The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that functions in the Western United States, taking part in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams contend in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two tiers of NCAA Division I football competition.

The present Pac-12 conference developed following the disbanding of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), in whose primary members established the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) in 1959. The conference formerly went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, and Pacific-10. The Pac-12 nickname was implemented in 2011 with the inclusion of Colorado and Utah.

The conference’s twelve members are situated inside the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, as well as Washington. They include each state’s flagship public university, four additional public universities, and two private research universities.

Known as the “Conference of Champions”, the Pac-12 has won more NCAA national championships in team sports compared to any other conference in history. The leading 3 schools with the most NCAA team championships are members of the Pac-12: Stanford, UCLA, and USC, in that particular order.

The present commissioner of the conference is Larry Scott. Scott replaced Thomas C. Hansen, who resigned in July 2009 after 26 years in that position. Prior to joining the Pac-10, Scott was Chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association.