Sources - Boise State among four schools set to join Pac-12 - ESPN
Sources - Boise State among four schools set to join Pac-12 - ESPN
Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Fresno State will join the Pac-12 in the 2026-27 academic year, they announced Thursday.
The other three schools are Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State. Reports of the Pac-12's demise were greatly exaggerated.
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So, it's 6-Pac now?
I wonder if they'll eventually absorb all of MWC.
Reports are that they need at least 2 more members to stay as a conference. My guess is they want to find 2 more schools that can tide them over. Then, when the MWC is up for tv rights, and there isn't a huge buyout to leave, then the Pac8 can grab what they want. Which ones would they want? I have no idea, I would be guessing at random.
I think it is clear that the 4 teams that left were wanted by the Pac2, even if it took a chunk of cash to break contracts and get them there.
Who could the other 2 teams be to get the conference to 8? I have no idea. Ignoring any Mountain West schools, I don't know who you would go after. There is probably a discussion with North Dakota State and South Dakota State, but I think they would rather stay in the dominate role of FCS. Then you start looking at all the other names that get thrown around. UTEP, Memphis, Tulane, USF, Uconn. I'm sure there are others, I can't think of any as I quickly type this. Regardless, these are all huge travel distances, and I don't think any give a significant boost to the conference.
It is really a shame, because it feels like if Stanford/Cal were still in with these other 6, it would be a solid 5th place conference. A step behind the BigXII, but a step above the best G5. It probably wouldn't, but if you could get to an auto-qualifying bid into the conference, that would be worth it to everyone involved.
It is still a shame. The Pac 12 dissolving was bad for everyone. The one bright spot was that I felt the MWC and Pac 12 merging would be beneficial to everyone. It just made too much sense. The problem is, these big decisions aren't made on a conference or national level. They are made by the individual schools each trying to look out for themselves.
I don't think the MWC would take too kindly, they seemed to want to strong arm the PAC during the last round. And honestly the PAC is in no position to make demands. The real question is does the MWC have the strength and brand identity to hold it's ground, or does the gravity of the PAC pull a large swath of the MWC in?
The MWC has been proposing a reverse merger all along, but now W/OSU is paying a LOT of money to avoid taking any other MWC schools. They might hold their nose and poach 2 more to get to 8 if AAC schools push back, but IMHO they're looking east.