The Pac-12 Conference has provided us with Heisman winners, national champions, All-Americans, unforgettable moments and Pac-12 after dark. After Saturday, the Pac-12 as we know it is gone.
Conference realignment has changed college sports as we know it. The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins are headed to the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Stanford and Cal are joining the ACC with Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Arizona State heading to the Big 12 Conference. This is it for the Pac-12.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the end of the Pac-12 Conference.
Why is the Pac-12 Conference breaking up?
The dissolution of the Pac-12 Conference has everything to do with money. At a time when the Big Ten and SEC have television deals worth more than $1 billion per season, it was the Pac-12’s inability to land a lucrative TV deal that caused its collapse.
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USC, Oregon, UCLA and other schools gave conference officials a chance but the writing was on the wall. Conference leaders negotiated deals with a variety of TV networks and media companies for years, but their final offer signaled the conference’s inevitable end.
The Pac-12 presented Apple with a multi-year offer, which would’ve paid out $20 million annually to all schools in the conference. In comparison, the Big Ten already paid out $50-plus million per year to colleges under its current TV deal and the new media rights deal for the conference will receive $80-$100 million annually.
What will happen to the Pac-12 Conference next year?
For the time being, the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars are the only teams left in the Pac-12 Conference. What happens to them in 2024 will be decided by the courts in a legal battle with massive ramifications.
A judge had previously ruled in favor of Oregon State and Washington State had jurisdiction over the Pac-12 and all of the assets that came with it. Importantly, that meant gaining access to the conference’s hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Of course, that ruling has been challenged.
If the next ruling is in favor of the Beavers and Cougars, they’ll have the resources to invite other programs to join the Pac-12 Conference. The expansion of the College Football Playoff and NCAA requires the Pac-12 to have at least eight teams to be recognized as an official conference. Without it, the Pac-12 is dead.
Oregon State and Washington State will be given one season to stick around in the conference. They’ll play each other and they’ve also agreed to a deal with the Mountain West Conference to play multiple games in 2024-’25. After that, the Beavers and Cougars need to find a permanent home.
Reflecting on the history of the Pac-12 Conference
This is effectively the end of the Pac-12 Conference. It either folds completely or Oregon State and Washington State scrape together a few mid-major programs to join them in the future. Either way, this is no longer a distinguished Power 5 conference.
Pac 12 football champions by year
- 2022: Utah Utes
- 2021: Utah Utes
- 2020: Oregon Ducks
- 2019: Oregon Ducks
- 2018: Washington Huskies
- 2017: USC Trojans
- 2016: Washington Huskies
With that said, there’s plenty of history to reflect on. The USC Trojans were a powerhouse, winning multiple national titles in the early 2000s and 1970s. The Oregon Ducks were a perennial threat, the Washington Huskies were national champions (1984, 1990, 19991, while Stanford, UCLA and California each have their own storied history.
The Pac-12 Conference also had some distinguished Heisman winners, ranging from Jum Plunkett (1970) and Marcus Allen (1981) to Reggie Bush (2005) and Caleb Williams (2022). For all of the memories, including Pac-12 after dark, we thank the Pac-12 Conference for everything it gave college football fans.