The Pac-12 is on the cusp of poaching four Mountain West schools to join Oregon State and Washington State in an effort to preserve the league, according to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello. Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State are the Mountain West schools expected to apply for membership into the conference. An announcement could come as soon as Thursday.
Those four schools represent arguably the top brands in the legacy Mountain West and schools that have been considered for power conference membership in the past. If the four schools move by the 2026 season, the Pac-12 will only need to add two more programs to reach the minimum eight schools to be an FBS conference.
Ten of the 12 legacy Pac-12 schools officially left the conference in 2024 as the existing grant of rights expired. Four schools went to the Big Ten (USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington), four to the Big 12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) and two to the ACC (Stanford and Cal), leaving Oregon State and Washington State without a long-term home. The pair will compete as de facto FBS Independents over the next two years and are ineligible for an auto-bid to the College Football Playoff.
However, the legal status means that the two Pac-12 schools still had a massive war chest of $250 million in resources available to them, primarily payouts like NCAA Tournament units and existing contracts. According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, buying out four schools from the Mountain West in a one-year period would cost approximately $187 million. The Pac-12’s existing resources could be leveraged to help offset that difference.
The long-term goal of the expansion would be to rebuild the Pac-12 as a power-level conference. The league continues to legally possess “autonomy five” status and would conceivably retain it in a new form. The next step for the league would be finding two additional schools to close out the league, especially ones that could match or exceed the quality of the six schools.
Presumably, Stanford and California would certainly be courted, though it’s unclear whether the schools could get out of agreements with the ACC. Other top Group of Five teams from across the country could also get into the mix. However, the biggest question mark will be finding a lucrative television partner that can provide power-level money, the original conflict that killed the legacy Pac-12.
Within the last week, the Mountain West and Pac-12 opted not to extend a scheduling partnership through the 2025 season. According to multiple reports, the Pac-12 hoped to lessen the payout to the Mountain West to keep the schedule going. Both Pac-12 schools still must fill nearly half a schedule. If the expansion plans go through, the schools will be in much better shape heading into 2026.