Berry Tramel is as reputable as anyone in the country who covers college sports. If he thinks that Colorado is leaving then they are likely leaving. This could all go down in the month of June. All of those earlier reports that said “watch Colorado” look like they are going to come true. “The Univ. of Colorado is “ready to commit to joining the Big 12 ‘soon,’” and the comment “has a lot more juice” after the events in the Pac-12 this week, according to sources cited by Berry Tramel of the OKLAHOMAN. WSU President Kirk Schulz on Monday issued a “variety of spending freezes in the wake of the Pac-12's financial crisis.” The N.Y. Post reported that ESPN and the Pac-12 are having “no substantive talks.” Plus, CBS reported a couple of weeks ago that Big 12 officials “were told by ESPN that the Big 12 would be one of three leagues (along with the SEC and ACC) that ESPN would air in terms of a Tier 1 level.” Still, at the time the “prevailing opinion” was that the Pac-12 members would “find a way to stay together.” But that is “becoming an increasingly difficult decision financially.” Network suitors are either “asking the Pac-12 members to take a financial haircut on a new television contract, or proceed with a reduced distribution platform, heavy on streaming and short on traditional outlets.” The former “has administrators scared, and the latter has coaches leery.” The Univ. of Utah “seems to be the most reluctant of the four-corner schools to engage with the Big 12.” But it “only takes one school from the remaining Pac-12 to create a domino effect.” If Colorado, which also “faces financial dilemmas with its athletic department, jumps, others are expected to follow” (OKLAHOMAN, 5/23).