After being decimated by realignment, the Pac-12 began its rebuild by signing 4 faculties from the Mountain West Convention.
Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State will be a part of the convention in 2026, the Pac-12 introduced Thursday. They’ll formally turn into members on July 1, 2026, and start competing within the Pac-12 within the 2026-27 tutorial yr.
The Pac-12 was worn out by convention realignment, with solely Oregon State and Washington State remaining. Issues began when USC and UCLA have been authorized as Huge Ten members in 2022, and the dominoes continued to fall final yr when Stanford and Cal made the transfer to the ACC and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah headed to the Huge 12. All of these strikes will turn into efficient this season.
Left with few choices, NCAA convention bylaws offered the Pac-12 a two-year grace interval to get again as much as a minimal of eight members. Now as much as six faculties by 2026, the Pac-12 will intention to push for not less than two extra—maybe on a faster timeline—to achieve the minimal quantity. A number of studies point out different Mountain West faculties can be the popular goal.
“For over a century, the Pac-12 Convention has been acknowledged as a number one model in intercollegiate athletics,” Commissioner Teresa Gould mentioned.
“We are going to proceed to pursue daring cutting-edge alternatives for development and progress, to greatest serve our member establishments and student-athletes. I’m grateful to our board for his or her efforts to welcome Boise State College, Colorado State College, California State College, Fresno, and San Diego State College to the convention. An thrilling new period for the Pac-12 Convention begins at this time.”
Good morning! It’s a fantastic new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Convention (@pac12) September 12, 2024
Every college shall be required to pay a $17 million exit charge for a deliberate transfer greater than a yr advance, based on The Athletic, and the soccer scheduling settlement between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West signed final yr requires an extra fee totaling round $43 million for including 4 faculties.
Nonetheless, the Pac-12 has deep pockets within the aftermath of shedding 10 faculties, someplace within the “excessive tens of tens of millions” vary, which shall be used to cowl not less than among the $111 million owed in Mountain West exit charges.
Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez issued the next assertion on shedding 4 faculties:
Assertion from Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez on the potential for shedding 4 members: pic.twitter.com/eLIRl7hH34
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 12, 2024
Regardless of the addition of 4 faculties, three of which sponsor a girls’s swimming & diving program, the prospect of a future Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championship meet stays to be seen.
San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State sponsor girls’s swimming & diving.
With no opponents within the Pac-12, the Washington State girls’s group is scheduled to compete on the Mountain West Convention Championships this yr, and there’ll possible should be extra swimming & diving faculties be a part of the Pac-12 to ensure that the convention championships to be revived.
The ACC-bound Cal girls and Huge 12-bound Arizona State males received the 2024 Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championship titles, whereas San Diego State received its third straight Mountain West girls’s title final season, with Colorado State third and Fresno State 4th out of 9 groups.
