Big Ten Could Have Been Big Twenty If Reported Interest In Cal, Stanford Had Better Timing

The Big Ten Conference could have quite literally doubled its named total, if the conference's presidents had their way.

According to a new report from the San Jose Mercury News' Jon Wilner, conference realignment could have been even more radically different for the 2024 season. And the Big Ten may have pulled half the Pac-12 teams, if more television money had been available. USC and UCLA were already on their way, with Oregon and Washington jumping ship to the Midwestern conference soon after Colorado started the mass Pac-12 exodus. 

Wilner reported that there was also strong interest in adding Stanford and Cal too, meaning six of the former Pac-12 teams would have been in the Big Ten too.

"Big Ten presidents would have gladly welcomed Stanford and Cal into the conference," Wilner wrote. "Academic Prestige, Olympic Sports, and the Bay Area is home to tech giants and to thousands of Big Ten Alumni. The timing was poor, as [television partners] would not pay for them in 2024."

The Big Twenty could have been a thing, if their media rights had more value.

PALO ALTO, CA - SEPTEMBER 15:  The Stanford Cardinal helmet is lifted into the air after they beat the USC Trojans at Stanford Stadium on September 15, 2012 in Palo Alto, California.  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Landscape Of College Football Could Have Been Dramatically Different

Stanford and Cal, of course, wound up settling in the ACC, an obvious fit considering both schools are located on the Pacific Coast and the ACC stands for Atlantic Coast Conference.

Both schools would fit have fit better in the Big Ten, especially academically, and would have allowed for historic rivalries to continue. Cal and UCLA, both part of the UC system, have played each other virtually every season since 1933. And Stanford and USC first played each other in 1905, starting regular matchups the same year World War I ended in 1918. 

Keeping those four programs together would have made sense, though little about modern college football is about making sense. Despite their location in the massive Bay Area television market, neither school has much of a national fanbase, with Stanford specifically frequently struggling to draw fans.

Can't imagine why television partners weren't interested in adding money to bring that atmosphere into the fold.

From Stanford and Cal's perspective, joining the Big Ten would have made sense. Increased revenue and exposure would have been immensely appealing, especially now that NIL is effectively a free for all.

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Instead, both schools were forced to take a reduced share of ACC revenue for nine years. Oh what might have been.