{"id":534877,"date":"2023-08-04T14:22:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T21:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=534877"},"modified":"2023-08-07T10:18:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T17:18:32","slug":"conference-realignment-hitting-college-athletics-again-pac-12-in-flux-arizona-asu-utah-to-big-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/conference-realignment-hitting-college-athletics-again-pac-12-in-flux-arizona-asu-utah-to-big-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Realignment Hitting College Athletics Again: Pac-12 in Flux, Arizona, ASU, Utah to Big 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conference Realignment Hitting College Athletics Again: Pac-12 in Flux, Arizona, ASU, Utah to Big 12<\/strong><\/p>\n

College athletics in 2024-25 was already set to look plenty different with four major universities switching conferences. In pursuit of big-dollar television contracts, the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma announced in 2021 that they would be moving from the Big 12 to the SEC in July 2025, and last year, the University of Southern California and University of California-Los Angeles announced their own moves from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

For the past year, the remaining Pac-12 institutions have considered their own futures, with the fate of the league uncertain until an agreement was reached with television partners. Now, six of the remaining 10 schools have announced their own departures.<\/p>\n

The University of Colorado recently announced it was leaving the Pac-12 to return to the Big 12. Colorado was a charter member of the Big 12 in 1996 but left in 2011 for what will turn into a 13-year stint in the Pac-12. Now, the University of Oregon and University of Washington are close to joining the Big Ten, according to numerous reports, including ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

None of Colorado, Oregon and Washington sponsor swimming and diving programs, but at that point, all seven schools remaining Pac-12 schools had at least a women’s team. Now, three of those teams have departed. The Big 12 announced Friday evening<\/a> that the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the University of Utah have all applied for and been granted membership in the league. Those schools all sponsor both women’s and men’s swimming programs.<\/p>\n