Colorado exploring move to Big 12 from Pac-12 with multiple meetings set this week, per reports

(CBSSports) By Dean Straka

Colorado has entered discussions on a move back to the Big 12, according to multiple reports. The University of Colorado held a board meeting Wednesday with another scheduled for Thursday, presumably concerning the potential move. Additionally, the Big 12 has a scheduled meeting of league presidents Wednesday evening with an expansion update planned as part of the itinerary.

The Buffaloes have been considered a potential priority expansion target Big 12 along with the other "Four Corners" schools in the Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Colorado has held "substantive" talks with the Big 12 multiple times this offseason, multiple sources told CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd in May, despite publicly saying it desired to remain in the Pac-12 and would not make any decisions until a Pac-12 media rights deal could be reviewed by conference members.

"I have no comment other than what I said last week," Colorado athletic director Rick George told Dodd at the time. "We are proud members of the Pac-12. In a perfect world, we'd love to be in the Pac-12, but we also have to do what is right for Colorado at the end of the day."

Part of the original Big 8, CU was a founding member of the Big 12 in 1996 and remained in the conference until it departed for the Pac-12 in 2011. Some were surprised Colorado left for the Pac-12 at all given its history with the Big 12. 

The Big 12 officially added four new members -- BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF -- on July 1 as a means of rebuilding its conference following the scheduled departures of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC on July 1, 2024. The league will consist of 14 teams for the 2023 season before dropping to 12 in 2024 once UT and OU exit. 

It is believed the Big 12 has been considering further expansion, however, not only making overtures to other Pac-12 programs but also basketball powerhouses like UConn and Gonzaga, as Dodd reported in June.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, approaching 12 months in that position, said at Big 12 Media Days that he admired the branding efforts at Colorado. The Buffaloes made headlines with their football program in the past seven months after former NFL star Deion Sanders was named the program's coach in December 2022.

"They know brand [at Colorado]," Yormark said. "I am brand guy. They have done a tremendous job if you look at how they are kind of elevating and amplifying their brand and are engaging with their fans. They have done a wonderful job. I wish them well." 

The Pac-12, meanwhile, is at a crossroads. It is about to enter its final season with USC and UCLA before the flagship California schools exit for the Big Ten on July 1, 2024. As such, it has faced difficulties signing a new media rights deal while the Big 12 opened its contract with Fox and ESPN to jump ahead of the Pac-12 in negotiations with their presently shared rightsholders.

"Our schools are committed to each other and to the Pac-12," Kliavkoff said. "We'll get our media rights deal done, we'll announce the deal. I think the realignment that's going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle. The truth is we've got bigger fish to fry. 

"There are incredible opportunities and also challenges in front of college athletics, and I need to be able to work with all of my colleagues in Division I and particularly in the A5, and we'll do that. We'll move past all the bitter squabbling of the last year, and we'll work together to make college athletics better."

ESPN first reported Colorado's internal discussions this week.  

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff met Wednesday morning to update members on negotiations for a new media rights deal, according to Yahoo Sports. Wednesday's developments come less than a week after Kliavkoff stood firm behind the conference's membership at Pac-12 Media Day on July 21 in Las Vegas -- a message he has preached since last July. He reiterated that a new media rights deal for the Pac-12 was on the way despite negotiations continuing a year after they were authorized by the conference.