The Pac-12 will add four Mountain West schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State — to its conference for the 2026-27 academic year, the schools announced Thursday.
Pac-12 expansion includes Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State
The Pac-12 board of directors unanimously approved applications from the four Mountain West schools. The four colleges are set to join Oregon State and Washington State, the conference’s two remaining schools following the mass exodus last summer.
“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement.
Good morning! It’s a beautiful new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 12, 2024
“We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes.
“I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”
Mountain West Conference to receive $111 million in exit fees
The Mountain West Conference is set to receive $111 million in exit fees as a result of the departures. Mountain West bylaws require departing schools to pay an exit fee of about $18 million with two years’ notice, according to ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Pete Thamel.
The exit fee would climb to $36 million with one year’s notice. The Pac-12 is expected to help the schools with the exit fees due to withheld media-rights distribution fees. Those fees were issued to departed members and other conference assets.
Additionally, the Pac-12 will also have to pay $43 million in poaching fees, as outlined in the scheduling agreement between the conferences this year. That led to Oregon State and Washington State playing six Mountain West opponents.
“We are ecstatic to be joining the Pac-12 Conference,” San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker said. “[San Diego State] is grateful to be a founding member of the Mountain West with 26 years of success in the conference. We are excited at what lies ahead with these new opportunities.”
Pac-12 must add two more schools to reach the NCAA minimum requirement of eight programs
Furthermore, the six members will collaborate to decide which schools to target for further expansion. The conference still needs to add two more schools to reach the NCAA minimum requirement. Otherwise, the league will not be recognized as an official FBS conference.
This means over the next two years, the Pac-12 champion is not eligible for an automatic qualifying spot. This is all because it does not meet the CFP’s conference-minimum requirement.
Starting in 2026, the champion of the new-look Pac-12 would presumably be eligible to receive an automatic bid. The conference is in the first year of a two-year grace period afforded by NCAA bylaws. In fact, it exists below the minimum in the case of departures.
Of course, it is unclear how many schools the revamped conference expects to have by 2026. The American Athletic Conference has multiple programs that could be appealing, including Memphis and Tulane.
