By Brett Daniels
Conference realignment has always had a certain level of unpredictability with schools eschewing geographic or traditional rivalries in pursuit of money but the latest round of expansion by the Pac-12 has a certain level of…. desperation.
Trying to Get to Eight
The NCAA requires conferences to have a minimum of eight members that field 12 Division 1 sports to include football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball at a minimum. After the mass exodus of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to the Big 10, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado to the Big 12, and Stanford and California to the ACC, Washington State and Oregon State were left holding the proverbial bag.
The Cougars and Beavers managed to cobble together a temporary agreement with the Mountain West Conference for scheduling this season with the expectation that the two schools would most likely join as full-time members soon. Instead, the two remaining Pac-12 schools decided to raid the Mountain West and added Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Diego State, and Utah State as members effective July 1, 2026. UNLV had initially also agreed to leave the Mountain West along with Air Force leaving for the AAC which would have decimated the conference.
Not So Fast My Friend
As of September 26, the seven remaining Mountain West schools, to include UNLV and Air Force have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would bind the schools together with a Grant of Rights agreement until 2032. UNLV and Air Force were incentivized to remain in the conference by guarantees of $20 million dollar payouts from the exit fees of the schools leaving for the Pac-12. While this move ensures the survivability of the seven conference members, the Mountain West still needs to add two more teams to reach the NCAA threshold of 8 teams (Note: Hawai’i is a partial member of the conference so the MWC must add two teams as full members to reach the NCAA threshold of 8 teams).
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) September 26, 2024
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Last Call
The scramble to get to eight teams (or more) for the Pac-12 has led to the conference reaching out to schools that aren’t anywhere near the Pacific Ocean or time zone. Memphis, Tulane, and South Florida were all rumored to be considering a move but have reaffirmed their commitment to the AAC in recent days. Texas State and UTSA have also been rumored to be in play for the Pac-12 as has Gonzaga as a basketball only member. New Mexico and Wyoming are further down the list of desirable schools but may end up getting invited out of desperation.
Hindsight is 20/20
When the Pac-12 broke apart Oregon State and Washington State were left behind, it was due to “smaller media markets, recent athletic performance, and leadership and strategic vision”, which is a nicer way of saying that the “cool kids” didn’t invite them to the party. What probably should have happened from a self-preservation standpoint would be the Big 12 absorbing the Cougars and Beavers and killing the Pac-12 once and for all. Instead, these two schools were left to fend for themselves and have continued the process of upsetting the proverbial apple cart of conference alignment. Whatever ends up happening with the Pac-12 and Mountain West, it won’t be the last round of teams moving conferences in search of stability and a larger payday.
