Arizona State, Utah show interest in Big 12 following Oregon, Washington move to Big Ten

The dominoes are starting to fall now that Oregon and Washington are headed to the Big Ten. According to Brett McMurphy, Arizona State and Utah are “showing interest” in the Big 12 as Pac-12 schools continue to explore their options.

McMurphy added that Arizona has already applied for membership to the Big 12, but the Big 12 is also “exploring its options” with Oregon and Washington off to the Big Ten.

The Pac-12 is clearly in trouble as it was unable to get a Grant of Rights deal signed Friday and now is dealing with Colorado, Oregon and Washington all leaving, with other schools at the least considering it.

One factor to watch with Arizona and Arizona State is the fact that the two schools share a Board of Regents, likely meaning that the Wildcats won’t leave the Pac-12 unless the Sun Devils do, too. Arizona State was reportedly not as eager to leave the Pac-12 as Arizona. However, that may be changing with so many other moving pieces in the Pac-12.

Pete Thamel of ESPN reported on SportsCenter Friday afternoon that he would expect Arizona to the Big 12 “to get pushed across the finish line in the near future.” He added that the likely scenario is that the Big 12 ends up adding Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah before everything is all said and done.

More on Oregon, Washington leaving Pac-12 for Big Ten

Oregon and Washington will officially be on the move soon. According to multiple reports, including one from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo!, Oregon and Washington have informed Pac-12 presidents that they are leaving for the Big Ten. Dellenger added that an official invitation from the Big Ten is expected to come “soon.”

The decision by Oregon was made in part due to the TV rights offer from Apple being so far behind other leagues, Dellenger said.

ESPN insider Pete Thamel reports that the Big Ten vote is expected to be a unanimous approval for the two schools and that Oregon and Washington will leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

Friday has been a wild day, with reports surfacing Friday morning that Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten had lost momentum. However, if there was indeed momentum lost overnight, it quickly picked back up as Friday went along.

An hour after it was reported that momentum for Oregon and Washington to leave was lost, news broke that the Pac-12 was unable to sign a Grant of Rights deal. A Grant of Rights would have legally bound the remaining Pac-12 schools together and made it difficult to leave the conference.

Not long after Pac-12 schools failed to reach a media rights deal, news broke that Big Ten presidents were meeting about adding Oregon and Washington to the league. During that meeting it was apparently decided that Oregon and Washington will receive invitations.

Dellenger reported that earlier Friday, the Big Ten had cooled on the idea of adding Oregon and Washington, only to re-engage the two schools later in the day.