On Friday, August 4, 2023, the University of Utah announced their plans to join the Big 12 Conference following a unanimous vote from their Board of Trustees. After the conclusion of the 2023 season and 13 years in the Pac-12, the Utes will join a 16-team Big 12 Conference.

As part of the announcement, University of Utah President Taylor Randall and Athletic Director Mark Harlan released their official statements on the move.

“I am grateful for all of the hard work my Pac-12 Conference colleagues invested in an effort to find solutions to keep the conference whole and provide a pathway forward to benefit all of our students, fans and communities. Ultimately, stronger forces within national collegiate athletics and the greater media landscape brought us to today’s decision. I am hopeful the relationships we have made over the past 12 years within the Pac-12 remain strong,” President Randall said.

“President Randall and I, along with the executive committee of the Board of Trustees, have been fully engaged in pursuing the best possible path for the University of Utah and our athletics programs to excel. After very thorough and comprehensive efforts to preserve our present conference affiliation in the aftermath of the announced departures of UCLA and USC last year, we have explored all options and have determined that the right path for Utah to continue to build on its tremendous growth trajectory is to accept an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference,” Harland added.

As Harlan mentioned, the University has been diligently seeking the best possible path for some time, and today it reached a point where a decision simply had to be made. After the initial departure of USC and UCLA a year ago, the B1G Conference announced their intentions to add Oregon and Washington this morning. This springboarded a string of events that eventually led to the addition of Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State to the Big 12.

“I am very enthusiastic about the University of Utah’s future within the Big 12. Joining our Pac-12 and Association of American Universities peers from Colorado and Arizona is important to our mission and makes sense, as does, renewing our historic in-state rivalry with Brigham Young University,” Randall shared.

“This decision represents the best interests of the University of Utah, our student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni and our tremendous fans, and we look forward to continuing our growth as a member of the Big 12 Conference beginning next year,” Harlan said.

As College Football continues to shift, the Utes have solidified a spot in a formidable conference with a bright future. While looking ahead to the future, Randall made sure to express his appreciation for the Pac-12 as they provided Utah an opportunity to become a respected and highly competitive program.

“Being part of the Pac-12 has elevated the University of Utah and demonstrated our student-athletes can compete at the highest levels on and off the field, our move to the Big 12 will not change that position,” Harlan said.

With the official announcement from the Conference, Utah will join Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado in the Big 12 beginning with the 2024-25 Academic Year.