Based on multiple reports in the last couple of months, it’s seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Colorado would not join the Pac-10 until 2012.
Less than two weeks ago, conference commissioner Larry Scott admitted that the chances of joining anytime before 2012 were “worse than 50-50.”
Based on at least one report, the situation has taken a 180-degree turn from Scott’s pessimism.
According to Chip Brown of OrangeBloods.com, and citing several unnamed conference sources, it’s looking more and more likely that Colorado will move to the Pac-10 following the 2010-2011 school year. An announcement on the Big 12’s 2011 football schedule is expected next week, at which point it will be known whether the conference will consist of ten or eleven schools.
“There is too much consensus to get Colorado on its way to the Pac-10,” an administrator at a Big 12 school told Orangebloods.com. “That’s what Colorado and the Pac-10 want. That’s what the Big 12 wants.”
Another conference official told the Rivals.com website that “unless something unforeseen happens, I think the Big 12 will be a ten-team league next season.”
It’s not exactly a state secret that Colorado would like to leave for the Pac-10 as soon as possible, but financial concerns brought about by early-exit penalties -- 80 percent of their conference revenue if they leave in 2011, compared to 50 percent if they bolt in 2012 -- have forced the school to at least publicly dial back talk of moving in 2011.
Sources told the site that the Big 12 is working on a payment schedule that would allow Colorado to pay the exit fees over time, a plan that would, it seems, give the green light for the school to leave next year.