After being poached almost into oblivion, the “Conference of Champions” is fighting off extinction by plucking schools from the Mountain West.
The Pac-12, currently made up of two members, announced Thursday that it will add Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State in 2026, with that quartet joining Oregon State and Washington State as the storied league rebuilds.
The additions rob the Mountain West of four of its more prominent schools and successful football programs, most notably Boise State. It also still leaves the Pac-12 two schools short of the eight it needs to have in place in two years to be recognized as a conference by the NCAA, so more moves are expected.
The Pac-12 and the departing schools will likely be on the hook for close to $110 million in exit fees and penalties to the Mountain West.
It is a remarkable bounce-back move by a conference left for dead a year ago, when 10 members announced they would scatter to other leagues across the country, with the Pac-12’s inability to secure a lucrative enough media rights deal the impetus to exit for multiple schools. California and Stanford are now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah belong to the Big 12, and Oregon and Washington joined the Big Ten.