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 educational 12 months, the faculties introduced Thursday.
Pac-12 growth consists of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State
The Pac-12 board of administrators unanimously accepted purposes from the 4 Mountain West faculties. The 4 schools are set to affix Oregon State and Washington State, the convention’s two remaining faculties following the mass exodus final summer season.
“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 an announcement.
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 progress 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 at the moment.”
Mountain West Convention to obtain $111 million in exit charges
The Mountain West Convention is about to obtain $111 million in exit charges because of the departures. Mountain West bylaws require departing faculties to pay an exit charge of about $18 million with two years’ discover, in accordance with ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Pete Thamel.
The exit charge would climb to $36 million with one 12 months’s discover. The Pac-12 is predicted to assist the faculties with the exit charges as a result of withheld media-rights distribution charges. These charges have been issued to departed members and different convention property.
Moreover, the Pac-12 may also should pay $43 million in poaching charges, as outlined within the scheduling settlement between the conferences this 12 months. 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 achieve the NCAA minimal requirement of eight applications
Moreover, the six members will collaborate to resolve which faculties to focus on for additional growth. The convention nonetheless wants so as to add two extra faculties to achieve the NCAA minimal requirement. In any other case, the league won’t be acknowledged as an official FBS convention.
This implies over the following two years, the Pac-12 champion will not be eligible for an automated 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 automated bid. The convention is within the first 12 months of a two-year grace interval afforded by NCAA bylaws. In truth, it exists beneath 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 applications that may very well be interesting, together with Memphis and Tulane.
