By Emilee White Editorial Director
Updated 8/9/23 5:35pm ET
Growing up as an athlete, I always dreamed of going to a Division I school in a powerful conference, specifically any school in the Power Fives. Although my collegiate athletic career never came to fruition, I still went to and obtained my undergraduate degree at the University of Utah. I was still heavily involved in the sports world at Utah, as I started my professional career as a sports writer for my school paper, the Daily Utah Chronicle.
While in college, Utah was part of the Pacific 12 (Pac-12) Conference. The Pac-12 was formed in 1915, originally as the Pacific Coast Conference, before disbanding and becoming the Athletic Association of Western Universities. Over time, other schools located on the West Coast started to join the ever-changing conference, and the Pac-8 was born in 1968. The conference consisted of UC Berkeley, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, USC, and UCLA.
By the early 2000s, the Pac-10 (Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978) had made a name for itself as a Power Five conference. With the addition of Utah and the University of Colorado in 2011, the Pac-12 became what it is today: the “Conference of Champions.” At least, that’s what it was.
Conference realignment has shaken up the United States, and it all started in July 2021, with Oklahoma and Texas announcing their move to the SEC. From then on, more schools were moving to new conferences every week. Given the Pac-12’s uniqueness, all the in-state rivalries, and the fact that it entered a scheduling alliance with the Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), I believed this conference was safe from realignment. Boy, was I wrong?
The Pac-12 was always unique in its way in that it has its very own in-house network, Pac-12 Networks, and is all funded through media deals and partnerships, not owned by any major media conglomerate, a fact that many overlook when bashing the conference and networks. Unfortunately, the network has struggled recently to secure any new media deals as its current one with ESPN and FOX nears its end in 2024. Even though there is a potential deal in the works with Apple, a giant question mark was slapped on the Pac-12 after several more schools, including Utah, announced their departure from the conference.
With only four schools left (Cal, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington State), the future of the Pac-12 is a mystery. Initially, San Diego State expressed interest in filling one of the spots vacated by the LA schools, but now the Pac-12, the conference that holds the most NCAA titles, faces the unknown.
As for me, I’m a Utah Ute, no matter what. Whether the Pac-12 is here or has ceased to exist As we say, “A Utah Man am I. Go, Utes!”
Photo credit: Pac-12’s Website
