Pac-12 Conference announces decision on expansion

The Pac-12 Conference announced Thursday that it will not pursue expansion in the immediate future, after first-year commissioner George Kliavkoff previously said expansion remains an option.

“Following consultation with our Presidents, Chancellors and Athletic Directors, the Pac-12 Conference has made the decision to not pursue expansion of our membership at this time,” the conference’s statement reads. “The decision was made following extensive internal discussion and analysis, and is based on the current competitive strength and cohesiveness of our 12 universities. It is also grounded in our confidence in our ability as a conference to best support our student-athletes and to grow and thrive both academically and athletically.”

The Pac-12 currently has 12 member institutions on the West Coast, split into two divisions of six: the North Division and the South Division.

Earlier this week, Kliavkoff said the Pac-12 was considering expansion and would have an answer by the end of the week. The consideration came shortly after the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten formally announced a multi-conference alliance, following weeks of reporting that talks between commissioners were ramping up.

Kliavkoff said that Pac-12 expansion was vetted on a parallel path to the alliance.

The decision to form the alliance followed news that commissioner Greg Sankey extended invites to the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma; both Texas and Oklahoma accepted the invites and will leave the Big 12 to join the SEC. The Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten, in turn, announced the alliance, which aims to create a shared vision for future governance in collegiate athletics.

The trio of conferences are expected to work together for future changes such as College Football Playoff expansion and media rights deals. Additionally, they said they will schedule exclusive inter-conference matchups in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.

There weren’t many reports specifying which schools might be of interest to the Pac-12, and the conference never gave specifics on which schools it may have targeted. However, former Pittsburgh football coach Dave Wannstedt on Tuesday made an appearance on 670 The Score in Chicago and suggested that he has heard rumblings of a shakeup.

“I was at the Fox meetings in Phoenix last week, and we were all talking, and a lot of the Big Ten people were all there,” Wannstedt said “It sounds like Oklahoma State and Kansas State are going to the Pac-12, so that’s done.”

Wannstedt is the first to link the Pac-12 to any specific programs, albeit in an informal fashion.