Colorado Officially Votes On Departure From Pac-12 For Big 12

SALT LAKE CITY – After months, and months, and months of speculation, Colorado will be making a move back to their original roots in the Big 12 from the Pac-12.

Since news broke nearly a year ago that USC and UCLA were making a move to the Big Ten in 2024, rumors have been abound as to whether any other Pac-12 schools would be leaving.

At first there was a great fear that Washington and Oregon would shortly be following the SoCal schools to the Big Ten, but those fears were put to rest fairly quickly. All eyeballs then moved to the “Four Corner” schools with all sorts of rumors floating about of any combination of Utah, Arizona, ASU, and Colorado leaving for the Big 12.

Ultimately, Colorado was the first to pull the trigger holding a Board of Regents meeting Thursday afternoon and voting unanimously to move back to the Big 12 in 2024.

Listening to the CU Regent meeting and the #Buffs, unsurprisingly, is heading back to the Big 12.

— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) July 27, 2023

Where Things Unraveled For Colorado, Pac-12

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman reported Colorado and the Big 12 were in talks about a possible move back in May of this year. That was followed up by a report from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports and an interview CU Athletic Director Rick Geoge gave on the matter to Brian Howell from BuffZone.com.

“You’ve got to believe about a third of what you see out there,” said George to BuffZone. “We’re members of the Pac-12, we’re proud members of the Pac-12 and we’ve got to see where our media rights deal lands and where our conference goes. In a perfect world, we’d love to be in the Pac-12, but we also have to do what’s right for Colorado at the end of the day. We’ll evaluate things as we move forward.”

Those comments were followed up by almost two months of silence on the matter, and an appearance at Pac-12 Media Day just last week where George was a part of a round-table discussion on the future of the Pac-12.

Fast forward to the following Wednesday where mass confusion ensued as reports began to trickle out the Buffs met to discuss leaving and were planning to officially vote on the matter today.

OFFICIAL: Colorado is heading back to the Big 12 Conference 🦬

ℹ️» https://t.co/p2XuTLdDWX#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/M3w4yA9zsp

— Colorado Buffaloes (@CUBuffs) July 27, 2023

Obviously, that vote just came to pass which leaves the Pac-12 with many questions they need to answer moving forward. 

We will keep you updated as more information comes to pass.

Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports

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