Pac-12 Provides 4 Mountain West Groups For 2026-27 Season

The Pac-12 will add 4 Mountain West faculties — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State — to its convention for the 2026-27 tutorial yr, the faculties introduced Thursday.

Pac-12 growth contains Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State

The Pac-12 board of administrators unanimously accredited purposes from the 4 Mountain West faculties. The 4 schools are set to hitch Oregon State and Washington State, the convention’s two remaining faculties following the mass exodus final summer time.

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Convention has been acknowledged as a number one model in intercollegiate athletics,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould mentioned in a press release.

Good morning! It is a gorgeous new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u

— Pac-12 Convention (@pac12) September 12, 2024

“We are going to proceed to pursue daring cutting-edge alternatives for development and progress, to finest serve our member establishments and student-athletes.

“I’m grateful to our board for his or her efforts to welcome Boise State College, Colorado State College, California State College, Fresno, and San Diego State College to the convention. An thrilling new period for the Pac-12 Convention begins immediately.”

Mountain West Convention to obtain $111 million in exit charges

The Mountain West Convention is ready to obtain $111 million in exit charges on account of the departures. Mountain West bylaws require departing faculties to pay an exit payment of about $18 million with two years’ discover, in accordance with ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Pete Thamel.

The exit payment would climb to $36 million with one yr’s discover. The Pac-12 is anticipated to assist the faculties with the exit charges as a consequence of withheld media-rights distribution charges. These charges had been issued to departed members and different convention property.

Moreover, the Pac-12 will even must pay $43 million in poaching charges, as outlined within the scheduling settlement between the conferences this yr. That led to Oregon State and Washington State taking part in six Mountain West opponents.

“We’re ecstatic to be becoming a member of the Pac-12 Convention,” San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker mentioned. “[San Diego State] is grateful to be a founding member of the Mountain West with 26 years of success within the convention. We’re excited at what lies forward with these new alternatives.”

Pac-12 should add two extra faculties to succeed in the NCAA minimal requirement of eight packages

Moreover, the six members will collaborate to determine which faculties to focus on for additional growth. The convention nonetheless wants so as to add two extra faculties to succeed in the NCAA minimal requirement. In any other case, the league won’t be acknowledged as an official FBS convention.

This implies over the subsequent two years, the Pac-12 champion just isn’t eligible for an computerized qualifying spot. That is all as a result of it doesn’t meet the CFP’s conference-minimum requirement.

Beginning in 2026, the champion of the new-look Pac-12 would presumably be eligible to obtain an computerized bid. The convention is within the first yr of a two-year grace interval afforded by NCAA bylaws. In reality, it exists under the minimal within the case of exits.

In fact, it’s unclear what number of faculties the revamped convention expects to have by 2026. The American Athletic Convention has a number of packages that could possibly be interesting, together with Memphis and Tulane.