Rumors have been swirling around the college sports world in regards to conference expansion lately, specifically surrounding the Pac-12. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti received the green light to pursue expansion on Thursday, and many believed that Oregon and Washington would be the next teams to move. However, those rumors have now lost traction according to a report from The Athletic.
After USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten, Oklahoma and Texas joined the SEC, and BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston joined the Big 12, the college sports world new that the era of conferences was changing big time. Now, the big discussion is what is going to happen with the Pac-12 and ACC.
Things looked much more bleak for the Pac-12 24 hours ago. Arizona and Arizona State seemed ready to depart for the Big 12 and it looked like Oregon and Washington could be heading to the Big Ten. Now, the conference might be able to save itself.
Another big storyline surrounding the Pac-12 this summer was surrounding media rights deals. The Big Ten recently reached a massive deal with NBC and CBS, and the SEC with ESPN. The Pac-12 had nothing, until commissioner George Kliavkoff discussed a new deal with Apple as the primary distributor. Finding any deal was crucial for the Pac-12, and that plays a role in the discussion of schools leaving and schools staying.
The Pac-12 is having another meeting Friday and there is certainly more news to come. Right now, all we have is rumors on the topic, and who knows when the true fate of the conference will be publicly known.
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