The Big Ten made waves earlier this summer when it was announced USC and UCLA will join the league in 2024 and leave the Pac-12. The impending departures have thrust the Pac-12 into a tailspin that league commissioner George Kliavkoff is still working to pull out of. The question posed by USC and UCLA’s decision is a simple one: what’s next?

The prevailing thought was the Big Ten would look to keep adding teams. The league’s new media rights agreement with FOX, CBS, and NBC — announced on Thursday — includes escalator clauses that could bump up the total value of the deal if more teams join the league.

On a new episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that will air on Tuesday, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said he can see the league growing to 20 teams.

SI’s Ross Dellenger shared the exchange:

BG: “Right now, we are having a major realignment in college sports.”

KW: “And I think during that period there’s going to be a lot of disruption. And that’s okay. We need to embrace it if we want to make sure that we continually build college athletics in a position where it’s here 100 and 200 years from now.”

BG: “You’re at 16 teams now. Could you foresee 20?”

KW: “I could. Yeah. I could see perpetual and future growth.”

Of course, it bears mentioning that Warren didn’t outright say the Big Ten is moving to 20 teams; rather, he was asked about a specific number and confirmed that was a possibility. Still, with the league set to sit at 16 members, the idea that more than just Notre Dame — a long-rumored target of the Big Ten — could be in the plans has to be exciting for a school like Oregon or Washington or Stanford.

It’s been reported that those three are on the Big Ten’s shortlist. Adding a few more West Coast teams would certainly help make life easier on USC and UCLA.

On the flip side, this all could just be posturing from Warren to stay in a position of strength going forward.