The dramatic conference realignment tug-of-war between the Pac-12 and Mountain West remained ongoing and unstable late Monday night. After four American Athletic Conference schools announced Monday they would remain with the league following a strong push from the six-member Pac-12, sources briefed on the situation told The Athletic that Utah State agreed to become the fifth Mountain West member to join the Pac-12, bringing the reconstructed league that began September with just two schools up to seven members by 2026.
But neither the Mountain West nor the Pac-12 can remain at seven members long-term and would need to return to at least eight schools to remain recognized as an NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision conference beyond 2026.
The Mountain West spent the weekend working to get its eight remaining members committed to each other through a grant of rights or other financial agreements, with more than $111 million in exit fees and poaching fees set to come the league’s way from the Pac-12. Air Force, which was receiving interest from the AAC and the Pac-12, committed to stick with the Mountain West. Other Mountain West schools began to do the same.
But Utah State didn’t. Instead, the Aggies opted to move forward with the Pac-12, got an offer and accepted it, putting both conferences at seven as discussions continued late into the night.
All eyes are now on UNLV, which was a top target for the Pac-12 after AAC schools Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA turned the league down over concerns over Pac-12 projections, travel and the AAC’s own large exit fees. UNLV sits in the same university system as Nevada, and opinions are mixed on how much of a hurdle splitting the two could be. Air Force, too, could end up back in play for the Pac-12 or the AAC after Utah State unexpectedly blew up the MW agreement.
The Pac-12 and Gonzaga have been in discussions about the Bulldogs joining the league, but an agreement or announcement is not imminent, people briefed on the situation told The Athletic. Gonzaga would not count toward the eight football-playing members required by 2026.
The two-member Pac-12 of Oregon State and Washington State could have added all 12 Mountain West schools at no cost, based on a scheduling agreement the conferences signed last year. But the relationship between the leagues turned sour when they couldn’t agree on a 2025 schedule by Sept. 1 of this year. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State then jumped to the Pac-12, looking to get away from the lowest-investing schools in the Mountain West and hoping the momentum would create a new conference comprising the best of the non-Power 4 schools.
But the big push east didn’t pan out, and now the Pac-12 is looking toward more Mountain West schools it didn’t have in its Plan A. There have been some hard feelings between Mountain West schools after the initial four defected two weeks ago, blindsiding the others. One reason the remaining eight hoped to stay together was to stick it to them, either through receiving the tens of millions of dollars in exit fees or to get invited in as a group. But Utah State’s move may torpedo those hopes.
Adding Utah State increases the Pac-12’s poaching fees owed to the Mountain West to $55 million, while adding another Mountain West school would raise that again to $67.5 million, on top of the about $18 million owed by each departing Mountain West school in exit fees. That’s nearly $150 million to recreate almost the exact same league they were just in.
That is, if there is still a Mountain West at the end of this. Per Mountain West rules, an agreement by two-thirds of the league’s members would be needed to dissolve the conference, another semi-merger possibility that could get rid of any fees owed by schools exiting the league, leaving the bottom few schools to find something else. The Mountain West has discussed potential additions, like UTEP, but nothing will happen until its own membership is secured.
This is not the first time Utah State was part of a plan to destabilize the Mountain West. In 2010, Utah State helped the WAC lead “The Project,” which would have seen BYU leave the Mountain West to join the WAC in non-football sports and have more Mountain West schools follow. (The Mountain West itself formed as a breakaway from the WAC in 1998.) Instead, commissioner Craig Thompson convinced Fresno State and Nevada to join the Mountain West, which started the events that ended the WAC’s run as an FBS conference. Utah State eventually joined the Mountain West in 2013.
Utah State was the unexpected disrupter this time, too. Now, everyone is playing a numbers game with options dwindling. All for a league that is not projected to make much more money than the current Mountain West. It was a day of action that baffled industry observers. But conference realignment amid an uncertain future for college sports has turned everyone and everything into a desperate play, for fear of being left behind in some form. More discussions, and potentially decisions, are expected Tuesday.
(Photo: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)
Chris Vannini covers national college football issues and the coaching carousel for The Athletic. A co-winner of the FWAA’s Beat Writer of the Year Award in 2018, he previously was managing editor of CoachingSearch.com. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisVannini
