ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 Form Gentlemen’s Agreement Alliance

            The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 have formed an alliance today, per release. Three of the Power Five conferences have come together to support each other’s athletic programs by taking on a “collaborative approach” for scheduling and the future of college athletics. The alliance was unanimously approved among all university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors.

            The alliance comes weeks after the collegiate sports landscape was shaken up by the news of Oklahoma and Texas deciding that the schools will not renew their contracts with the Big 12 and instead join the SEC once the life of their deal runs out in July of 2025. 

            While the three conferences are not merging and will remain competitors, they will start to schedule each in parts of the season they normally do not. 

            For football, the schools will continue to play their rivals but add “attractive matchups” with other schools in the alliance to play each other throughout the season. 

            Men’s and women’s basketball will see something a bit more fleshed out, with the three conferences adding mid-season, one off games as well as “annual events that feature premier matchups” across all 41 member schools.

            In total, the schools will support each other in eight challenging ventures that collegiate athletics face today. Those include social justice, future structure of the NCAA, postseason championship formats, among others. 

            The alliance is not a contractual obligation, but rather a gentlemen’s agreement to help support each other whenever they can. Their idea behind it is to ensure the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 stay at the forefront of the power structure in the collegiate landscape and hope to do so through their public support of each other and to competitively schedule each other. 

            They note in their press releases that this will benefit fans as well by crafting unforgettable experiences across the country, regardless of location. The understanding is that they will have favor to schedule each other in the future and bring in fans from locations they otherwise would not through new rivalries that are forged.