The Pac-12 imploded last year and was left with just two schools, but the conference has officially begun a rebuild.
On Thursday, the Pac-12 announced the addition of four new schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. The four new members, which are all currently part of the Mountain West Conference, will join Washington State and Oregon State in the Pac-12 in 2026.
Good morning! It's a beautiful new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 12, 2024
A total of 10 schools have left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. Conferences must have at least eight members to qualify as an FBS conference, and the NCAA allows a two-year grace period for a conference to get back to that number after schools leave. With Thursday’s announcement, the Pac-12 is now officially at six members, meaning they will need to add two more schools at some point prior to July 2026.
As Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported on Wednesday, each Mountain West school must pay a $17 million exit fee. The Pac-12 must also pay an additional $10-12 million penalty fee for each school they acquire from the Mountain West, which is an arrangement the two conferences agreed to when they entered a scheduling agreement.
There had been talk of a merger between the Pac-12 and Mountain West, but both are going to remain independent conferences. As long as more schools don’t leave, the Mountain West will still have eight members — San Jose State, UNLV, Hawaii, Utah State, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Air Force — even after Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State leave. If the Pac-12 acquires two more members of the Mountain West in order to get to eight teams, the Mountain West will then have to somehow add two schools to maintain FBS status.
