College football expansion: Big 12 votes to add Arizona, per report

One major step towards leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12 appears to be complete as Arizona looks to kick off the next phase of college football realignment

The national conference map in college football is about to change once again as the Big 12 met on Thursday night to approve the application of Arizona as what will become the league's 14th member if all goes according to plan, according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.

The vote is a landmark step for Arizona to leave the Pac-12, with the final hurdle being a verdict on the part of the Board of Regents, which is yet to come.

The reputed decision to bring on the Wildcats follows prolonged speculation that the school would eventually abandon the Pac-12 and join the Big 12's ongoing expansion project. 

Arizona president Robert Robbins had maintained the school's loyalty to its current league in comments over the last few months, but also with the apparent caveat that it depended on what the forthcoming media contract looked like.

Now, with reports that the Pac-12 is looking at moving their football games to the Apple-owned streaming service for a price near $20 million per year, per member, and potentially more based on subscriptions, the exodus appears to be on, following the vote by Colorado to leave the conference and join back up with the Big 12, as well.

And that's not all: there is still a question of whether Arizona State will make the move alongside its traditional rival, rumors continue to connect Utah with a potential jump, and a potential merger between Oregon, Washington, and the Big Ten looks more likely after that league's presidents authorized their commissioner to pursue expansion, with focus in particular on adding the Ducks and Huskies to their roster.

What's left of the Pac-12 appears to be getting smaller, and the college football landscape looks to be changing forever.

This story is developing

(Yahoo)

---

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | All Teams

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks