Pac-12 will move football championship game to new NFL stadium

The Pac-12 Conference, which has given home-field advantage to its regular-season football champion, will move the title game to neutral-site Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara starting next year.

The formal announcement will come at a Thursday news conference at the new 69,000-seat Bay Area stadium and future home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Larry Scott, in one of his first acts as commissioner after taking over to Tom Hansen, decided to award the title game to the Pac-12 school with the best record.

The first three title games were hosted by Oregon, Stanford and Arizona State -- with mixed results. Oregon and Arizona State drew well but the 2012 game between UCLA and Stanford drew only 33,000 in a 50,000-seat venue.

Some of the host schools complained it was difficult to prepare for the title game on short notice.

The Pac-12 had been the only major conference not to play in a neutral-site stadium. The Big 12, because it has only 10 members after losing two to the SEC, no longer plays a title game.