The Pacific 12 Conference, or Pac-12, dates all the way back to 1915. It originally consisted of the University of California-Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Oregon, and Oregon State University, and was called the Pacific Coast Conference. The league eventually built itself up to be what we know it today, with 12 of the most competitive teams in college sports. However, it looks like this is going to be the last year of the Pac-12. 

For years the Pac-12 has faced different challenges and hasn’t always been stable, however what really kicked off its downfall was UCLA and USC leaving the PAC 12 back in June of 2022. When the Pac-12’s media rights were coming to an end with FOX and ESPN, these two schools took it as the perfect time to switch into the Big Ten. And commissioner George Kliavkoff was also having a hard time negotiating a new press deal, making it even better timing. 

Because these two Los Angeles schools were leaving, this was going to make getting a good media rights deal even harder. There were also a lot of chances the Pac-12 had to expand or negotiate a good deal that they didn’t pursue, leaving many of the schools frustrated and discontent. 

Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah are the next to go and are set to join the Big 12 in 2024. They will be playing alongside schools like Texas, Kansas State, Baylor, etc. Washington and Oregon will be joining UCLA and USC in the Big Ten. This left only four teams: Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, and Washington State.

However, as more conferences expand, the Pac-12 will lose Cal and Stanford to the American Athletics Conference in 2024. So now, the Pac-12 stands as the Pac-2, with only Oregon State and Washington State. Although it hasn’t happened yet, many think the last two teams will end up joining the Mountain West Conference. This will mark the end of the Pac-12 conference.