LOS ANGELES—The once proud and mighty PAC-12 Conference is in danger of being swept away in a tidalwave of money.
The PAC-12 Conference is a casualty, lost amidst the waters of the changing landscape of college sports.
In 2022, the stalwarts of the PAC-12 Conference the USC Trojans, and UCLA Bruins announced their intentions of leaving the conference for the Big 10 in 2024. Now the Big 10 has swallowed up the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks.
The Big Ten formally announced the additions of Oregon and Washington on Friday, August 4. Commissioner Tony Petitti said in a statement, “We look forward to building long-lasting relationships with the universities, administrators and staff, student-athletes, coaches and fans.”
These moves sent shockwaves throughout the Conference: It was every school for themselves.
In order to remain a “Top 5” program the Big 12 announced the arrivals of Arizona State and Utah not long after. Those steps further advanced the rapid diminishment of the PAC-12 from nine teams to a paltry four.
So what exactly went wrong with the PAC-12 Conference?
First, the Pac-12 has remained a non-factor in two of college’s athletics’ most popular sports, football and basketball. The conference hasn’t produced a national champion in football since USC in 2003 and 2004. Nor has it produced a College Football Playoff team since Washington in 2016.
In addition, the PAC-12 has been unable to reach a TV media rights contract.
Finally, can there really be a PAC-4? Stanford, Washington State and Oregon state are diligently making every effort to join a conference.
At this point it seems the best option for the fledgling conference as it moves forward is a merger with the Mountain Conference. The likelihood the PAC-12 will add acquisitions from the Mountain West in time for the 2024 season is less likely, as the MWC has a $34 million per-school exit fee.
A notable advantage is that it has several distinguished programs within the pacific footprint, including California-based institutions Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State. Other notable programs in football and basketball include UNLV, Nevada, Colorado State and Boise State.
Whether the conferences would merge and take on the PAC-12 name remains to be seen. It’s also possible the PAC-12 dissolves, with the four remaining schools moving instead to the MWC.
One thing has become crystal clear, the roots of the PAC-12 Conference, which go back to December 2, 1915, when the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded is coming to an end in 2024.
