If you’ve been trapped under a boulder since Colorado announced its intention last week to rejoin the Big 12 Conference, the action hasn’t stopped. The Pac-12 is, at best, significantly destabilized (and has been for a long time, as discussed below), and the Big 12 has made no secret of its intention to take advantage of that distress. The State of Arizona, and both currently-P5 schools within it, are clearly in the crosshairs, and several things have happened this week to bring us to a potential tipping point today, August 3, 2023.
Let’s start at the beginning.
On Monday afternoon, news broke that George Kliavkoff, the Pac-12 Commissioner, would finally present the details of a long-awaited TV deal, the lack of which directly precipitated Colorado’s departure from the conference the week before.