Laine Higgins is our college sports reporter, and she says college sports run in her family.

She was a swimmer at UPEN and her dad played football at Michigan.

We literally have home video of me and my diaper at 18 months old with a Michigan pompom running

here on the house saying hail, like hail to the victors.

So this is to say college sports were a huge part of my upbringing.

And over the weekend, college sports got a huge jolt when one of the most iconic leagues had a complete meltdown.

The Pac-12, a West Coast conference with powerhouse teams like Oregon, Arizona, and Stanford.

Historically, the Pac-12 has been one of the marquee conferences in that they have a lot of great brands competing for them,

and they've won a lot of championships.

You're watching the Pac-12 on ESPN, Pac-12 Championship from Las Vegas,

USC, and Utah here in Colorado, and Washington.

There's not much precedent for a conference just blowing up like this,

and it looks like it might not exist beyond 2024, which is just absolutely bananas.

The league's downfall is a story of big TV money, last minute betrayals,

and some game of thrones-level maneuvering that will upend all college sports from field hockey to football.

Welcome to the journey, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Kate Leimbaugh, it's Wednesday, August 9th.

Coming up on the show, the ruthless fight over money in college sports.

When Lane was a swimmer in college, she remembers just how tricky it was to juggle school with sport.

We took a bus everywhere, so you end up having to study for a midterm on a coach bus,

in this packed thing with 40 people while there's a movie going on ahead of you,

and it's cold, and you're hungry, and you're tired, and it's hard.

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