Colorado AD addresses Pac-12 status amid Big 12 move rumors: ‘We’ll evaluate things as we move forward’

Colorado athletic director Rick George addressed his school’s status as a member of the Pac-12 Conference amid rumors that a move to the Big 12 could be on the horizon. With the conference currently embroiled in contentious negotiations for a new media rights deal, Colorado is evaluating its options. Earlier this week, a Big 12 source said The Oklahoman that the Buffalois would be ready to commit to the conference “soon.”

“We are members of the Pac-12, we are proud members of the Pac-12 and we have to see where our media rights deal and where our conference is going,” George told BuffZone. “In a perfect world, we’d love to be in the Pac-12, but we also have to do what’s right for Colorado at the end of the day. We will evaluate things as we move forward.”

The Pac-12 is in its final season before USC and UCLA leave for the Big Ten in 2024. The conference is the only Power Five league without the TV Future has been secured many years into the future. In March, sources said Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports that the Big 12 would be ready to add the Four Corner Pac-12 schools – Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State – if the league’s uncertain future leads to a departure.

Colorado is coming off a disastrous 1-11 season under former coach Karl Dorrell, but the Buffs made a splash in the offseason and hired former Jackson State coach Deion Sanders to revitalize the program and the Buffs future direction. Colorado currently has the No. 1 ranked transfer class under Sanders, per 247Sports, as he leads the biggest one-year roster overhaul in recent memory.