[BH: Bumped for discussion. Personally, I think that this is fantastic. I'd love to see it operate like this.]

Me likey.

The two leagues will begin playing each other and sharing some TV coverage in what amounts to as close to a merger between the conferences as we might ever see.

The significance for football, and it is big, is this: Starting in 2017, the Pac-12 and Big Ten plan to have a full 12-game schedule between the leagues, meaning each Big Ten team would have one Pac-12 team on its schedule every year.

I think this is a great idea. I also like that this might kill off the 9 game B1G schedule that I just never liked. There are still plenty of Pac-12 venues I want to visit, and while 2017 is a ways off this should enable me to hit the Pac-12 stops on my bucket list sooner rather than later. I'm sure there are reasons to oppose this, but being a fan on of a non-national title contender means I focus more on things like "cool road trips" instead of "might derail MNC dreams" when it comes to scheduling.

There could also be some nice national exposure considerations:

The two leagues could stage big events at places like the Rose Bowl, Soldier Field, Staples Center and Ford Field. They will also cross-promote each other on their league-run cable networks; the Pac-12 is set to launch its own network this spring.

What does everyone else think? Good idea? Horrible idea?