Several changes are on the horizon for Penn State athletics.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12 announced they will form an alliance which will include new scheduling for football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball.

The leagues will work together and promote changes to postseason championship formats — notably the College Football Playoff — future structure of the NCAA, and several other endeavors.

Today, the Big Ten, @theACC and @pac12 announce an historic alliance that will bring 41 world-class institutions together on a collaborative approach surrounding the future evolution of college athletics.

Read more about the announcement: https://t.co/naLrGmaNya pic.twitter.com/x8D3NSYHIv

— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 24, 2021

The alliance was unanimously supported by all leaders at the 41 institutions involved.

“The alliance includes a scheduling component for football and women’s and men’s basketball designed to create new inter-conference games, enhance opportunities for student-athletes, and optimize the college athletics experience for both student-athletes and fans across the country,” the Big Ten stated.

The football scheduling component will include “attractive matchups” between the three conferences, while men’s and women’s basketball will begin to schedule early and mid-season games, along with annual events. A group of athletic directors representing the three conferences will oversee this process.

According to Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, one schedule plan could include an agreement in which each football team would play a squad from the two other conferences on an annual basis. This would mean the Big Ten would drop from its current nine conferences games to eight, while the Pac-12 would consider doing the same. The ACC already plays eight conference games a year, so teams would add games with the Pac-12 and Big Ten annually.

The Big Ten also stated the alliance will look further into scheduling inter-conference events for Olympic Sports.

This announcement comes just under a month after Texas and Oklahoma shared they’ll leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025, and possibly sooner if they’re able. This decision led to serious discussions about further SEC expansion, and how that would effect the other Power Five conferences.

Penn State’s Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour touched on the topic of conference alliances during her press conference this past weekend, and noted that the ACC and Pac-12 are “like-minded” to the Big Ten. She also mentioned that about 40% of American Association of Universities members are part of the three conferences.

“Certainly money is important, but I’m not just talking about money,” Barbour said. “What institutions, or what steps that we could take, would bring value to our conference?”