Arizona, Arizona State, And Utah Are The Latest Schools To Leave The Pac-12

Friday will go down as perhaps the most consequential day in the recent history of college athletics. Despite some apparent optimism that the Pac-12 would be able to remain in tact, two of conference’s biggest members, Oregon and Washington, jumped to the Big Ten. It immediately led to questions about what would happen next to the Conference of Champions, and several hours after that bombshell dropped, three more schools announced their intention to leave the Pac-12.

In a statement released on Friday evening, the Big 12 announced its latest round of conference expansion, which will see Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah make their way to the conference.

The Big 12 is in a state of upheaval, as Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC in 2024 and BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston joined the conference last year. Back in July, it was announced that Colorado will leave the Pac-12 and join the conference in 2024, and rumors began popping up once it was clear that Oregon and Washington would bolt for the Big Ten that the conference had its eye on adding more institutions from the Pac-12.

As of this writing, four schools remain in the Pac-12: Cal, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington State. Beyond Oregon and Washington, the Big Ten has previously announced that USC and UCLA will join the conference in 2024. In a statement released following the news involving the Arizona schools and Utah, the Pac-12 expressed that “we remain focused on securing the best possible future for each of our member universities.”