June 30, 2011

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.-- As of July 1, the Pacific-10 Conference will expand to 12 teams and be renamed the Pac-12 Conference, ushering in a new era for the conference and its schools, reaching from Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado with the addition of the University of Utah and University of Colorado.

The expansion of the conference will also lead to a Pac-12 Network and an exclusive deal with ESPN and Fox to broadcast its sports.

For football only the conference will be broken into two divisions, the North (Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Cal, Washington, Washington State) and South (USC, UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State), culminating in a Pac-12 Championship Game on December 2 on the home field of the team with the best overall Conference record

With more than 120 Nobel Laureates across all of its campuses and the first ever to reach 400 NCAA Championships, the Conference is synonymous with both academic excellence and athletic success, having earned the nickname the "Conference of Champions"®.

The two newest members, Colorado and Utah, have won a combined 42 NCAA titles and are the first additions to the conference, dating back to as far as the Pacific Coast Conference (1915), since Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.

To recognize this historic moment, Governors John Hickenlooper and Gary Herbert have declared July 1 as Pac-12 Day in Colorado and Utah, respectively. Mayor Susan Osborne has also signed a proclamation making it Pac-12 Day in the City of Boulder.

Conference Through the Years