The Mountain West has come under siege over the last month. The 12-team league was gutted down to as few as six full-member programs after being raided by the PAC-12 to rebuild their conference. This comes when conference realignment continues to slide downhill, impacting universities and the whole conference from decision-making from the top.
We’ll update you on what has been happening with the Mountain West and the lasting impact this will have on the PAC-12.
So how did we get here? Well, the seeds for this were set back in 2022 when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the PAC-12. This was the catalyst that ultimately led to the PAC-12 collapsing. The top conference members left for warmer waters, while the remaining programs found life rafts from other power conferences like the ACC and Big12. This ultimately left two teams stranded in a dying conference, afloat in the sea of college athletics with no one to compete against. Oregon State and Washington State were frankly up a creek without a paddle and had few options. Fortunately, for the two castaways they found a brief bit of salvation when the Mountain West agreed to include them in their 2024 athletic schedule.
However, this life preserver did have some strings attached. The Mountain West asked for $14 million to schedule their 2024 season with the remaining PAC-12. With few options, the PAC-12 accepted and saved their 2024 athletic calendar from disaster. From this point, everything went quiet for about a year, with rumors here and there about the PAC-12 merging into the Mountain West. However, those rumors appeared to be one-sided, as the PAC-12 remained firm in their stance of rebuilding over merging with the Mountain West.
In many ways, a merge did make sense. It would have clearly elevated the Mountain West into the best conference outside of the Power 4. They may have even managed to secure an auto bid for the conference winner to the college football playoffs. However, that dream of merging fell to pieces in early September.
Four Mountain West teams announced their intent to join the PAC-12: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State. They all committed to joining the PAC-12 in a bid to reform it into a power conference. Utah State joined later in the month, and Gonzaga joined as well. This sent shockwaves throughout the Mountain West, which lost three of its top teams.
The Mountain West expected this, as they knew the PAC-12 intended to rebuild, and as the nears geographic conference, poaching the MW was logical. So, the MW had attempted to encourage a merge or at least make it more tempting. They first increased the rate to schedule the 2025 against the MW to $30 million, doubling the 2024 amount and working simultaneously to try to flip one of the PAC-12 members into joining to force the other. Ultimately, neither tactic worked, leading to the departure of the MW teams.
The PAC-12 could only pull off the heist of MW teams because of a war chest of cash left by the departing PAC-12 members in 2023-24. This set the PAC-12 with a bankroll of between $200 and $250 million. This allowed them to pay for the exit fees of the departing MW universities. Setting up the MW nicely with about $100 million in exit fees already and potentially $55 million more in poaching fees. These poaching fees are in limbo at the moment, though, due to a lawsuit. Regardless, the MW has used these exit fees to keep their current members loyal and brought in UTEP to up their member count to 7 full-members. Ongoing talks with Hawaii may lead to it becoming a full member instead of just a football-only member. Ultimately, the MW needs at least eight full-member universities to retain their conference status.
The conference's news has been quiet lately as the dust settles from tumultuous September. We’re waiting to see what their next move is. The addition of UTEP has made the situation far less dire. With plenty of time, the conference is weighing its options for new members and dealing with an ongoing lawsuit with the PAC-12.
As mentioned above, the most recent news has been about Hawaii. As a football-only school, they currently don’t count towards the conference status. As the easiest option to bring the conference back to 8 full members, we expect to see them brought in as full members soon.
Tarleton State has been another name floating around the MW sphere. Currently, they are only an FCS school, but the interest appears to be mutual. This would expand the conference in the Texas market, which has grown into one of the most critical football markets in the country. The interest in the Texas market is familiar to the MW, as they made earlier pursuits for Texas State in September, ultimately inviting them to the conference. However, Texas State opted to remain in the Sun Belt over additional travel cost concerns. They reportedly remain open to joining the PAC-12 but have yet to be provided an invitation.
In terms of potential members for the MW, the northwest is littered with FCS options. Teams like Idaho, South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Montana State, South Dakota, and UC Davis have all been high-level competitors in football. It’s unclear if these universities have the resources or the will to make the leap into the FBS, but that region of the country is undoubtedly underrepresented in the FBS football world. As the MW continues to recover and rebuild, it would not be surprising to see several of these teams brought up the FBS level.
Overall, the MW's recovery and rebuilding efforts have been significant, with millions of dollars planned for current members. Even though they lost a substantial group of teams, the conference is far from collapsing. They remain in a competitive position to recruit teams as realignment continues to shake up college athletics.
The PAC-12 sits in a less firm position than the Mountain West. They remain one member short of the eight required. They have reportedly shut down their recruitment efforts of other universities to pursue quotes for a media rights deal. This comes after they were turned down by Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA late in September. The group of AAC teams, primarily Memphis, were unimpressed by the financial numbers presented by the PAC-12. Opting to stay in the more travel-friendly AAC conference. This could be a big reason the PAC-12 has gone quiet while pursuing media rights deals. They may be looking to entice the entire quartet of teams into the PAC-12 with a lucrative TV deal, opening up an entirely new media market to the PAC-12.
Beyond the teams in the Gulf region, one other group has emerged as an exciting candidate to join the PAC-12. Sacramento State tossed their hat in the ring as a potential addition. The university is currently an FCS team but has high aspirations to change that. Excited about the transition, the university quickly raised a sizeable donor pool to renovate the football stadium to fit FBS standards. The Sacramento Kings also reached out to potentially provide a venue for the basketball teams to play in the Golden1 Center. Though the push from FCS straight to PAC-12 membership seems unlikely, this may also be the best step to keep the PAC-12 somewhat regional. Sacramento State isn’t a small university, averaging about 31,000 students enrolled yearly. They have the means to make it work. Sac State might not be a far-fetched idea in an up-and-coming part of California lacking a sizable football program. However, we haven’t heard whether they are still being considered.
Despite the slowdown in the news, there is still a ton of work to be done for the PAC-12 and the two current members. Part of the fallout with the Mountain West has been the scheduling issues Washington State and Oregon State now face. Both programs have been scrambling to find universities to play since they declined the Mountain West offer to schedule against them in the 2025 season. This may lead to a unique and potentially disappointing 2025 athletics calendar if they aren’t able to fill the numerous holes remaining across their calendar. However, it’s only a one-year problem as the migrating Mountain West teams will kick off their first year in the PAC in the 2026 athletic year.