College football realignment: Insider reveals main reason USC joined Big Ten

The latest college football realignment is here: This is USC wanted out of the Pac-12

USC helped kick off the latest phase of college football realignment by announcing it will join the Big Ten in 2024, along with UCLA.

And while everybody knows it's about money, the thing that really inspired USC to make the move was just how little it was getting compared to other schools.

The equal-share revenue model of the Pac-12 "wore" on the school's balance sheet, according to reporting from USC football reporter Ryan Abraham.

"There were bad feelings about the way the [media] deal was structured," Abraham told West Coast football insider John Canzano.

"The more you hear about the Vanderbilts and the Purdues making more money than you are, and the equal sharing [in the Pac-12] despite having the LA market. It wore on USC."

But USC isn't blameless

Amid the latest realignment and hearing about USC's unhappiness with its media deal, college football observers were quick to point out the school wasn't powerless, either in crafting that deal or in being able to profit from it.

"[USC is] angry about agreeing to a bad TV deal and then expecting the conference to reward an under-performing flagship football program with more money than anyone else in the conference," said analyst Geoff Schwartz.

How much money are we talking?

The latest wave of college football media rights deals has left the sport basically a two-horse race between the Big Ten and the SEC.

And while the SEC still dominates on the field, winning 12 of the last 16 national championships, the Big Ten currently laps every other league in money made.

That's thanks to a landmark TV deal the Big Ten inked starting in 2017 that runs for six years and is worth $2.65 billion.

Compare that with the Pac-12 deal: worth $3 billion, but lasting 12 years.

Going forward, reports indicate that the Big Ten could make up to $1 billion per year on its next media deal, netting each member school around $62.5 million per year.

That's compared to the $33.6 million the Pac-12 handed out to each school in its most recent reporting.

And those estimates were calculated prior to the news that USC and UCLA would join the Big Ten. By adding two LA-based schools with long-established athletic programs, the conference could have the bargaining power to bid that price even higher.

UCLA also had money concerns

USC's cross-town rival was on the verge of cutting nearly half its sports programs because of money issues stemming from the Pac-12 media deal, according to reports.

UCLA was running out of money to operate its Olympic sports programs, in particular, but should make up for its previous losses by the Big Ten move.

The report called UCLA's sports finance situation "perilous," before the school's decision to jump ship from the Pac-12.

(h/t John Canzano)

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