By 2017, Big Ten-Pac-12 early-season football games will be a regular feature of schedules, we'll be used to seeing similar matchups in basketball and other sports, too.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany on the agreement, which was announced Wednesday: "It seems to us this in an intelligent way to get stronger and do so with zero collateral damage."

ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski says the agreement means "the landscape of college athletics has been altered once more."

Wojciechowski outlines how the two strong conferences just made each other stronger, and it likely means big football or basketball games in premier venues, such as Ford Field.

From Wojciechowski:

The trickle-down effect of this new alliance will be fascinating to monitor. Will other conferences consider similar arrangements? Will it delay future conference realignment? Will it cause Notre Dame, which has rebuked Big Ten membership advances in the past, to look at the league as a "national" conference and rethink the university's independent status?

What do you think of the new Big Ten-Pac-12 deal?