Athletic director Rick George and chancellor Philip DiStefano addressed the media to discuss Colorado's move to the Big 12.

DiStefano: Today I'm pleased to announce that beginning in 2024, the University of Colorado will be returning to the Big 12 conference. I'd like to thank our athletic director Rick George, for his vision and collaboration on this decision, having been part of our previous conference realignment, I know firsthand that these decisions have far reaching implications, not just for our campus community, but also for our alumni and fans throughout the country and the world. With that in mind, we determined that joining the Big 12 would provide the stability that will best position CU Boulder for long term success, both athletically and academically. CU Boulder is a national university and by spanning three time zones, the Big 12 is very much a national conference. 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. Most importantly, the move will have no impact on the academic mission of CU Boulder, other than to enhance the exposure. Our influence as an academic leader is worldwide and will always transcend any specific conference. Our faculty will continue to do their collaborative research with other public and private institutions in the Association of American Universities. Whether those institutions are in the SEC, the ACC the Pac-12, the Big 10 or our new conference, the Big 12. The Pac 12 is a great conference with vital institutions and it was a privilege to be a member for the last 12 years. Well, it's difficult to leave, we're excited about what the future holds for CU Boulder and as we start our next era in the Big 12.

George: It's an exciting day for our athletic department and for our entire university. I'm very excited to join the Big 12 conference starting in 2024-25. I want to offer my sincere appreciation for this man to my left Chancellor DiStefano, who's been a tremendous partner throughout my time in Boulder, and was in it intimately involved in our analysis of what was right for CU. Let me state up front that this move was not just based on money or finances. A decision this big has a lot to do a lot more to do than just money. At the forefront of our minds in all of our decisions is our student athletes and their experience as Buffs. We've done our analysis and they'll be traveling less in the Big 12, playing in more favorable time slots, where we believe they can get greater national exposure and return to Boulder after away games at earlier times. A lot has been made about linear partners in today's day and age and partnering with the two largest providers in the linear media space, Fox and ESPN, is who we want to be aligned with. Not only will our fans around the world be able to watch us on broadcast or cable television. But as noted a moment ago, the Big 12 time slots on ESPN and Fox will provide our student athletes with great exposure playing in the most coveted time slots provides our student athletes, university and athletic departments with tremendous opportunities. We strive to be innovators in college athletics, and I believe the Big 12 shares that innovative spirit as we do. One example is how they're showcasing their football talent through a conference wide Pro Day. We believe they're doing a lot of positive things in this area and will continue to grow in their innovative approach to college athletics. Certainly, revenue and expenses are a part of the equation we have looked at the cost that we will be incurring from team traveling the Big 12, as well as the initial rebranding, and when we consider the Big 12 revenue, we believe it's a great win for the University of Colorado. The revenue was not just from a media deal, and there's a lot of talk about that but from other revenue streams and we believe that's a positive thing in the Big 12 and outcome for us. We believe the benefits far outweigh the cost for our move into the Big 12 conference as college sports evolve, so do conferences and it's our responsibility to put CU in a position of strength for the future, and as an AD, conference realignment is always something that we're looking at. I feel strongly today's decision positions the University of Colorado for years to come. We are honored and grateful to be a member of the Pac-12 For the past 12 years and we will do our part to be a great peer in this last year of being in the Pac-12 conference. I'm excited to see our teams compete for and win Champions this year and in the future.

George: Like I said, there's a number of factors on why we made this transition or we will be making this transition. One of them had to do with stability, and we feel strongly moving forward that stability in the Big 12 will give us the platform we need to have success in the future.

George: We looked at it from a lot of lenses. First and foremost, what we felt was best for our student athletes. We thought that was really important. Playing in three time zones gives us a lot of exposure around the country that's not only good for our student athletes and our athletic department, but for our university and community. The distribution of games on Fox and ESPN was an important consideration and the time windows that we would play and so a 7 p.m. Eastern Time Zone versus a 7 p.m. Pacific Time Zone is drastically different in travel times. And as mentioned, you know, the student athlete experience is important and that certainly was a consideration as well.

George: George Kliavkoff is a great Commissioner. Anytime you negotiate a media rights deal, that's extremely tough to do and it really came down to as we've looked at this, and looked at the stability that we could get in the Big 12 ,and the time slots, and the partners that they have in the media area. That was a significant factor for us as we made this decision.

George: In respect to all the parties that are involved, I'm really not going to get into the details of the process. What I will tell you is that as we looked at this during this process, it became clear that the Big 12 was the best fit for us. And again, it was a multiple factors that were involved in that decision making. But we feel really good about where we are today and what the future looks like for Colorado.

DiStefano: What I'm hearing from our alumni across the country has been very positive. Today, and especially after the regents meeting, where we had a unanimous vote. We certainly have received many, many positive comments from our alumni from our parents from individuals across the country.

At the time when we made the decision to move to the Pac-12. At that time, we looked at our alumni base, especially our alumni base in Southern California. And as you know, as we were playing UCLA, USC, there were many opportunities for the alumni engagement. Now, UCLA and USC have left. We're still going to be in California, recruiting not only student athletes, but recruiting students. Southern California, Northern California, California itself is our major out of state school that we recruit students, so we're going to continue to be in California but with UCLA and USC leaving to go to the Big 10 that definitely had an impact, that would definitely have an impact on alumni relations, especially on game day.

George: I tried to keep our coaches involved in this process. I talked to Tad Boyle I talked to JR [Payne], I've talked to Coach Prime and, and certainly, I think all of them felt like, whatever you think's best for us. We're gonna play whomever you ask us to play and and I will tell you, there's tremendous benefits for being in the Big 12 for the direction that Coach Prime's going as it relates to recruiting, being able to play in Orlando, against UCF, where he's recruited very heavily. The state of Texas has always been a priority for us, and now playing four teams in that area. Then just up north ... right, Oklahoma State having four teams and then you look at Houston and Houston has always been a favorable market for us in recruiting. You think back to Alfred Williams and Kanavis McGhee and Chris Hudson and some of those guys. That area, the fifth largest market in the country, also was a factor in that decision. But again, I tried to include all of our coaches in this and Coach Prime certainly, and I had conversations about this as well as I did with other coaches.

George: The conference is different. Right? I think the fact that we can go to Orlando now because if you think about the Big 12 In the past it was all those middle states around us the Kansas ,the Oklahoma's, the Texas and all that now being able to go and play in a Cincinnati which is a good market for us to go into play in Orlando, Florida. Those factors were really important for us because the conference is different than it was today. And the fact that they added Houston I think is a really favorable the seventh largest market in the country. We recruit really well out of there. I mean, we looked at this thing in very detailed format to make the decision that we get.

DiStefano: The Big 12 back then, there were a number of schools that were leaving at that time. Nebraska was leaving to go to the Big 10, Missouri went to the SEC. There were discussions obviously, we looked at moving to the Pac-10 at a time later with Utah to become the Pac-12. So there was that instability that was going on in the Big 12 at the time, which now I look at and think about the resilience of out of the Big 12. Many people back then thought that was it. That was the demise of a conference and it didn't turn out that way. It just turned out the opposite. I think they became stronger. So it was at a time when there was quite a bit of movement going on in the Big 12 and Colorado was asked, we were invited to join the Pac-10 and we did.

George: We certainly talk about the "Prime effect" a lot, and certainly him becoming our head football coach. If you look at our social media accounts, and all of the different areas that you can measure on the impact that he's had, again, I'm certain that you know a 1 and 11 team that have struggled like we have, with him being involved was significant. But if you look at the strength of all of our sports programs, because this is about our sports program, and you look at what [Payne] did and women's basketball, and you look at the class that [Boyle] recruited and the excitement about this upcoming year, our soccer program and just across the board, we're having success and I think all those are important points for us to talk about.

George: In our board session that we had today, I think, Regent [Ilana] Spiegel really said it well about the mental health and the mental and wellness of our student athletes. And that's always going to be at the forefront of our decisions. That's an important factor in anything that we do, but the experience that our student athletes have is the most important thing that we look at on any of the decisions we make.

George: We're always trying to do what's best for what's best for our student athletes, for our department and our university. When you make these kinds of decisions, and we've had to make some big decisions, you've got to do your due diligence, you've got to do your analysis, and you got to always focus on what's your North Star and if our North Star is what's best for our student athletes, it's easy for us to make a decision on what's best for this department. And as we looked at the Big 12, We felt strongly that this was going to provide a an experience for our student athletes that we think is important for their long term success and that's always our goal.

George: George Kilavkoff is doing as good a job as he can do and he works his ass off and he works tirelessly for the members of the Pac-12. I wish them nothing but great success in the future. And I'm certain that they will have great success in the future. But this decision wasn't about that. It was about this and that's the Big 12 conference, and what's best for see you and CU athletics and our student athletes, and that's what we made our decision based on.

DiStefano: I would just add that I was on the search committee that hired George and I think George is a wonderful individual and he's doing a very good job at being the commissioner of the Pac-12. Like Rick, I put as my top priority, the experience that our student athletes have and the visibility that our student athletes have and like Rick, I believe that moving to the Big 12 conference is going to give our student athletes much more exposure than what they were getting previously. We mentioned the three time zones. We mentioned you know the platforms of being on ESPN and Fox. Those things to me were important factors in making the change, making sure that our student athletes had the best possible experience while they're here at the University of Colorado Boulder.

George: I want to say about that the Pac-12 conference has been a great conference for us. And they've represented us well and I've got a lot of peers in that conference that I care for. This decision was a difficult decision, but it was the right decision for CU and it was all about looking ahead, not looking behind us. And we're going to focus on this year to be great peers to our conference members. We're going to compete as hard as we can to win championships a year from now we'll really focus on what's ahead then.

George: I've said this long time ago, in this process that we were proud members and we are proud members of the Pac-12 conference. It really came down for us on again what's best for our student athletes. So regardless of how that's couched don't I think I caught my peers off guard. I don't believe so. But again, that's a question you have to ask them.

DiStefano: All the decisions that I make as chancellor, those decisions are always with the best interests of the university in mind. And that's what this decision was about what's best for the university especially for intercollegiate athletics and our student athletes.

DiStefano: With UCLA and USC leaving that presented a problem, that doesn't mean that we're not going to be in California meeting with with our alumni and donors and parents. I already have planned I think two or three trips in the fall to do that. I will continue, and I know Rick will continue, and others to work with our alumni, parents, fans donors in the California market. As I mentioned, my primary purpose in this change was our student athletes, and the priority was to make sure that they had the best best experience during their time here at CU. The research will continue the research that our faculty are doing with faculty members in the Pac 12. They'll continue to do that. They will also continue to do collaborative research with faculty and all the other conferences. So my primary purpose was, as I mentioned, our student athletes and you know, the collaborative research will still go on, the alumni engagement will still go on in California.

George: Just from our perspective, our Buff Club and [Senior associate AD] Leon Jackson III over there who heads that up. It's always going to be a priority for us to go out and visit with our alumni, our donors and our fans out there. And that that won't change our effort on the west coast will still be paramount in our fundraising opportunities and our friend Maisie making opportunities because we know we have a lot of former students there. But we also know that the Dallas market is a really important market for us. We've got a lot of fans and friends and donors in that area as well. So we won't turn our backs on it. As a matter of fact, we'll make a more concerted effort to be present there since we don't have games that bring us there.

George: We play Kansas State and Houston, those were concerted efforts for for us to play with those institutions, so we'll have to dissolve those contracts, obviously. And then we will look to fill those games as quickly as we can. But what I think it gives us an opportunity to do is create more home contests here because we may go out and look for opponents that are just going to play in Boulder one year. So rather than having six games, we'll have seven, which again, helps us in revenue generation for our department.

George: On Monday after I meet with our head coaches, which I do once a month, but we didn't have a lot of time to talk about their excitement or whatever, but I know a couple of the coaches have reached out and they're excited about being in the Big 12 in 24-25. But their focus and our student athletes focus are what's ahead starting August 1st, when our student athletes start reporting back for fall camp.

George: In these type of type of decisions, you don't involve a lot of people in that. We certainly believe that we know what our student athlete what's important to them, and what we provide our student athletes in the support and mental health and academic support and leadership and career and our psychological health performance department. Those things are really important for our student athletes. They know that our priority is them and when we make decisions, it's going to be in their best interest. And again, we believe that the decision we made is in their best interest and I'm certainly looking forward to meet with all of our teams when they come back to answer their questions and talk through the process and why we are.