In the last 24 hours, the University of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah appear to have a standing invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. With the announced departures of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten in 2024-25, and Colorado to the Big 12, the Pac-12 has lost 8 of its 12 current members.
Much blame has rightly been laid at the feet of former Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott for banking on the novel idea of a conference 100% owning its own network, while not having a distribution partner to help with, uh, distribution, as the Big Ten, ACC and SEC have. The failure to secure a deal with Direct TV confounded the strategy even more.
It’s notable that the Pac-12 has experienced a high degree of turnover in the president’s office over that last several years. Stanford’s Marc-Tessier Lavigne, UCLA’s Gene Block and Cal’s Carol Christ have all announced their departures in the last several months. Oregon has had several leaders in and out of the president’s office.