Source: Big Ten in talks with Oregon, Washington

While college athletics waits for a smoke signal from the West Coast, conversations continue to ramp up between the Big Ten and Washington and Oregon. A source familiar with the conversation confirmed the talks late Thursday night.

On Thursday morning, the Big Ten presidents signed off on new commissioner Tony Petitti exploring expansion and bringing back more information on Oregon and Washington, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Later in the day, Yahoo! Sport‘s Dan Wetzel reported the conference had focused on the Ducks and Huskies.

While no TV contract has been formalized yet, some numbers have begun to be tossed around. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source close to the situation said a deal framework would have an annual payout ranging between $30 to $40 million range.

Still, these numbers are more projections than anything else. The source pointed to Washington and Oregon still having concerns over travel costs. With nothing set yet, some ideas are being tossed around regarding the possibility of a loan from a media partner to assist in travel expenses.

While Stanford and Cal were mentioned Wednesday as possibilities for the Big Ten, Notre Dame was not brought up. The Big Ten has always courted the Fighting Irish, but a source told On3 that Notre Dame could soon be closing in on its own TV deal with NBC.

Where do things stand with Arizona, Arizona State?

The Big Ten remains steadfast in not destabilizing the Pac-9. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the Big 12 has approved the application of Arizona, nearly making the Wildcats the conference’s 14th member. Now, the next and final step is the Wildcats getting approval from Arizona’s Board of Regents, which oversees both Arizona and Arizona State. The board is currently in an executive session Thursday night discussing university athletics and perhaps approving the move. Oregon and Washington are waiting to make a decision until the Wildcats make their move.

The news of Arizona’s exit further reinforces that the endangered Pac-12 Conference is facing an existential crisis for survival. If Arizona leaves for the Big 12 in 2024, it would give Brett Yormark‘s league his preferred number of 14 schools after Colorado joined last week. A Big 12 source with direct knowledge of the league’s strategy told On3 that a 14-member league was identified as the “right” number. But the source added that 14 is not necessarily a “hard stop” if the right opportunities emerged to expand to 16.