On Sept. 12 the Pac-12 conference announced they will be adding four teams from the Mountain West conference: Fresno State, Colorado State, Boise State and San Diego State. They will be an official member prior to the 2026-2027 athletic season on July 1, 2026.
“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. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes.”
This move comes after 10 of the 12 teams this season left the Pac-12 to move to the Big 12, the ACC and the Big 10 conference in one of the biggest conference shifts in recent history. This left the Pac-12 with only Oregon State and Washington State as members.
This will be the first time these teams will be playing in a Power Five conference in the entirety of the schools’ history.
In a school-wide email, President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval of Fresno State is honored and says it is a testament to their growing prominence and competitive prowess.
“Fresno State has been officially invited to join the prestigious Pac-12 conference…This milestone reflects the strength of Bulldog athletics,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.
Despite celebratory messages, according to the Mountain West bylaws, the four schools will have to pay Mountain West an exit fee of $18 million each with a two year notice. In addition to the fees, the teams will also lose out on payouts, which equal to about $7-8 million annually.
The Pac-12 will also be forced to pay some money to the Mountain West due to their scheduling agreement signed last year. This requires the Pac-12 to pay around $43 million, according to the Mountain West bylaws.
Fees aside, both the Pac-12 and Mountain West still have some work to be done in order to keep both of their conferences alive.
According to NCAA rules, to be recognized as a conference you need to have eight members who follow and meet the requirements of the NCAA.
The Pac-12 was given a two year grace period to acquire six more teams following the majority of their conference leaving this season; they will still need to find two or more teams to agree to join their conference.
Now that the conference is in year one of two of their grace period, the six members of the Pac-12 will decide on what teams to target and recruit to their team.
Following the departure of the four schools, the Mountain West will also need to find more schools to join their conference to be recognized by the NCAA.
In the past, there have been rumors about expanding and adding Gonzaga University to the conference as a non-football school but nothing has come of it.
It is unclear where both of the conferences will end up heading into the 2026-2027 athletic and academic year.
