The dramatic conference realignment tug-of-war between the Pac-12 and Mountain West was ongoing and volatile Monday night. After four American Athletic Conference schools announced Monday they would stay with the league following a strong push from the six-member Pac-12, sources briefed on the situation said. Athletic Utah State has agreed to become the fifth Mountain West member to join the Pac-12, bringing the restructured league that began in September with seven members up to two schools by 2026.
But neither the Mountain West nor the Pac-12 can remain seven members for long, and must return to at least eight schools beyond 2026 to be recognized as an NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision conference.
The Mountain West worked over the weekend to secure its eight remaining members with each other through rights or other financial deals, with more than $111 million in exit fees and predatory fees coming to the league from the Pac-12. The Air Force, receiving interest from the AAC and Pak-12s, was committed to sticking with West Hill. Other Mountain West schools began to follow suit.
But Utah State didn’t. Instead, the Aggies chose to move forward with the Pac-12, taking a chance and taking it, putting the two conferences at seven as discussions continued late into the night.
After AAC schools Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA spurned the league due to concerns about Pac-12 projections, travel and the AAC’s own large exit fees, all eyes are now on UNLV, a top Pac-12 target. UNLV sits in the same university system as Nevada, and opinions are mixed on how disruptive it would be to separate the two. Air Force could also play for the Pac-12 or AAC again after Utah State unexpectedly blew the MW contract.
The Pac-12 and Gonzaga have been in discussions about the Bulldogs joining the league, but an agreement or announcement is not imminent, PEOPLE explained. Athletic. Gonzaga will not count on the eight football-playing members needed through 2026.
The Pac-12, which has two members Oregon State and Washington State, could have added all 12 Mountain West schools at no cost based on the conference’s scheduling agreement signed last year. But the relationship between the leagues took a turn for the worse as the 2025 schedule could not be agreed by September 1 this year. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State then jumped to the Pac-12, away from less-invested schools in the Mountain West, hoping the momentum would create a new conference. Shakti 4 schools.
But the big push didn’t come to the East, and now the Pac-12 is looking toward more Mountain West schools that aren’t in its Plan A. There were some hard feelings between the Mountain West schools after the opening four deficits. Weeks ago, blindly to others. One of the reasons the remaining eight hoped to stay together was to stick it out with them by getting millions of dollars in exit fees or being called a group. But Utah State’s move could shatter that hope.
Adding Utah State increases the Pac-12’s hunting fee to the Mountain West by $55 million, while adding another Mountain West school would raise it to $67.5 million, on top of the $18 million that each departing Mountain West school must pay in exit fees. . It would cost nearly $150 million to rebuild the same league they already had.
That is, if there is still a mountain west at the end of this. Mountain West rules require the agreement of two-thirds of the league’s membership to disband the conference, another quasi-affiliation possibility that would free schools leaving the league from paying fees, and some schools down the stretch would find something else. The Mountain West has discussed possible additions like UTEP, but nothing will happen until its own membership is secured.
This isn’t the first time the state of Utah has been part of a plan to disrupt the Mountain West. In 2010, Utah State helped WAC lead “The Project,” which would have seen BYU leave the Mountain West and join the WAC in non-football sports, with more Mountain West schools following suit. (The Mountain West was formed as a split from the WAC in 1998.) Instead, commissioner Craig Thompson convinced Fresno State and Nevada to join the Mountain West, setting in motion the events that ended the WAC’s run as an FBS conference. Utah State eventually joined the Mountain West in 2013.
Utah State was an unexpected stumbling block this time around. Now, everyone is playing the numbers game and the options are dwindling. All for a league that isn’t projected to make more money than the current Mountain West. A day of action that stunned industry watchers. But conference realignment amid an uncertain future for college sports has turned everyone and everything into a pessimistic sport for fear of being left behind in some form. Further discussions and possible decisions are expected on Tuesday.
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