College football expansion update: Colorado responds to Big 12 rumors
Colorado is the latest targets of rumors around the next phase of college football expansion, both as the Pac-12 looks to keep its remaining members and sign a new media deal, and the Big 12 tries to add more teams further west to make up for losing its two biggest brands.
But as the Pac-12 is currently looking to sign a new media rights deal into the future, Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano went on the record, saying that his school is committed to the conference and has no plans to make any moves of any kind.
Even if his comments did seem to include a very certain caveat.
Colorado is committed
"Nobody's asked us -- I shouldn't even say that. We're committed to the Pac-12," DiStefano said of any overtures to change conferences, via USA Today.
"What I've said along with the other presidents and chancellors is we're not going to even think about going anywhere, none of us, until we see what kind of offer we get, and that's still being worked out. And I'm confident it's going to be fine."
Until — that's the interesting word, and it reflects similar statements made by Arizona president Robert Robbins in reference to rumors that his school was also being targeted by the Big 12 in recent weeks.
In earlier remarks, Robbins told The San Jose Mercury News: “It’s heavily dependent on [Pac-12] commissioner George Kliavkoff] and his team negotiating a good media deal for us to stay competitive. I don’t think anybody wants to leave.”
All of which would seem to imply that some current Pac-12 members would entertain the idea of leaving the conference if they don't believe they are getting enough from the league's media deal and think they can get more somewhere else.
Which places all the pressure on the Pac-12 to make sure it gets the right deal.
Related: Colorado AD responds to wild rumor
Colorado knows the league
Colorado was a member of the Big 12 from 1996 to 2010, with seven of those years resulting in winning seasons.
Before then, CU was a member of the Big Eight dating back to 1948, playing its best football in the late 1980s under Bill McCartney and winning the college football national championship in the 1990 season.
The school has just one winning campaign since joining the Pac-12, when the Buffaloes went 10-4 in 2016.
And now the school is in the spotlight once again after hiring Deion Sanders to lead the football program, selling out its spring game, and almost all its season tickets for the first time in almost 30 years.
Big 12 wants to expand
The Big 12 has been public in its attempt to expand to the West Coast and increase its exposure in the Pacific media markets.
Reports connected the Big 12's interest to the two Arizona schools in addition to Utah and Colorado, the latter a former Big 12 member.
Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff took public issue with the Big 12's incursion into its territory, accusing that league of "trying to destabilize our remaining conference."
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