Pac-12 poaches Mountain West schools to join Oregon State, Washington State as conference rebuilds

The Pac-12 is poaching four Mountain West schools to stand alongside Oregon State and Washington State in an effort to preserve the league. Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State applied for Pac-12 membership and all have been accepted, the conference announced on Thursday. The foursome will officially become Pac-12 members on July 1, 2026. 

Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State represent arguably the top brands in the legacy Mountain West; all four schools have been considered for power-conference membership in the past. With the four moving ahead of the 2026 season, the Pac-12 now only needs to add two more programs to reach the NCAA’s eight-school threshold to be considered an FBS conference. 

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said 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. I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference.  An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”

Ten of the 12 legacy Pac-12 programs left the conference in 2024 as the league’s grant of rights expired. Four schools went to the Big Ten (Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington), four to the Big 12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah) and two to the ACC (California, Stanford), leaving the statuses of Oregon State and Washington State up in the air.

The pair, which won the rights to the Pac-12 and its remaining finances in a legal battle, are competing as de facto FBS Independents over the next two seasons while standing ineligible for automatic bids to the College Football Playoff. However, the two remaining Pac-12 programs do hold a massive war chest with $250 million in resources available, primarily payouts from NCAA Tournament units and existing media rights contracts.

Buying out four schools from the Mountain West in a one-year period will cost approximately $113 million, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. The Pac-12’s existing resources could be leveraged to help offset that difference. 

“The Mountain West Conference is aware of media reports regarding the potential departure of several of our members, and we will have more to say in the days ahead,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement to CBS Sports. “All members will be held to the conference bylaws and policies should they elect to depart. The requirements of the scheduling agreement will apply to the Pac-12 should they admit Mountain West members. Our Board of Directors is meeting to determine our next steps. The Mountain West has a proud 25-year history and will continue to thrive in the years ahead.”

The long-term goal of expansion is an attempted rebuild of the Pac-12 as a power-level league. The next step will be finding at least two additional programs that match or exceed the quality of the six members to reach the NCAA minimum for FBS conference consideration. Stanford and Cal are locked into an ironclad ACC grant of rights through the 2036 season, meaning they will not be candidates. Instead, other top Group of Five teams from across the country will be courted. 

Finding a lucrative television partner willing to provide power-level money will be key as that was the original conflict that killed the legacy Pac-12.

Within the last week, Oregon State, Washington State and the Mountain West opted not to extend a scheduling partnership through the 2025 season. The Pac-12 teams hoped to lessen their payout to the Mountain West to keep the agreement going, according to multiple reports.