College Football Realignment: Colorado and Arizona to Big 12

A year ago, no one in the college football world would have suggested sitting back and watching the Big 12 eat. Eating, in terms of conference realignment, that is.

About 10 months ago the Big 12 made a big change. That is when Brett Yormark was hired to succeed the retiring Bob Bowlsby. The move surprised many because Yormark did not have a college sports background. He had worked in sports but on the entertainment side rather than the sports side.

By most accounts, Yormark has done a great job for the Big 12. Instead of floundering after the loss of Texas and Oklahoma. The Big 12 added BYU, West Virginia, UCF and Cincinnati to make up for the loss of the Longhorns and the Sooners. In that case, four was not greater than two, but the four solid programs brought the Big 12 close to even, despite the loss of the two heavyweight programs to the SEC.

Yormark has been pursuing several other Big 12 expansion ideas and based on multiple reports from the last couple of days, the Big 12 is close to adding Colorado and Arizona.

It will not happen until the Pac-12 finishes its long overdue new media deal. But when the Big 12 adds the Buffaloes and the Wildcats, it will end the ruse of the Pac-12 being a Power Five conference. The realignment will not be the end of the Pac-12 unless it proves to be a tipping point for as many as four to six other Pac-12 programs to make moves to the Big 12 and the Big Ten.

When it is finalized, the reality of the new Pac-12 media deal could well leave Utah, Washington, Oregon and Arizona State, with no sound reason to remain in the Pac-12.

Yormark is not short on ideas. As he stated recently,

"We had a great discussion about expansion, and we have a plan. As I’ve said all along, we have an appetite to be a national conference in our makeup from coast to coast, and we do believe in the upside of basketball moving forward as a collective group."

Big 12 and College Football, with a College Basketball Boost

The basketball part of Yormark’s statement is about conversations to add Gonzaga and U Conn to the Big 12. The Zags would not be a football member and the Huskies have a substandard college football program. While that does not concern Yormark, the recent buzz has been current Big 12 members have little or no interest in the two schools.

A fair question is why will the Big 12 wait on Colorado and Arizona. Apparently, the Big 12 believes the optics are better to wait until the Pac-12 implodes. As Bama Hammer opined several weeks ago, college football will be fine with a Power Four.