Reports: Pac-12 calls meeting as Big 12 preps to accept Colorado

Pac-12 leaders have called for a meeting Thursday to discuss the Colorado Buffaloes’ potential conference move to the Big 12, reports John Canzano and The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel.

The talks come after Big 12 presidents and chancellors unanimously voted to accept the Buffaloes as a new member on Wednesday night. Colorado has yet to formally submit an application to the conference, but a regents meeting Thursday could move that process along.

The Pac-12’s presidents and athletic directors on Thursday are expected to discuss their yet-to-be-concluded media rights contract as well as Colorado’s future.

Canzano writes that one Pac-12 leader framed it as the “opportunity to ‘trade up’ through expansion given Colorado’s decision.”

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday that Colorado is leaving because it is a financial no-brainer.

“I think they (Colorado) kind of saw the writing on the wall with the Pac-12. I talked to sources at other schools about their future and they said the decision they have to make is do we stay in the Pac-12 and fight to keep the Pac-12 alive or just basically accept this is not the Pac-12 we signed up for?” McMurphy said.

A potential Colorado departure could have an impact on the decision-making for the Arizona State Sun Devils and Arizona Wildcats, who along with the Utah Utes have been bracketed as potential targets of the Big 12 as well.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Wednesday that Arizona “has been the most engaged among those three schools,” and that likely has to do with the mutual draw of improving an already-powerful basketball conference.

The president of the University of Arizona, Dr. Robert Robbins, has said he is focused on the media deal. But that drawn-out process and a potential move by Colorado could potentially change that thinking.

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