Big Ten moves closer to adding Oregon and Washington

The Big Ten has cleared the way for Oregon and Washington to apply for membership in the conference, four people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference and schools were finalizing an official agreement and announcement.

The Ducks and Huskies from the Pac-12 still must officially apply for membership and the Big Ten presidents, who met Friday morning to discuss expansion, need to officially approve.

When it’s done, they will become the 17th and 18th members of the Big Ten, and the third and fourth on the West Coast, joining USC and UCLA.

Pac-12 leaders were meeting Friday morning to determine if the remaining schools would accept at potential media rights deal with Apple, according to a person familiar with that meeting.

The Big 12 has been pursuing Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to join Colorado, which announced it was leaving the Pac-12 last week.