On Tuesday morning, the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC officially announced a partnership that had been rumored for a couple of weeks.

The alliance was unanimously supported by all 41 institutions’ presidents, athletic directors and chancellors. 

“The historic alliance announced today between the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten is grounded in a commitment to our student-athletes,” said Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff. “We believe that collaborating together we are stronger in our commitment to addressing the broad issues and opportunities facing college athletics.”

The three conferences will remain as their own separate groups and will continue to compete with one another on and off of the field. 

The alliance’s list of goals included student-athlete’s physical and mental health, academic support, diversity and inclusion, social and gender equity, the future structure of the NCAA, federal legislative efforts and future formats of seasons and postseason championships.

The biggest thing fans will see come from this alliance will be the scheduling component of the agreement. 

The scheduling alliance will not be able to be put in place immediately due to current game contracts for the various programs but will “begin as soon as practical,” according to the press release.

A group of athletic directors representing the three conferences will oversee these scheduling decisions.

As of now, the conferences have plans to bring new matchups between teams around the nation in football, as well as men’s and women’s basketball. They also said they would be looking towards the Olympic sports, such as track and swimming, “to compete more frequently and forge additional attractive and meaningful rivalries.”

“Today, through this alliance, we furthered our commitment to our student-athletes by prioritizing our academics and athletics value systems,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren. “We are creating opportunities for student-athletes to have elite competition and are taking the necessary steps to shape and stabilize the future of college athletics.”

These scheduling alliances provide opportunities for the member schools to strengthen their schedules in hopes of securing more College Football Playoff bids and better seeding in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

“The Pac-12 is thrilled to join with so many world-class universities in a collaborative effort to support our student-athletes through an unwavering commitment to excellence in academics and athletics,” said Michael Schill, University of Oregon President and Chair of the Pac-12 Board of Directors. “Together we can help shape a future for college athletics where broad-based athletic programs in concert with educational opportunities allow us to support the next generation of leaders.”