I know there have been other threads on this topic but felt that as much as many of us hate ESPN that they did a good job of getting the interviews and information on how this evolved and happened so quickly so did not want it getting lost in other threads.

As has been hinted at in other threads it USC and UCLA definitely drove the bus.  And while they had been investigating and considering this move, it did not become a mutual discussion with the Big Ten until late June (June 27th-28th) at the same time as the athletic directors from all universities were holding their annual meeting in Vegas. The discussions were between the two schools and the respective Big ten athletic directors. The directors had another call on June 28th that included their university heads and then on the 29th had one more call when they also included Kevin Warren who was on a scheduled trip to London.

On June 30th they voted unanimously to accept USC and UCLA into the Big Ten. 

The fallout across other conferences came across as a tidal wave.  Many did not know about it until their returning flights from the annual conference. Article talks about how the ACC had dismissed the idea of looking at PAC 12 teams when Texas and Oklahoma had announced their move to the SEC as they seemed to not have the appetite for a coast to coast conference but now with hindsight are thinking "big mistake".

And at the end of the day every conference is now looking at future members through the lens of what financial value do they bring to the table.  We know money is the driver but to me this has made it clear there will be a separation of the haves and have nots going forward, especially if you are in a conference that is not spelled SEC or Big10.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34217498/inside-stunnin...