After much deliberation, the Pac-12 has finally agreed to play football in 2020. Somehow, the Big 12 was a part of the conversation.
On Thursday, the Pac-12 CEO Group met and voted with the results leading to a shortened season that would begin on Nov. 6. They are set to play seven games before the Pac-12 Championship on Dec. 18. Here is where it gets wild.
According to Tracy Pierson of 247Sports, the meeting was a bit contentious at times with Utah even threatening to leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12 and USC threatening to go independent for the 2020 season.
Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Washington and Colorado were apparently the holdouts on moving forward with the season before the university presidents and chancellors unified and agreed to specific conditions for a 2020 season.
The Big 12 only has 10 teams and many were pushing for BYU to join the Big 12 for a single year. The conference’s grant of rights is not up until 2025, so adding another school would have always been tough, but Utah, apparently, was ready to go.
The Big 12 expanding or collapsing is inevitable come the next round of conference realignment. The Arizona schools and USC have been the topic of conversation for media about joining the Big 12, but hello Utah, join in.
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