College football realignment: Pac-12 schools could follow Colorado to Big 12, per report
The next phase of college football conference realignment appears to have arrived as multiple media reports claim that Colorado is finalizing a move out of the Pac-12 and back to the Big 12, and now there is talk that other schools may follow behind.
At least one of the other three so-called "Four Corners" schools — Arizona, Arizona State, or Utah — may go along with Colorado to the Big 12, according to SI's Pat Forde.
The belief is that the Big 12 will use Colorado's move as leverage to lure at least one more current Pac-12 member to its ranks amid its own ambitious expansion plans.
The school most likely to entertain such a move? That appears to be Arizona, whose president has stated in recent weeks that, although he remains loyal to the Pac-12, that seemed to depend on the conference's ability to command a media rights deal worth staying for. In the apparent absence of such a deal with a month to go before the season, Arizona could see joining the Big 12 as the more lucrative move.
For its part, Utah has stated that it has no intention of leaving the Pac-12 and is happy to wait out the process of seeing what the next media deal looks like.
As of Thursday morning, it appears Colorado to the Big 12 is a done deal. Big 12 presidents and chancellors voted unanimously to accept the school as a member on a conference call, according to insiders, and it's expected that CU will respond with its own vote from the Board of Regents to approve a change in conference, too.
If so, it could spell another phase in what some analysts have predicted may be the end of the Pac-12 Conference as we know it.
(SI)
More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | All Teams
Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks