The wheels of conference realignment are spinning fast.
Just days after USC and UCLA shook the college landscape again by announcing a move to the Big Ten, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reports the Big 12 is deep in discussions to add up to six of the remaining Pac-12 teams.
Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah have long been considered likely expansion candidates for the league, but Dodd reports Oregon and Washington, the two most powerful programs left in the Pac-12, have entered that conversation, as well.
“Everything is on the table,” one Big 12 source told Dodd.
Adding all six programs to the league would make the Big 12 the largest in college athletics with 18 members, including the previously announced additions of Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and UCF.
The league would also stretch across all four time zones with schools in nearly every corner of the country, a crucial fact when you consider the importance of brand exposure and television eyeballs.
All of this is likely to move relatively quickly with plenty of questions to be answered ahead of the Pac-12’s media rights agreement expiring in June 2023. The Big 12’s current media rights deal runs through 2025.
