Will the Pac-12 and Big 12 merge? Analyzing various alternatives around conference realignment
After over a hundred years of history and memories, the era of the Pac-12 conference seems to be slowly coming to an end. During this year's conference realignment, 10 of the 12 member teams have already made their decision to go on their separate ways in 2024. This just leaves two teams in the conference, Washington State and Oregon State.
Thus, the future of the conference is shrouded with uncertainty. Could the answer to its survival lie in a possible merger with the Big 12 conference?
Will the Pac-12 and Big 12 merge?
After the news of Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 emerged, there were talks about the Conference collaborating with Pac-12. However, earlier this year, it has been confirmed that the two conferences will not move ahead with these plans.
These talks of a possible partnership picked up when the conference learned that USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten next year. Thus, they were looking for possible ways to keep themselves relevant in the world of football.
However, according to reports, several factors such as the expiring media rights deal and value addition did not seem beneficial for the two conferences to keep up their partnership hopes. Currently, four of the 10 teams leaving the Pac-12 next year are going to end up with the Big 12. These teams include Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.
With just Oregon State and Washington State remaining in the conference, it is still unclear how they will move ahead and get feasible solutions for the future.
CFP executive director halts talks of format changes to address the Pac-12 realignment issue
The CFP management committee has decided that it will not proceed to further discuss the format changes of the extended 12-team field starting in 2024. This remains at a halt until the Pac-12 issue is resolved.
The NCAA gives a two-year grace period to a conference not meeting membership requirements. But despite this, having a two-team conference is a highly unlikely move to be executed.
CFP executive director Bill Hancock opened up about this unusual circumstance and how he never expected to witness such an event take place.
"One thing that happened that I never would've dreamed would ever happen, happened. It's totally weird and everybody knows it," Hancock said.
It will be interesting to see what direction the conference takes in the coming days. There is a possibility of it merging with the Mountain West or ACC. But there are also talks of a certain relegation/ promotion type format if such a merger takes place.