Well now it seems official that Colorado is indeed starting play in the Pac-10 next year and not 2012 after an agreement was reached yesterday on how much it will cost them to leave early. And it will be less than the 80 % of the projected earnings as the by-laws state. Colorado will pay the Big 12 $6.86 million rather than what could have been as much as $15 or more. Nebraska will pay no more than $9.25 million rather than what might have been $19.4 million.
The sides came to the agreement instead of risking a costly and PR messy court battle later on. According to the Associated Press, both school might have claimed in litigation they owed nothing because the Big 12 was about to collapse anyway when they struck their deals with new conferences. Nebraska will join the Big 10 for the 2011-2012 seasons — a season that will now officially have a 10-team Big 12.