In a college sports landscape where the only stable thing seems to be instability, the third straight summer of realignment rages on, with all eyes now on the state of Arizona to see whether one, or both, of the Pac-12 schools will follow Colorado’s lead and bolt to the Big 12. A Big 12 source reiterated to Sports Illustrated on Monday that Arizona, Arizona State and Utah remain the priority for the Big 12 to add. But the key first domino will be the University of Arizona, the school that not only has the highest athletic pedigree of the group but also fits multiple other strategic aims of the quickly re-forming conference. Most notably, the Big 12’s desire to emphasize basketball and appeal internationally.
On Friday, Big 12 sources told SI that the conference’s expansion targets were “on the clock,” but a league source walked that back, to a degree, on Monday, saying there wasn’t a hard and fast deadline for a decision to be made. Clearly, though, the Big 12 is eager to press its advantage over the Pac-12, moving aggressively to add from its ranks, while the venerable west coast conference has largely sat on its hands. Nabbing a school like Arizona—and perhaps a couple of others—could both solidify a remade Big 12 and spell major trouble for the Pac-12, which is already preparing to wave goodbye to Big Ten–bound USC and UCLA.
There is an Arizona board of regents meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but a potential Pac-12 exit for the Wildcats may not be as simple as an up or down vote. Arizona and Arizona State are both governed by the board, which may want to ensure that the Sun Devils don’t get left behind in a weakened conference. It is unclear whether this all will be discussed in Tuesday’s meeting, as the only item listed on the docket, as of Monday night, was an “executive session,” which is behind closed doors.
