It’s win-or-go-home time at the Women’s World Cup! ESPN’s writers on the ground in Australia and New Zealand take us through the round-of-16 match-ups.
Author: Michael
With little fanfare, Steph Catley has led the Matildas into the knockout stages of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
As recently as March, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan was absolutely adamant that his Utes would not be leaving the Pac-12. A lot has happened, not only over the last five months, but the past 24 hours.
On Friday evening, Utah, along with Arizona and Arizona State, officially announced that it will depart the Pac-12 for the Big 12 in 2024. The three schools will join along with Colorado, which made the same announcement earlier this summer. The latest move on the conference realignment chessboard came just hours after Oregon and Washington elected to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.
The Big 12 Conference has all but officially ended the Pac-12.
The slow motion train wreck started recently when the Colorado Buffaloes announced they were jumping ship. That started a rabid, manic week of negotiations, particularly after the Pac-12 member schools were presented with the conference’s media rights deal.
With expected annual payments around $20 million, remaining schools would be forced to take a significant discount on their value compared to the Big 10 or other conferences.
In the aftermath of Oregon and Washington leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes offered an adamant stance Friday night opposing the defections of both programs.
Barnes, Oregon State’s AD since 2017, stated during an interview with The Oregonian that he was “furious” to learn of the moves mainly due to the conference-wide implications going forward.
The Big 12 bumped the league’s membership to 16 teams beginning in 2024-25 after unanimously voting in Utah and Arizona State on Friday.
The Big Ten added Oregon and Washington as new members Friday, strengthening the Western flank of the rapidly growing conference while dealing a major blow to the Pac-12.
Two young QBs were among those feeling the heat on Friday. Here are the best photos, videos and notes from across the league, plus insight from our reporters.
Justin Herbert worked his way down from one side of the fence to the other end, signing as many autographs as he could for the fans who attended the Chargers’ training camp practice Friday in Costa Mesa, Calif.
A few team buses had left by the time Herbert was done signing autographs, but of course, the Chargers had at least one bus waiting for their star quarterback. Before entering the bus, Herbert was stopped by a young fan who asked if he would sign his guitar.
Herbert gladly obliged, and will likely continue signing several autographs for the remainder of training camp.
Just hours after Oregon and Washington officially joined UCLA and USC as future members of the Big Ten, the Pac-12 lost three additional members to the ever-expanding Big 12.
Arizona, Arizona State and Utah will all join the league along with conferencemate Colorado, ahead of the 2024 fall semester.
“We are thrilled to welcome Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12,” said conference commissioner Brett Yormark in an official release.