Report: Arizona State and Utah apply for Big 12 membership
The move comes after Arizona's application was approved by the conference
Arizona State and Utah could be the next teams heading to the Big 12.
According to ESPN, the two schools have applied for formal membership in the conference. Their reported applications come a day after Arizona was approved to be the conference’s 14th member. Colorado was the first Pac-12 school to move to the Big 12 ahead of the 2024 football season when the conference announced the Buffaloes’ arrival in July.
Sources: Both Utah and Arizona State have applied for formal membership to the Big 12 Conference, and there’s a call tonight with the Big 12's presidents and chancellors to discuss their membership. Arizona applied and was approved yesterday.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 4, 2023
The Pac-12 had nine teams after Colorado’s departure but two more left the conference on Friday after Yahoo Sports reported that Oregon and Washington would be joining the Big Ten. Arizona’s Big 12 future membership is not yet complete; the school’s Board of Regents still needs to approve a move.
The same Board of Regents governs Arizona and Arizona State and it’s always felt unlikely that one team would move to the Big 12 and another wouldn’t given their shared governance.
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Assuming all three of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah head to the Big 12, they will be able to move without an exit fee because of the Pac-12’s expiring media rights deal at the end of the 2023-24 sports seasons. The Pac-12 has been unable to secure a new television contract and that lack of a deal helped lead to USC and UCLA announcing their departures for the Big Ten a summer ago.
The Pac-12's best option for its new media deal appeared to be a largely streaming-based deal with Apple. However, questions about the widespread availability of games and the projected revenue from the deal led to the Pac-12 never holding an official vote on accepting it.
A move to the Big 12 for Utah would come a year after BYU was one of four new members to the conference in 2023 and reignites one of the best rivalries in college football. If and when the three additional Pac-12 schools join the Big 12, it will have 16 members from as far west as Arizona and Utah and as far east as Florida and West Virginia.