Colorado ‘In Discussions About a Move to the Big 12’: Report
According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Colorado Buffaloes are “in discussions about making a move to the Big 12,” putting the Pac-12 in a rather precarious situation heading into August.
Thamel also reports that UC just completed a board meeting and has scheduled a second meeting for Thursday, July 27, to discuss the move. Additionally, the Big 12 is also holding a president’s meeting tonight, where an update on expansion is expected.
The Buffaloes have long been rumored to be the most likely program to make the first jump, but in all likelihood, wouldn’t be the last if it were to happen.
If the Buffaloes do indeed make the move back to the Big 12, where they spent from 1996 to 2011, it would likely result in another school, like Arizona, making the jump as well.
Colorado, along with the other Pac-12 schools, has been adamant that they would at least hear the conference’s pitch for a new media rights deal, but it’s been over a year since discussions began. Have they heard the numbers and decided it wasn’t good enough? Or, have they grown tired of the waiting game? It’s hard to know right now, but there’s certainly something happing in Boulder (CO).
In addition to Thamel’s original tweet, he also added that “there’s no agenda posted yet. But the meeting tomorrow at Colorado is called a ‘Special Board Meeting’ and was scheduled essentially as today’s ‘athletics operations’ executive session board meeting ended.”
Could the next wave of conference realignment be on the verge of kicking off just after Pac-12 Media Days? Perhaps, but until then, we’ll keep our ears to the ground.
