Report: Pac-12/Big 12 Merger Talks End With No Agreement -- For Now

Representatives of the Pac-12 and Big 12 held extensive talks over the past two weeks regarding a possible partnership on several levels, but the discussions ended without any agreements being reached, according to a report by ESPN.

According to the report, the partnership that appeared to have the most interest for both conferences was a full merger. That presumably would have meant the 12 schools that will make up the Big 12 in 2023 would have merged with the 10 schools that will make up the Pac-12 in 2024 to form one 22-team conference that could have held its own against the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, which will hold the balance of power when USC and UCLA join the Big Ten in 2024.

That merger won’t happened, at least not soon.

Here is the key excerpt from the ESPN report by Pete Thamel:

A Pac-12 source briefed on the conversations said that the Big 12 had expressed interest on Friday in possibly exploring a full merger. The Big 12 source said of the three options laid out by the Pac-12 -- pooling rights, a scheduling concept or fully combining the leagues -- the only scenario that could have potentially driven value because of the sheer numbers of schools and population areas was a full merger of the leagues.

The Pac-12 source indicated the Big 12 was interested in that option. A Big 12 source said the Big 12 needed more time to explore that option further, which it did over the weekend, and decided not to explore any options further.

The Pac-12 source said that the Pac-12 was skeptical of the full merger because the leagues' media rights expire at different times. A Big 12 source countered that the Pac-12 had expressed ways it could work around that.

This does not prevent the Big 12 and Pac-12 from discussing a possible partnership or merger in the future, but it appears nothing is imminent.

And the Big 12 is still considering adding Pac-12 teams to its membership, a league source told Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State are the four Pac-12 schools most often mentioned as teams the Big 12 might want to add, although Washington and Oregon have also been mentioned if the Big 12 wants to add six teams from the Pac-12. That would leave Cal and Stanford out of the picture.

The ESPN report also suggested that a scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and the ACC could not be reached.

That has included conversations with the ACC about some sort of scheduling arrangement, but sources have told ESPN that the financial reality of that potential partnership also projects to underwhelm.

Cover photo of Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

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