Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State target for Pac-12 expansion: Sources

The two-member Pac-12 is aiming to rebuild, starting with four Mountain West schools.

Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State are expected to apply for membership and an announcement could come as soon as Thursday, multiple people with knowledge of the situation said. athletic. Yahoo Sports first reported the move.

After conference realignment gutted the Pac-12 and left it with just Oregon State and Washington State, the league had few options. NCAA bylaws provide conferences with a two-year grace period to return to a minimum of eight members. Those four additions could get the league up to six for the 2026 season, and that move could quickly grow to eight or more with the potential addition of more Mountain West schools.

Source: Pac-12 targeting Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State for expansion. An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow, @TheAthletic learned

Reconstruction is underway. @RossDelanger First report.

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 12, 2024

This would be an expensive move. For one, each school must pay a $17 million exit fee for vacations planned more than a year in advance. In addition, the Pac-12/Mountain West football scheduling agreement signed last year would require additional payments totaling $43 million to add four schools. If the Pac-12 absorbs all 12 schools, no fee will be charged to the contract.

But the Pac-12 has a war chest worth millions of dollars high from the departures of at least 10 former schools and settlement agreements between the sides. It will likely be used to cover at least some of the $111 million total through Mountain West exit fees.

As for the four Mountain West schools expected to leave, they will be joining a 108-year-old conference with a history, brand and intellectual property it believes is still valuable. The timing is fortuitous, as the Mountain West's TV deal runs through 2026 and it is believed that they would make more TV money in a rebuilt Pac-12 without the lowest-valued Mountain West schools. Mountain West schools currently generate about $6 million per school year through their TV contracts, the second-most among the Group of 5 leagues.

The relationship between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West has been very frosty in recent months, as such athletic reported Their efforts to extend the 2024 football schedule to 2025 fell apart, with money being the main sticking point. The Mountain West as a league felt it had leverage in the negotiations. Instead, the Pac-12 appears to have been able to convince the Mountain West's most prized schools to jump ship, should the move be final.

Those four schools are considered the biggest and most important targets for the Pac-12, with future additions to be ruled out after building a core. The rebuilt league could remain regional with more Mountain West additions, or try to expand nationally with teams from other Group of 5 conferences. On the other side of the country, Stanford and Cal are tied to the ACC, and Florida State and Clemson's lawsuits with the league show it's hard to get out of (even if Stanford and Cal want to). But Oregon State and Washington State have long been eyeing the ACC in case it starts to fall apart.

It may not be a coincidence that the Pac-12 expects to make the moves official this week. Oregon State hosts Oregon on Saturday with a game in Fox, while Washington State and Washington play each other in Peacock. With the biggest spotlight of the season on the two remaining schools for their rivalry games, the conversation may now shift to a more positive narrative as the rebuilding begins, perhaps at the mercy of the country lagging behind in the rebuild.

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