Arizona has long been rumored to be a target of the Big 12, should the conference expand further west. But school president Robert Robbins has repeatedly gone on record this year to express his faith that the Pac-12 would stay together.

In June, Robbins told reporters he was confident that commissioner George Kliavkoff would present the 10 schools with a new media rights deal that would keep the conference together. “My prediction is that we’re all going to stay together as a Pac-12,” he said. “There’s 10 of us right now. I’m hopeful that the deal is going to be good enough to keep us together.”

On Wednesday, news broke that Colorado is close to the exit door and discussing a move back to the Big 12. If a move is finalized, the Pac-12 would drop to nine members in 2024. The league still has yet to announce a finalized media rights deal, and a CU departure could certainly make any existing members antsy.

How about Arizona?

“All I keep saying is, you know, we’re just waiting to get a deal,” Robbins told The Athletic’s Max Olson. “And then everybody has to evaluate the deal on its merits. I’ve been pretty steadfast in that stance.”

It has been more than a year since USC and UCLA announced their plans to leave the Pac-12, and since that time Kliavkoff has opened negotiations for the next media rights deal.

The timeline for that deal has repeatedly shifted. Kliavkoff told reporters at the Pac-12’s media event last Friday the league was not announcing a media deal at that time in order to keep the focus on football. He also stated that the longer the league waits, the better their options get.

But multiple reports have stated that school leaders around the league have yet to see any numbers. Robbins’ comment would appear to confirm that.

The waiting game seems like it was too much for Colorado. Now the question becomes a simple one: Who is next?