National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jun 10, 2010 1:38:28 PM

Colorado will become the 11th member of the Pacific-10 Conference, the league said Thursday. All Buffalo sports will make the change together in 2012.

"This is a historic moment for the conference, as the Pac-10 is poised for tremendous growth," said Commissioner Larry Scott. "The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically, and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10."

Colorado is the first new member of the Pac-10 since Arizona and Arizona State joined the conference on July 1, 1978.

"On behalf of the University of Colorado students, faculty, alumni and fans, we are proud to accept this invitation from the Pac-10 and join the most prestigious academic and athletic conference in the nation," said Philip DeStefano, chancellor of the school.

Scott, DiStefano, Colorado President Bruce Benson, Colorado board of regents chair Steve Bosely and Athletics Director Mike Bohn will make an official announcement June 11. Thursday, Scott, DiStefano and Benson held a teleconference to expand on the decision. DiStefano addressed the academic implications of the move.

"From our standpoint, our faculty, when they do joint research projects, have been doing many of those projects with faculty from Pac-10 institutions," he said. "We have done work with faculty from Stanford, (California), of course Washington, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon, so our faculty will feel very positive about our new partnership with the Pac-10."

Scott said the conference was keeping student-athlete welfare in mind as it studies expansion, and he believes that through the use of divisions and "creative scheduling," expansion will not result in significantly greater travel distances or additional missed class time. He would not give specifics on future expansion plans.He said the conference is working with Creative Artist Agency to help the league analyze the media markets and "do some modeling" on possible scenarios and their financial impact. 

"The vision ultimately for being proactive and innovative and being a leader in terms of the national landscape of college athletics going forward stems from the vision of our presidents and chancellors," Scott said. The way I have interpreted that and carried has been tied to our contractual relationships and the fact that in 2011 we will start negotiations for our future media contracts. Lately, those media contracts have tended to be for very long periods of time. I realize this upcoming media negotiation is of paramount importance in terms of the resources our schools will have available and in terms of the competitive landscape between conferences going forward."

Scott said the media contract negotiations set a timetable of later this year for the completion of expansion.

A founding member of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Colorado had been a member of the Big Eight before the formation of the Big 12.  Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe released a statement Thursday saying he will continue to work to secure the conference's future.

"I continue to work through the process that was agreed upon last week by our board of directors to address membership issues, and am working tirelessly toward the long-term viability of the Big 12," he said.

DiStefano and Benson said Colorado will work with the Pac-10 to help finance any financial penalty imposed by the Big 12 for leaving the conference. The school has not yet discussed with the Big 12 any need to forgo revenues from the league over the next two years.