Washington to meet with the Big Ten about joining conference

Another Pac-12 school has sent out some feelers to join the Big Ten

A week after Oregon reportedly reached out to the Big Ten to test their compatibility with the conference, Washington has now done the same.

Action Network's, Brett McMurphy, reported on Wednesday that Washington had "preliminary discussions" with the Big Ten to test their compatibility saying:

 These meetings did not involve university presidents or Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, sources said. The meetings were conducted with lawyers and consultants representing the schools and the Big Ten to determine the school’s compatibility with the league, sources said.

This also comes after rumors surfaced that Ohio State was opposed to the conference adding more teams. Clearly the conference is planning on staying true to their threat that they were not done expanding, despite their premier school wishing against it. 

The meeting that both Washington and Oregon have now had with the Big Ten are believed to be among the necessary first steps in order to become of a member of the conference. The Big Ten currently has the hot hand in the realignment world, as after adding USC and UCLA there were also able to ink a a seven-year media rights deal worth more than $7 billion. The contract also includes an escalator clause, which means the deal could grow up to nearly $10 billion if the Big Ten’s membership increases. 

Other schools linked to the Big Ten as reported McMurphy are Stanford, Cal, and Notre Dame who is believed to plan on remaining as an independent.

The Pac-12 is currently in talks for their new media rights deal, which expires in 2024.