The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 join forces to form powerhouse college sports alliance

• The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 college athletic conferences announced they are forming a sports alliance.
• The commissioners of the conferences said the partnership will allow for inter-conference games.
• The decision comes less than one month after the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma announced their move to the SEC.

The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 announced on Tuesday they will form a college sports alliance that will join together all 41 institutions that are members of the three conferences.

The college sports powerhouses - which include universities like the University of North Carolina, Michigan State, and Stanford - will join together in "a collaborative approach surrounding the future evolution of college athletics and scheduling," according to a statement by the three conferences.

"This new alliance will prioritize student-athlete well-being and athletic opportunities, experiences, and diverse educational programming."

The news comes less than one month after both the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma announced their plans to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025. The move was seen as a significant shift in the structure of college athletics alongside new regulations allowing student-athletes to receive financial compensation.

-Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) August 24, 2021

Despite the announcement on Tuesday, there are have not been any talks about what the scheduling alliance as a whole will look like, according to Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said at the presser that there is no signed agreement by the three conferences to prevent one another from recruiting a school from one athletic conference to another.

"It's about trust," Phillips said. "We've looked each other in the eye and made an agreement."