Conference realignment news: Arizona, Utah, ASU join Kansas Jayhawks in Big 12

Just a week after Colorado joined the conference, three new schools merged into the Big 12 as part of the latest Kansas Jayhawks conference realignment news.

Mega conferences are dawning upon college sports.

As the Pac-12 continues to disband, the Big 12 Conference has now accepted four newcomers in Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. They will become official members of the conference during the 2024-25 academic year.

With the impending departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, the Big 12 will consist of 16 schools by the start of next season. Although the future of the conference did not look bright a year ago, it seems as though the University of Kansas will stay put for quite some time.

It makes sense financially for all involved parties, as the new Big 12 media deal promises $11.7 million more than the Pac-12 does per year for each school (about $20 million in Pac-12, $31.7 million in Big 12).

Washington and Oregon announced they would depart to the Big Ten starting in 2024 earlier on Friday. Stanford, Wazzu, Cal, and Oregon State are the last universities standing in the limping conference that originally formed in 1959.

Colorado shared a spot in the conference with the Kansas Jayhawks from 1947-2011 before they relocated to the Pac-12 — just to end up where they started. Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah have never been members of the Big 12, even prior to its rebrand, but will become mainstays a year from now.

Commissioner Brett Yormark, who’s saved the conference from breaking up, said this in a press release: “The conference is gaining three premier institutions both academically and athletically, and the entire Big 12 looks forward to working alongside their presidents, athletic directors, student-athletes and administrators.”

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