The Pac-12, formed in 1915 and spending subsequent years as one of the top athletic conferences in the U.S., is down to two teams, and likely finished.
Today, the ACC extinguished any small hopes that the Pac-12 could soldier on by attracting some new teams, announcing that it has accepted the Pac-12’s Stanford and the University of California-Berkeley, along with Southern Methodist University, as new members.
That left poor Oregon State and Washington State as the lone members of the Pac-12, and they will now hope to hook on with the Mountain West conference.
The ACC, which includes football powers Clemson, Florida State, Boston College, Syracuse and North Carolina, is now a coast-to-coast giant, with teams ranging from Boston to Florida to Texas to California. They have a television deal with ESPN that may be bumped as a result of expansion, although it still trails those of the Big 10 and SEC in total dollars.
The only consolation for the Pac-12 is that it has one more year before it goes gently into that good night. All of its members – including UCLA and USC – have one last hurrah before moving on to their new homes.