AD Ray Anderson: ‘ASU remains fully committed to the Pac-12 Conference’ amid realignment rumors

ASU vice president for athletics Ray Anderson released a statement Tuesday afternoon signaling the school’s intention, at least short term, to remain in the Pac-12 conference.

“ASU remains fully committed to the Pac-12 Conference,” Anderson said. “ASU continues to work closely with the other remaining conference members to advance the best interests of its student-athletes as well as to support the continued success of the conference itself.”

The statement comes during a whirlwind news day for conference realignment rumors. Earlier in the day, the Pac-12 announced that the board of directors gave the green light to begin talks for its next media rights deal.

CBS Sports reported shortly earlier that six Pac-12 schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington — are planning to meet with the Big-12 conference this week.

Later in the afternoon, Oregon beat reporter and columnist John Canzano reported that the Pac-12 CEO group is eyeballing a potential “loose partnership” with another conference, which Canzano believes would be the ACC or Big-12.

Early rumors are saying that the Pac-12 is in deep conversations with ESPN and Fox to strike a more lucrative and attractive media rights deal for its athletics, and that those conversations may have slowly halted any other schools’ immediate plans for departure.

However, Canzano and others are reporting that Oregon is heart-set on leaving the conference.

Does Anderson’s statement, and ASU’s positioning, signal greener pastures, or a resistance to necessary change? Likely time will only tell.