The Pac-12 college conference has experienced devastation as the historical conference faces potential disbandment after aggressive recruitment by the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences. Over the past two years, the Pac-12 lost eight of the twelve schools initially part of the over one hundred-year-old conference. Following a recent announcement, the Big Ten will be gaining the schools of Oregon and Washington by August 2024. Meanwhile, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) announced just last year that they would be joining the Big Ten in 2024 as well. Following the addition of these teams, the Big Ten conference will span from the East Coast to the West Coast and contain a total of eighteen teams.

The Big 12 conference has acquired new teams from the Pac-12 conference as well. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah will all join the Big 12 in 2024 and will expand the Big 12 to sixteen total member teams.

Following the shift in conferences, the Pac-12 will enter the 2024 season with only four of the original twelve teams in the conference. The fate of the conference ultimately lies within the four remaining members: University of California, Berkeley; Oregon State; Stanford; and Washington State. However, the time that the Pac-12 conference has left might be very short; both the University of California (Berkeley) and Stanford are on the search for a more prestigious conference to join. A major factor motivating the movement of conferences by many teams is the revenue that teams can earn from television contracts. By joining more prestigious, popular conferences, these contracts can be more financially lucrative. Regardless of the motivation behind the move, the traditions and fate of the Pac-12 conference are at risk of extinction should a drastic change in conference enrollment not occur.