It took a few days longer than West Virginia fans wanted.

But, it’s official: West Virginia will join the Big 12 Conference as a full conference member effective July 1, 2012 after the Big 12 Board of Directors voted unanimously to accept West Virginia, according to a release from the University. The Mountaineers will begin playing in the Big 12 for the 2012-13 season.

“The Big 12 is a perfect fit for West Virginia University,” said WVU President James P. Clements. “It is a strong conference that, like WVU, values quality academic and athletic programs, and has a great tradition of success. This is a very exciting time for WVU and Mountaineer nation. I am confident that the future of WVU athletics has never been more promising.”

West Virginia will be required to pay a $5 million exit fee to the Big East. Multiple news outlets reported Friday that West Virginia had already send the conference the first installment of $2.5 million.

The Big 12 does not offer rife or men’s soccer.

Conference USA is a plausible landing place for the Mountaineers’ men’s soccer team. While Conference USA would not say whether or not WVU has applied for membership, it did say there was a structure in place.

“We would accept bids and a bid would be submitted. It would be a vote done by our membership. That bid can be accepted by us, but the final vote would be done by our membership,” said Courtney Morrison-Archer, assistant commissioner for public affairs. “We do have the structure to put that process in motion. We currently have three affiliated members in men’s soccer (South Carolina, Kentucky and Florida International).”

It appeared the Mountaineers would become the Big 12’s 10th member on Tuesday. This came after multiple media outlets reported Big 12 officials would be in Morgantown on Wednesday to officially announce the move.

However, the press conference was never held, and reports swirled late Wednesday night about Louisville being considered as the Big 12’s possible 10th member and not West Virginia.

Beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 Conference will be comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

The closest member institution to Morgantown is Iowa State which is 871 miles away, while the furthest is Texas Tech which is 1,472 miles away.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that the move does not come as a surprise for the league, but said the 27-month notification period will be in effect, contrary to the University’s release.

“League officials, members of our conference and the candidate schools to whom we have been talking were aware of this possibility. We have taken West Virginia’s possible departure into account as we have moved forward with our own realignment plans,” he said. “West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference. We are confident that in the coming weeks we will complete our own realignment program, adding a number of high-quality members to remain among the top conferences in both football and basketball.”

Big East members Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced earlier this fall they would be leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference, but will not leave until their 27-month waiting period is over.

West Virginia is the second team to join the Big 12 in recent weeks, after TCU left the Big East for the Big 12.

It was reported Tuesday that West Virginia would hold a press conference with Big 12 officials to announce the Mountaineers as a new member, but later reports surfaced the Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell made a last-minute pitch for Louisville to halt West Virginia’s invitation.

“It’s a terrific day for West Virginia and for college football writ large – the merits won out and WVU is back in the Big 12,” said West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller in a statement. “The Big 12 picked WVU earlier this week because of its first-rate football program, its stand-out athletes, and its fine university, academics and fans. The intervening days have been troubling, most especially the reports of an eleventh-hour political intervention to undermine the first, merits-based decision. Those reports prompted me to get involved, too – to push everyone to get back to the merits. It is encouraging that the Big 12 stuck to its guns and is following through on its commitment to add WVU to the conference.”