The end appears near for the Pac-12.
The latest round of college football musical chairs saw five schools flee the conference last week.
Oregon and Washington are heading to the Big Ten while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are going to the Big 12.
That left Stanford, California, Oregon State and Washington State in no man’s land.
But not for long.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that “in the next 24 hours, there’s two calls for the ACC to vet and have early exploratory discussions on the potential addition of Cal and Stanford.”
Thamel went on to report: “It’s a fluid landscape for the four leftover Pac-12 schools, and there’s myriad options being discussed. This one of them.”
In addition, On3 reports “the American Athletic Conference is interested in adding any or all of the four remaining Pac-12 Conference schools.”
According to the report, “the AAC believes it would be an ideal league for the so-called Pac-4. The AAC is interested in adding as many as all four of the schools, a source said, which would expand its membership to 18.”
The exodus is over the schools’ cut of broadcast and streaming rights deals.
Big Ten schools are set to receive $65 million each from the conference’s new multi-year pacts totaling close to $10 billion.
While new members could be subject to a reduced rate, it would still be a significant increase compared to what schools would make sticking with the Pac-12.
The Big Ten started picking apart the Pac-12 last year when it invited USC and UCLA into the conference.
Both schools are slated to begin play in the Big Ten in 2024.
The updated realignment would leave the Big Ten with 18 schools, putting it on par with the SEC in terms of size and scope.
And don’t forget that last month, Colorado announced its intention to leave for the Big 12.