Arizona, Arizona State, Utah to Officially Join Big 12 in 2024 amid Pac-12 Exodus

Arizona State, Arizona and Utah will become the newest members of the Big 12 in 2024.

The Big 12 Board of Directors voted unanimously to admit the three former Pac-12 members, who will begin conference play in the 2024-25 season.

This continues an exodus from the Pac-12 that saw Colorado plan to join the Big 12, and Oregon and Washington announce departures for the Big Ten, when the conference's current media rights deal expires in 2024.

"We are thrilled to welcome Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12," said Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. "The Conference is gaining three premier institutions both academically and athletically."

The Pac-12 released a statement after the announcement:

The Big 12 is now set to boast 16 members in 2024-25, with the four ex-Pac-12 schools joining Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah and West Virginia.

The Pac-12 is now left with only Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State following the 2023-24 season.

Both Washington State and Stanford published statements in response to the news. Washington State leaders said they were "disappointed with the recent decisions by some of our Pac-12 peers."

There is no clear path forward for the conference. Because Mountain West schools face a $32 million exit fee if they leave the conference before the 2025 football season, per ESPN's Pete Thamel, they are not viable candidates to immediately join the depleted Pac-12.

Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel reported Wednesday that the Big Ten has "begun exploratory discussions" to consider adding Cal and Stanford if the conference expands to 20 teams, but Oregon State and Washington State have not been publicly considered candidates for Power Five realignment.

The Pac-12 remains the only Power Five conference without a long-term media rights deal in place.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff met with then-nine conference members on Tuesday to present them with a potential subscription-based streaming deal with Apple, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich, but was unable to get members to sign a Grant of Rights agreement Friday morning, per Action Network's Brett McMurphy.

The deal falling apart triggered the official announcements of the departures of Oregon and Washington, followed by Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, within 12 hours. Given the exit of Colorado earlier this week, and USC and UCLA in 2022, the Pac-12 has now lost eight members in just over a year.

The existing Pac-12 will remain together for one more year as Utah looks to become the first team to win three straight Pac-12 titles during its final season in the conference.