Back to the Big 12: The Origins of CU Conference Play
For the last 13 years, every CU Boulder graduate who has cheered on the Buffs has done so under the banner of the Pac-12 athletic conference.
But why? Perched where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, Boulder is easily the easternmost school consistently playing against the likes of USC, Stanford, Oregon and other historic teams that make up the traditionally West Coast grouping.
Let’s rewind. In 1947 — the early days of modern conference play — Colorado held its own as a chartering member of the Big Eight. The historic sports conference was composed of geographically contiguous Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State. But in 1996, the conference realigned and expanded southward to form the Big 12, adding in Texas schools like Baylor and UT Austin.
At the time, the energy around the Big 12 was electric. “It was an iconic combination of Midwest grit and southern resilience,” said former women’s basketball captain Kami Snyder (Psych, Jour’01). “It might be 15 degrees with snow flurries, but there was a game to play, and it was time to ball.”
However, in 2011, on the heels of a shaky Big 12 and shifting revenue priorities, the Buffs were ready to head west, accepting a Pac-10 invitation alongside Utah — creating the Pac-12.
13 years later, . In 2023, the board of regents at CU voted unanimously to approve the conference switch back to the Big 12, effective for the 2024–25 season.
This decision, which followed the announcement that UCLA and USC were leaving the Pac-12, was designed to create future stability for the Buffs, with the added bonus that student-athletes will enjoy better time slots and shorter travel for some road games.
And while the switch comes with a hefty projected annual television revenue package for CU, former chancellor Philip DiStefano and athletic director Rick George maintained after the announcement that money wasn’t the only factor in the decision.
“The national exposure that joining the Big 12 provides will shine a spotlight not only on our incredible student-athletes, but also on our groundbreaking research that really changes the world,” said DiStefano.
Online, the Big 12 celebrated CU’s return with a two-word statement released through Commissioner Brett Yormark:
Photo courtesy CU Boulder Athletics