Carl Vertrees

Regardless of whether one is a sports fan, residents of the Pacific Coast have been aware of the Pacific Athletic Conference, which was founded in 1915.

The Pac-12 has been fielding competitions in 24 sports at the Division 1 level of the NCAA, with football garnering the greatest following and enthusiasm. Nicknamed the “Conference of Champions,” the Pac-12 has won more NCAA national championships in team sports than any other conference in history.

That legacy is about to go down in flames.

Today, it’s still the Pac-12. But as 10 of its member universities are exiting, its de facto position is the Pac 2 — with Oregon State and Washington State universities surviving amid vigorous litigation.

Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and California were the first members of the coastal alliance, which became the Big 5 when Washington State joined in 1917 and the Big 6 when Stanford was added. It became the Pac 8 after USC and UCLA were added in the 1920s. It became the Pac 10 with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State in 1978. Colorado and Utah made it the Pac 12 in 2011.

The demise began in June 2022 when UCLA and USC announced they would join the Big 10 in 2024. In July 2023 Colorado said it would exit to the Big 12. In August, Oregon and Washington joined the mass exodus to the Big 10, followed by Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, and finally Stanford and California.

Greed seems to have been the motivation for the catastrophe, more dollars for television rights the dominant force. For more revenue elsewhere, the 10 schools are thumbing tradition, inconveniencing their players with longer travel and more missed classes, and defying environmental concerns by consuming more jet fuel to reach those farther destinations.

Ginger and I have our own history with the Pac-12, having attended the University of Washington because we were raised in Seattle. Having lived in Oregon since 1969, our allegiances have changed. It’s more fun to join our friends and associates in rooting for the Ducks and the Beavers, perhaps with greater enthusiasm for the Ducks because of their more dominant football record over the years.

That our daughters attended Linfield College, a Division 3 football powerhouse, contributed to our waning enthusiasm for the Huskies.

Now we’re more conflicted. When Washington and Oregon announced their moves from the Pac-12 in August as the fourth and fifth teams to exit, it became the death knell of the conference leaving Washington State and Oregon State as the only remaining members.

In the meantime they’re fighting with the other 10 members of the Pac-12 about its governance and its survival or demise. The Beavers and the Cougars argue that the others should have no say in the Pacific Conference’s future. The other 10 maintain they should have full voice until next August.

If speculations are accurate, a new Pacific Conference might be an amalgamation with the Mountain West Conference — or an invitation for most or all of those schools to comprise a new Pacific Conference. Time will tell.