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After CU announced in June it would join the Pac-10 Conference, the move is on its way to becoming reality. Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano helped negotiate a $6.863 million reduction in distributions from the Big 12 this fiscal year, which paves the way for the university’s sports teams to officially become part of the Pac-10 on July 1, 2011.

The lost revenue was less than half of what the Big 12 originally said it would withhold for CU’s early exit, and the Pac-10 has agreed to advance CU the forfeited amount in the form of a loan against future conference payouts.

“Having a mediator really helped,” DiStefano says. “I look at mediation like going to the dentist’s office. You don’t want to go and you don’t like being there, but when it’s done you feel relieved.”

Nebraska, which is also leaving the Big 12 next year for the Big 10, is paying a $9.255 million exit fee.

“One thing first and foremost on our plate is how we are going to improve our competitiveness across the board,” CU athletic director Mike Bohn says. The Pac-10 “is a great conference, and not just in football . . . It’s a great challenge and opportunity for us. We need to go in there and be competitive right away.”