Arizona Board of Regents calls another meeting, will have 'discussion regarding university athletics'

The Arizona Board of Regents is set to have another meeting this week, it announced Wednesday. According to the agenda, athletics will be a topic of conversation.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 6:05 p.m. MT and features two items. It calls for an immediate move to executive session, starting with “a review of assignments” for Arizona State president Michael Crow and Arizona president Robert Robbins. Then, they will stay in executive session “for possible legal advice and discussion regarding university athletics.”

Thursday’s meeting will be the second for the Arizona Board of Regents. The first took place Tuesday — and was announced Monday — but no action took place regarding any of the universities’ athletics future. The Arizona Board of Regents controls Arizona, Arizona State and Northern Arizona.

Arizona Board of Regents has announced a meeting Thursday night. Here is the agenda: pic.twitter.com/A98HFSIE3r

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 3, 2023

Rumors are swirling about Arizona’s future in the Pac-12, and On3’s Eric Prisbell has reported the Wildcats are a possible target for the Big 12 as it looks to get to 14 teams. The first meeting came the same day Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented a media deal to conference presidents and athletic directors. As part of that deal, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported, Apple would be part of a “primary streaming deal” and would start out less than the Big 12’s media rights contract. However, there would be subscription-based incentives involved to potentially top that number.

Kliavkoff asked the league for another meeting, but rumors continued to swirl Wednesday. Some Big Ten presidents reportedly held “exploratory discussions” about expanding to as many as 20 teams, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel. However, the league doesn’t want to be the reason the Pac-12 goes away, and that’s a reason for some hesitancy. Potential targets include Oregon, Washington, Cal and Stanford.

The Pac-12’s media rights negotiations have been going on for more than a year after USC and UCLA announced their departures for the Big Ten starting in 2024. But in addition to USC and UCLA, Colorado is also on its way out the door as it returns to the Big 12. That means the Pac-12 is now down to nine teams currently set to be part of the conference in 2024.

However, despite the departures, the Pac-12 reaffirmed its commitment to signing a media rights deal before expanding. San Diego State and SMU have long been reported as targets for the conference, but the sense is nothing will happen until a media deal comes down.

“The Pac-12 is comprised of world-leading universities and athletic programs who share a commitment to developing the next generation of leaders, supporting student-athletes’ academic and athletic excellence, and broad-based success,” the statement read. “We remain committed to our shared values and to continuing to invest in our student-athletes. Today’s decision by the University of Colorado has done nothing to disrupt that commitment.

“We are focused on concluding our media right deal and securing our continued success and growth. Immediately following the conclusion of our media rights deal, we will embrace expansion opportunities and bring new fans, markets, excitement, and value to the Pac-12.”