In what has been a disastrous last week in the history of the Pac-12, Utah, and Arizona State have joined the mass exodus of teams that have left the century-old collegiate sports conference.
The cracks started to show in the Pac-12 facade a year ago when arguably the two most prominent schools in the conference, UCLA and USC, shockingly decided that the grass was greener on the Big 10 side. It sent a major message that the conference was not on the same level as the SEC, Big-10, and Big-12. Nevertheless, there was still hope.
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The conference was one of the few that were in need of a new media rights deal and some speculated that once found it could be enough to keep disgruntled schools happy and avoid more painful departures. Unfortunately, that was not the case and despite a new TV deal that is close to being finalized, Oregon and Washington ordered their moving vans and are headed to the Big 10 starting in 2024.
Pac-12 down to just Cal, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington State
Once that surprise news was announced, the rumors quickly started that this was just the beginning and more schools would find their way out. On Thursday, Arizona became the latest when their new membership to the Big-12 was approved. They will now have familiar company.
ESPN broke the news that Utah and Arizona State — as was rumored over the last couple of days — are also taking their talents to the Big-12 in 2024. The revelation came around the same time that Oregon and Washington’s switch to the Big-10 was finalized. This also all comes after Colorado left for the Big-12 last week.
With this latest slew of exits, it now means the once mighty Pac-12 is down just four lowly teams. Those being Cal, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington State.
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