played in the second, third and fourth weeks of the season.

Through numerous conversations over the past several months with stakeholders from the Big Ten and Pac-12, we decided there would be great value in building upon the history and collegiality that exists between our member institutions, by initially committing to an increased frequency of play between our schools in all sports, said Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.

The following is an excerpt from a news release:

In football, the objective is to create an annual 12 inter-conference game schedule between the two conferences by the 2017 season. The plan calls for each school to play an opponent from the other conference every year with some flexibility built into the process to respect existing post-2017 FBS non- conference match-ups. Additionally, more inter-conference games are expected to appear sooner based on schedule openings. Many sports, including mens and womens basketball, could see an increased level of inter-conference competition in the near term, possibly as early as the 2012-13 academic year. Over the coming months there will be a series of detailed scheduling planning meetings among administrators of both conferences to work out exact details.

The two leagues each have a television network and share more than a century of history tied to the Rose Bowl.

As other conferences continue to grow through expansion, we believe there is great merit in deepening the historic relationship between the Big Ten and Pac-12, Big Ten commissioner James Delany said. We believe that both conferences can preserve that sense of collegiality and still grow nationally by leveraging our commonalities in a way that benefits student-athletes, fans and alumni. This collaboration can and will touch many institutional undertakings, and will complement our academic and athletic missions.

According to USA Today, 22 of the countrys top 50 television markets are home to Big Ten and Pac-12 programs.

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