Arizona Close To Joining Big 12, Utah And Arizona State Formally Apply

The rest of the "Four Corners" schools appear to be headed to the Big 12.

Arizona is on the verge of leaving the Pac-12 with Arizona State having formally applied for membership to join the Big 12, sources tell CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.

Utah has also sent its application to become a member of the Big 12, according to ESPN.

The Wildcats became a "hard lean" toward the Big 12 after days of conversations about whether to leave the conference they have known as home since 1978. The Sun Devils also joined the league that year, while the Utes are the Pac-12's newest member having joined in 2011.

The Pac-12 held a Friday call as a last-ditch effort to keep the league together that appears to have ultimately failed.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees both Arizona and Arizona State, met Thursday night but did not take formal action at that time.

The Big 12, which approved an application for Arizona on Thursday, must still approve the requests of Arizona State and Utah before those respective universities can officially decide to move of the Pac-12.

Despite Arizona being further ahead of ASU in its Big 12 pursuit, there is substantial sentiment within both athletic departments that a conference sever is both undesired and unlikely, sources told CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.

The Wildcats leaving Sun Devils behind in the Pac-12 "would be extremely surprising," one high-ranking source said.

"I just can't imagine Arizona going to the Big 12 and Arizona State not going with," another source said.

Power brokers at both schools, including crucial members on the Board of Regents, do not desire a split and would prefer to keep the unique UA-ASU rivalry and partnership.

It appears that the Big 12 is now willing to move to 16 members after previously stating that it hoped to expand back to 14 members following the departures of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. 

The already murky future of the Pac-12 will hang in the balance with the remainder of the "Four Corners" schools departing the league.

Colorado, the fourth of those schools, left the conference for the Big 12 last week prior to Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff delivering an underwhelming presentation to university administrators from the league early this week on a future media rights deal centering around a streaming contract with Apple.

The Big 12 has long been focused on expanding with at least two -- if not all four -- of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

With the Pac-12 having already lost Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten on Friday while on the verge of seeing three more members from its Southern bloc depart, we may see an entire additional round of realignment.

The Apple-focused media rights package presented to Pac-12 members this week includes tiers of incentivization with a significant upside for teams if certain subscription numbers are met, sources told Dodd. However, the financial projections emerging from the meeting are believed to start around $20 million per school annually. By contrast, Big 12 schools are set to receive nearly $32 million annually through their new media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox.

Annual payouts in the Big Ten are even more lucrative at $60 million per school annually through an agreement with CBS, Fox and NBC. However, Oregon and Washington will only receive 50% of the annual share ($30 million with yearly $1 million escalators) after changing conferences, according to multiple reports.