Big Ten ‘excited’ as Oregon, Washington join
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
The Big Ten added Oregon and Washington as new members Friday, strengthening the Western flank of the rapidly growing conference while dealing a major blow to the Pac-12.
The league’s presidents and chancellors unanimously voted to add the schools, which, along with USC and UCLA, will officially join the Big Ten on Aug. 2, 2024. The Big Ten, which has expanded four times since 2010 after adding no schools the previous 21 years, is set to become the largest major athletic conference at 18 members.
“We are excited to welcome the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Conference,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said in a statement. “We look forward to building long-lasting relationships with the universities, administrators and staff, student-athletes, coaches and fans. Both institutions feature a combination of academic and athletic excellence that will prove a great fit for our future.”
Unlike USC and UCLA, Oregon and Washington will not enter the Big Ten with full revenue shares. Sources told ESPN that both schools will receive approximately $30 million annually when they join the league, a share that will increase by $1 million during the current media contract with Fox, NBC and CBS, which runs through the 2029-30 athletic season. They then would be able to receive full shares. The other Big Ten members are expected to receive more than $60 million annually from the new agreement this year, an amount that will increase over the life of the deal. Previous Big Ten expansion additions Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland also did not receive full revenue shares immediately.
Factoring in other media revenue streams over a 10-year period, Oregon president Karl Scholz said, “We anticipate averaging over $50 million just from direct media rights.”
After a longer and secretive process to add USC and UCLA in June 2022, the Big Ten moved quickly on Oregon and Washington. The league had been focused on integrating USC and UCLA but mobilized after the Pac-12 lost Colorado to the Big 12 and could not gain enough traction for its streaming-heavy media rights deal, presented to presidents and chancellors on Tuesday morning. A sub-group of four Big Ten presidents and chancellors began exploring expansion possibilities Wednesday, focusing on Oregon, Washington, Cal and Stanford before refining their focus to the two Northwest schools.
“When considering the full spectrum of academic, athletic and research excellence, the alignment with our member institutions is extremely clear,” Illinois chancellor Robert Jones, chair of the Big Ten council of presidents/chancellors, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome them and look forward to collaborating and competing with them in the years ahead.”
Despite some initial reluctance from members about the speed of the expansion push and the potential damage to the Pac-12, a historic partner in the Rose Bowl Game and other ventures, Big Ten leaders accelerated their efforts in the past day to land Oregon and Washington, according to sources. None of the departing Pac-12 schools will have to pay an exit fee to depart the league because of an expiring media rights deal in 2024.
The Big Ten had examined both Oregon and Washington as expansion candidates last fall, in the wake of the USC and UCLA additions, but then-commissioner Kevin Warren could not rally enough support among presidents and chancellors to approve them. Petitti, hired in April, told ESPN last week that he wasn’t focused on additional expansion beyond USC and UCLA but added: “There’s a flow of information, keeping people updated on what’s going on, how we see the landscape, trying to help predict what we think will be next.”
“We have tremendous respect and gratitude for the Pac-12, its treasured history and traditions. At the same time, the college athletics landscape has changed dramatically in recent years,” Washington athletic director Jennifer Cohen said in a statement. “The Big Ten’s history of athletic and academic success and long-term stability best positions our teams for future success, and we are energized at the opportunity to compete at the highest level against some of the best programs in the country.”
The expansion additions mean the Big Ten will reissue its 2024 and 2025 football schedules, announced in early June. Sources say the league is expected to maintain the key elements of the “Flex Protect Plus” model, which set 11 annual matchups between rivals but increased the overall rotation of games, while eliminating divisions. The Big Ten based the model on overall flexibility in its nine-game league schedule, varying the number of protected games per team.
“Accepting membership into the Big Ten Conference is a transformational opportunity for the University of Oregon to change the short and long-term trajectory of our university and athletics department,” longtime Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said in a statement. “The stability and exposure of joining the Big Ten is of great benefit to the University of Oregon.”
Oregon and Washington give the Big Ten a more robust West Coast presence and potential travel partners for USC and UCLA. Although USC is the most decorated Pac-12 program set to enter the Big Ten, Oregon and Washington are the only Pac-12 teams to have appeared in the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten has had only one team, Ohio State, win or play for a national championship during the CFP or BCS eras.
“Today’s news is incredibly disappointing for student-athletes, fans, alumni and staff of the Pac-12 who cherish the over 100-year history, tradition and rivalries of the Conference of Champions,” the Pac-12 said in a statement. “We remain focused on securing the best possible future for each of our member institutions.”
It’s unclear how Oregon and Washington’s moves will impact their in-state rivalries with Oregon State and Washington State, though both schools indicated they would like to keep those rivalries alive.
When asked if Oregon would commit to playing home-and-home football series with Oregon State into perpetuity, Oregon AD Rob Mullens said, “Our goal would be to schedule Oregon State in every sport that’s possible. Football scheduling can be complicated because of how far out it is and the difficulty of playing nonconference games later in the year. But our goal would be absolutely to continue to play Oregon State.”
Washington president Ana Mari Cauce said that the Huskies hope to continue Washington State across all sports.
“Even with this move, we remain committed to the Apple Cup and to competing with WSU across all of our sports,” Cauce said.
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
After a week on the bench, Stuart Skinner returned to the net to help the Edmonton Oilers force a Game 7 in their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Last appearing in Game 3 after struggling to start the series, Skinner made 14 saves in the Oilers’ 5-1 win in Game 6 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Game 7 will be played Monday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver as the winner will face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals starting Thursday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“I think by doing what we did tonight, I think we just showed a lot of desperation,” Skinner said on the ESPN broadcast. “Guys were blocking shots all over the place. I think both teams played great. You got to give a lot of credit to Vancouver, but you know Vancouver is going to come out really hard especially in their barn. I think we’re going to have to match that and bring some more.”
Averaging 3.80 goals per game during the playoffs while boasting a defensive structure that’s been among the strongest when it comes to limiting shots on goals and scoring chances is the formula the Oilers have used to come within a game of the Western Conference finals.
Figuring out how the Oilers could mesh their defensive structure with the most consistent version of Skinner, however, was one of those challenges they were trying to solve in a series in which the first five games were decided by a goal.
Especially when the Oilers limited the Canucks to 19.3 shots per game in the first three games only to find themselves down in the series with Skinner posting a 4.63 goals-against average and a .790 save percentage through Game 3.
Saturday saw the connection between the Oilers’ defensive structure and Skinner finally click.
The Oilers, who had limited teams to 24.91 scoring chances per 60, limited the Canucks to 18 scoring chances in 5-on-5 play. They also held the Canucks to just seven high-danger scoring chances and didn’t allow any in the second period.
Combining that defensive consistency with Skinner allowing only one goal on 15 shots added to an evening that saw the Oilers burst through for five goals. It was the third time this postseason and the first time in the second round that the Oilers have scored more than five goals.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who finished with three points, told the Sportsnet broadcast after the game that although Skinner didn’t face many shots he did “a great job” handling what McDavid considered to be dangerous chances.
“We never had a doubt,” McDavid said. “He’s a battler. He’s always been a battler. Our team always responds and he’s no different. He responded great and gave us a great performance.”
His role in the Oilers’ Game 6 win is the latest development in what has been another mercurial season for the second-year goaltender.
A year ago, Skinner was a rookie who emerged as the No. 1 goaltender for his hometown team. He helped the Oilers reach the second round only for them to be eliminated in six games by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Skinner was pulled over the final three games of the series, which led to an offseason filled with questions. Much like the Oilers themselves, Skinner had a difficult start to the season but found consistency once the club fired coach Jay Woodcroft and hired Kris Knoblauch.
In that time, Skinner solidified his place as the team’s No. 1 goaltender — which is what made his performances through the first three games so jarring. It led to him being pulled to start the third period in the Oilers’ Game 3 loss, with Knoblauch turning to Calvin Pickard in Games 4 and 5.
Pickard stopped 19 shots in the Oilers’ Game 4 victory while allowing three goals on 35 shots in their 3-2 loss in Game 5 to the Canucks.
Knoblauch said after Game 3 that Skinner would return to the lineup at some point, and that point was Saturday.
Now he and the Oilers are just a win away from the conference finals.
“I think obviously, to start off, I think Calvin was amazing when he got put in,” Skinner said. “Definitely got the job done and kept us in it. An unbelievable teammate. For me, I was able to get a little bit of rest and just work on my game and feel good about it again. I was able to come out and do what I had to do.”
PRAGUE — Defending champion Canada had to recover from an early scare before rallying to beat Finland 5-3 for its fifth victory in five games at the ice hockey world championship Saturday.
Captain John Tavares set up the winning goal with his second assist with 8:28 remaining in the final period, finding Brandon Hagel at the left post to score into an open net. It was only the second shot on goal for Canada in the period.
Dawson Mercer finished it off with an empty net goal with 20 seconds left.
Canada joined Switzerland in second place in Group A, a point behind leader the Czech Republic. All three sealed playoff-round spots.
Also for Canada, Owen Power scored a goal and added two assists, Dylan Cozens had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Tanev scored. Jordan Binnington stopped 29 shots.
Jesse Puljujarvi led Finland with two goals, and Valtteri Puustinen got the other.
Canada was two goals down early in the first after Finland scored in a span of 2:16. Puljujarvi scored off a rebound 1:35 in, and Puustinen doubled the advantage on a power play.
Canada needed 97 seconds to tie it at 2.
Andrew Mangiapane seized the puck behind the goal before passing it to Cozens to net from the slot. Then Tavares seized the puck in his own half before skating down the left and feeding Tanev to knock in the equalizer from the crease.
The Czechs beat winless Britain 4-1, with Lukas Sedlak having two goals and an assist and captain Roman Cervenka recording four assists.
Sweden killed off a five-minute major before scoring three goals in a 26-second span in the middle period to pull away from Latvia in a 7-2 win that clinched a playoff-round berth.
The Swedes, who have not trailed in the tournament, preserved their perfect record through five games to lead Group B.
Latvia pulled even at 2-2 in the second in Ostrava but failed to capitalize after Rasmus Dahlin received a five-minute major and game misconduct for charging. The defenseman opened the scoring for Sweden in the first period.
Fabian Zetterlund then scored twice in a 17-second span. Nine seconds later, center Joel Eriksson Ek netted to make it 5-2. Marcus Johansson had a goal and two assists.
In Prague, Switzerland routed Denmark 8-0. Winger Kevin Fiala scored two goals and had an assist.
Center Nico Hischier opened the scoring and added two assists to leave the Danes in danger of not advancing.
In Group B, Germany beat winless Poland 4-2 for a fourth win while Slovakia also got a fourth victory by beating France 4-2 to move to third place, a point behind Germany in second.
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