Colorado is leaving 52 years of roaming the Great Plains of the Big 8 and Big 12 for the Pac-10 Conference, and Colorado president Bruce Benson says it’s a fit long overdue.

“I have the same reaction I’ve had for a long time. It’s a fabulous conference,” Benson said Thursday after the Pac-10 announced it would expand for the first time since 1978. “The schools in it are great. They’re the kind of schools we need to be around.”

The feeling is apparently mutual. Last July, the Pac-10 hired commissioner Larry Scott from the World Tennis Association with the charge of increasing revenue. Expansion became an obvious option, in order to build a mega-conference more valuable to TV networks, and Colorado is the first brick of what is expected to be a massive addition, possibly up to a Pac-16.

Colorado, which joined the Big Eight Conference in 1948 and was a member of the Big 12 since 1996, will begin Pac-10 play with the 2012 football season.

The Big 12 has a buyout clause that is expected to cost CU around $9 million to leave. That figure is uncertain due to the fact the entire Big 12 might be dissolved if other teams leave. Colorado couldn’t afford to pay football coach Dan Hawkins’ $3.1 million buyout last fall but Benson said the Big 12 buyout may be easier. The Pac-10 may also help with the financing.

“It’ll come out of the future revenue from a much better TV deal — if we have to pay it,” Benson said. “We’re not sure. What’s the Big 12 going to look like next week?”

While the rest of the country waited for Nebraska or Texas to make the first move in what is projected as a consolidation of super conferences, Colorado beat them both to the punch by working behind the scenes in recent days to secure its future. The next big move is expected today when Nebraska announces it’ll join the Big Ten.

“We’re thrilled that Colorado is joining us as a result of the exhaustive process we’ve been going through,” Scott said Thursday. “I can’t think of a better fit academically, as well as athletically. It’s a very exciting time.”

Who else will join Colorado in the Pac-10 isn’t known, but Benson isn’t worried. He wanted to make sure Colorado was in a proactive mode rather than being left behind.

Benson said the Pac-10 contacted him about 11 days ago. He had discussed the move internally with CU administrators since October and became more concerned in recent weeks with the buzz about the Big 12’s possible demise. He was on the phone with the Pac-10 until 10 p.m. Wednesday and finalized the deal Thursday morning.

“We worried about what the Texas schools might do,” Benson said. “We think it’s a great fit. We’re really excited.”

In Boulder, the winds of change have already left a positive vibe on campus and in the Dal Ward Center.

“I love it. I love it,” said Jashon Sykes, a Los Angeles native, a former Colorado linebacker and now the school’s coordinator of football relations. “I just think of it from an alumni standpoint, from a recruiting standpoint. I think it’s a great deal for CU. When you talk about recruiting, the bulk of our guys have always come from the West Coast. We can use that as a positive spin, recruiting wise, when we talk to kids’ families.”

CU wide receiver Scotty McKnight is a senior, so he won’t get to play in the new conference, but said the Buffs will love their new home.

“For recruiting, it could be huge,” McKnight said. “I know in Orange County, there’s a lot of Colorado supporters. The Buff Club is big there. When you’re from California, Colorado is a very attractive school to come to. I was looking at different schools, and the day I came up here there was snow on the ground and it was 80 degrees outside. I thought, ‘This is the place I want to be.”‘

Buff fans were excited Thursday, too, lighting up the message boards with congratulations.

“I’d be more inclined to go to a road game in California (than Big 12 cities),” said Matt Tavenner, founder of the CU fansite AllBuffs.com. “Now, there are better cities to travel to.”

CU athletic director Mike Bohn and football coach Dan Hawkins declined comment until a news conference today in Boulder to officially accept the invitation.

The Pac-10 is considering adding five more teams with the possible addition of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. If that happened, Colorado would likely would go into an eastern division with their former Big 12 rivals, along with Arizona and Arizona State.

Benson said CU would have joined the Pac-10 regardless of whether Nebraska moved to the Big Ten. As it turns out, the Pac-10 felt the same way about Colorado.

“We’ve been looking at Colorado for quite some time,” Scott said. “We felt, through a very exhausting and deliberate study, any (expansion) scenario would consider Colorado. It’s a great fit.”

The biggest driving force behind the move is money. Scott will soon go to Fox to negotiate a TV package he hopes will compare with that of the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. Both leagues guarantee their schools $20-22 million per year in TV revenue. Last month the Atlantic Coast Conference signed a $1.87 billion, 12-year deal, giving its 12 schools nearly $13 million.

Last year, Colorado received about $8 million in TV revenue from the Big 12. With half the Big 12 probably headed to the Pac-10, Benson saw the timing as right.

“It’s a significant increase of revenue,” Benson said. “Not the first day, but we’ll start building a media presence.”

As for who else the Pac-10 will go after, Scott said no other invitations have been issued and different conference models are being studied.

It’s clear Texas and its huge following, which translates to high TV ratings, is next on the Pac-10’s wish list. When Nebraska accepts an invitation from the Big Ten, the Pac-10 will likely go after the rest of the Big 12 South minus Baylor.

However, Texas and Texas A&M officials met Thursday to discuss their future together. The schools’ respective athletic directors, DeLoss Dodds and Bill Byrne, said at the Big 12 Spring Meetings last week they were reluctant to join a conference two time zones away.

The Southeastern Conference could be an option but moreso for Texas A&M than Texas. If the Pac-10 keeps the Texas schools in one division, their travel problems will be minimal.

Still, Scott said it’s possible the Pac-10 may only be a Pac-11 in 2012. He is holding off renaming the conference and deciding on a football championship game until membership is determined.

Staff writer Tom Kensler contributed to this report

John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.