An interesting quote - I think the Kansas bit has been previously reported but the whole article is a good read.
Inside Oregon and Washington's jump to the Big Ten — 'It was both of us or none of us'
The Ducks and Huskies will meet for the last time as Pac-12 members on Saturday. How they ultimately ditched the Pac-12 for the Big Ten is a winding story of flip-flopping and finger-pointing.
sports.yahoo.com
Within the Big Ten office last summer, then-commissioner Kevin Warren led an expansion exploration that spanned more than a dozen schools, many of whom reached out to the league about an acquisition after the Los Angeles schools joined. Conference office administrators created a list of desired programs thought to be attainable, according to multiple sources who have seen the list.
They included Notre Dame, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, Pitt, Kansas, Cal, Stanford, Arizona, Virginia and, of course, Oregon and Washington. In fact, outside counsel for UO and UW met with Big Ten administrators twice last year — once in Chicago and another in New York.
“We had this list of schools and went through it with the chancellors and presidents,” said a conference official who wished to remain anonymous. “Kevin wanted them [Oregon and Washington] to come in with USC and UCLA, but for whatever reason, the L.A. schools didn’t want to create a West Coast pod. He wasn’t able to convince them.”