After their conference was gutted by conference realignment earlier in 2024, the Pac-12 is adding four Mountain West schools to join Oregon State and Washington State in the conference, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network. Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State and Fresno State are all joining the Pac-12 in 2026.
“Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ,” McMurphy reported on X, formerly Twitter on Wednesday night. “Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.”
McMurphy also reported that the Mountain West will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees as a result of the realignment, including $43 million from the Pac-12 due to a scheduling agreement between the two conferences. After the news was reported on Wednesday night, it ended up becoming official on Thursday morning.
The Pac-12 lost 10 of its 12 schools prior to the 2024-25 football season after major conference realignment plans took effect. Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State left for the Big 12. Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC left for the Big Ten and Cal and Stanford departed for the ACC. That left just Washington State and Oregon State in a major gray area in 2024-25.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West came to a scheduling agreement that would allow Washington State and Oregon State to play Mountain West teams in order to fill out their football schedules while the conference decided on a direction.
Now, that direction is clear. The Pac-12 has begun poaching from the Mountain West to rebuild their conference and try to re-enter the discussion as one of the power conferences in college sports. Commissioner Teresa Gould will still need to find at least two more teams (although there will surely be more) to fill out the renewed version of the league, but this move represents a major domino falling in the process of rebuilding the conference.
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