After facing near extinction, the Pac-12 is working to avoid disappearing by recruiting schools from the Mountain West.
On Thursday, the Pac-12 announced that it will add Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State in 2026, alongside Oregon State and Washington State, forming a new Conference of Champions.
These additions will take four prominent and successful football programs from the Mountain West, especially Boise State. However, the Pac-12 will still need two more schools to reach the eight required by the NCAA to be recognized as a conference, so further changes are likely.
The Pac-12 and the schools leaving the Mountain West will probably face around $110 million in exit fees and penalties.
This move marks a significant recovery for a conference that seemed doomed a year ago when 10 of its members left for other conferences after failing to secure a lucrative media rights deal that schools like Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Stanford had hoped would keep them competitive.
“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” said Commissioner Teresa Gould in a statement.
“We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”
The Pac-12 said it used five criteria to evaluate potential new members: academic and athletic performance, media and brand evaluation, commitment to athletic success, geography and logistics, and culture and student-athlete welfare.