Improv, therefore, became a sanctioned sport in conference offices.
The Big 12 moved to add schools such as Cincinnati and Central Florida. Many around the ACC, the only Power 5 conference whose members have not been affected by this round of realignment, are hoping to stave off a renegotiation of a television deal not expected to expire until 2036.
The Pac-12 puts on as brave a face as one can muster when caught off guard. The league on Thursday said it was “extremely surprised and disappointed” – even though conference officials had worried for years about the possibility of a USC exit – and on Friday said it ” would explore all options for expansion”.
“The 10 university presidents and chancellors remain committed to a common mission of academic and athletic excellence on behalf of our student-athletes,” the league said.
The remaining 10 schools are Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Utah, Washington, and Washington State. Some of them, however, would be prizes for other leagues due to their location in major media markets or their sporting reputation. And in college sports, pledges of allegiance, whether from prospects, coaches, or colleges, are often impermanent, especially when big money promises or irrelevance threats are involved.
Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, did not explicitly reject the idea of adding more schools. In some ways, his two-sentence statement on Friday read like an invitation to prospective members.
“The change in conference membership has been a constant in college athletics over the years, and the modern issues facing college sports have only accelerated the realignment,” he said. .