U of U Board of Trustees vote to join Big 12 Conference
Aug 4, 2023, 6:36 PM | Updated: 10:41 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah Board of Trustees called a meeting and approved a move to the Big 12 Athletic Conference Friday.
The resolution to accept membership in the Big 12 Conference, item 2.01 on the agenda, was introduced and voted on and unanimously approved. The meeting, usually held monthly on Tuesdays, ended immediately. The meeting lasted just minutes.
The announcement that Utah was applying for membership broke early Friday after it was announced Washington and Oregon were leaving the conference. Thursday the nine schools in the Pac-12 conference were discussing a media deal, reportedly with Apple TV, but the conference couldn’t bring the deal across the finish line and the conference now appears to be crumbling.
It has lost USC, UCLA, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Utah and possibly Arizona and Arizona State.
Gov. Spencer Cox congratulated the University in a tweet Friday night.
Cox said in his string of Tweets, “I am more concerned and disturbed than ever at the decaying landscape of college athletics, where a small group of media executives can destroy generations of history and tradition. Regardless of your fandom or loyalties, the death of the PAC12 is bad for our institutions.”
🧵1/ Congratulations to the University of Utah as they enter a new chapter in the Big 12. The past week has been absolutely insane and Ute fans need to know that Pres. Randall and his team were absolutely brilliant in navigating an impossible situation. You should be proud.
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) August 5, 2023
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