Big Ten, Pac-12 Conferences Extend Partnership, Announces Scheduling Agreement

On Wednesday, the Big Ten and Pacific-12 conferences extended their partnership, announcing interconference scheduling which would extend beyond the Rose Bowl for its football program, and the same treatment among other sports, as Pete Thamel reports on Twitter:

BREAKING: Pac-12 and Big Ten enter scheduling agreement. All 12 teams playing an inter-league football game starting 2017.

The Rose Bowl itself has been one of the better traditions in college sports, and more meetings between these conferences can only be a good thing. As stated, starting in 2017, all teams will play an inter-conference game against the other conference.

Other sports will also get the same treatment, to various degrees. Men's and women's basketball could see changes much sooner than 2017, though the number of games played in that instance is still up in the air. On top of the changes on the field and court, the conferences are going to cross-promote on their television networks and set up "academic and cultural exchanges."

It appears to be somewhat of a counter to the conferences that continue to go through expansion at this point. While other conferences continue to expand and grow, the Big Ten and Pac-12 are trying to keep some of the attention on them, and they're doing it in what appears to be a rather satisfactory way.