How Colorado’s Departure to the Big 12 Might Ruin the Pac-12

On July 27, the Big 12 officially voted on Colorado joining the Big 12, and they were unanimously voted in. As part of the next wave on conference realignment, Colorado is rejoining the Big 12, which they called home for 14 seasons, from 1996 to 2010. After conference realignment from 2010 to 2013, Colorado made the jump to the Pac-12, where they have been one of the worst Power 5 teams, outside of 2016 when the Buffs went to the Pac-12 Championship. Oklahoma and Texas signed a deal for an early exit to join the SEC after the 2023-2024 athletic year, so at the end of this football season, they will leave for the SEC. The Big 12 already accepted 4 new teams, BYU, UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati, which will play football in the Big 12 this year, and now will add Colorado back. The Pac-12 already lost USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, which will add those two in 2024.

So how does this ruin the PAC-12?

The Pac-12 has been on a slippery slope after USC and UCLA were voted into the Big 10. Their media deal is up in 2024, and they did not announce a new deal at Pac-12 media day. As Demetri Ravanos of Barrett Sports Media says, “If your conference doesn’t have a great deal, you never close the door to a new opportunity. If your conference has no deal at all? It’s time to panic.” Without big fan bases like USC and UCLA, networks don’t want to sign with the Pac-12, so they have to panic. The Pac-12 is already at a disadvantage though because people in the East Coast and Central time zones might be in bed by the time the Pac-12 late games start, so half the country won’t watch their games. With people not watching their games because it is simply too late and some people on the West Coast not watching the Pac-12 because the competition isn’t better than other games on at the time, the Pac-12 isn’t going to make enough money to keep their  schools happy, and they then those schools leave for the Big 12 and Big Ten. We kind of saw this with the Big East 10 years ago, when the more successful football teams left and then other schools left to make the American Conference. USC, UCLA, and Colorado leave, and other schools could leave if the Pac-12 doesn’t sign a new media deal.

So how can the Pac-12 save themselves?

The first thing the Pac-12 should do is sign a new media deal. If the conference makes it through this year without signing a new deal, the Pac-12 might not be a conference by 2025. The second step the Pac-12 can do to save themselves is try to get schools from the mountain west or some independents to join the Pac-12. San Diego State was rumored to join, and even their Athletic Director said they wanted to leave the mountain west. After making it to finals in basketball, SDSU could join the Pac-12. The Pac-12 should also tap into schools like Fresno State, Air Force, and SMU. The Mountains West could fill up with schools from the Big Sky conference like Montana and Montana State. The third and final step that I think the Pac-12 should take is locking down schools like Oregon, Washington, and Utah. After the departures of UCLA and USC, these schools are the biggest and best from a sports perspective, while schools like Arizona State and Arizona have the highest enrollment of schools staying. Hopefully the Pac-12 can take steps like these to save themselves.