Utah State Agrees to Join Pac-12 as Mountain West Showdown Escalates: Sources

The conference realignment battle between the Pac-12 and Mountain West remained unresolved late Monday night. After four schools from the American Athletic Conference announced Monday that they would stay with the league following a strong push from the six-member Pac-12, sources familiar with the situation told The athlete Utah State has agreed to become the fifth member from the Mountain West to join the Pac-12, bringing the rebuilt league that began in September with just two schools to seven members by 2026.

But neither the Mountain West nor the Pac-12 can stay at seven members long term, and would have to return to at least eight schools to remain recognized as a sub-conference in the NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision after 2026.

The Mountain West spent the weekend working to convince its eight remaining members to commit to each other through rights or other financial agreements, with more than $111 million in exit fees and poaching fees set to come to the league from the Pac-12. Air Force, which had been receiving interest from the AAC and Pac-12, has committed to staying with the Mountain West. Other Mountain West schools have begun to do the same.

But Utah didn’t. Instead, the Aggies opted to move forward with the Pac-12 tournament, received and accepted a bid, bringing the tournament to seven teams, and discussions continued late into the night.

Now all eyes are on UNLV, which was a prime target for the Pac-12 after AAC schools Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA all balked at the league over concerns about the Pac-12’s expectations, travel and the AAC’s hefty exit fees. UNLV is in the same university system as Nevada, and opinions are mixed on how much of a hurdle the split between the two would pose. Air Force could also end up playing in either the Pac-12 or the AAC after Utah State unexpectedly blew the MW deal.

The Pac-12 and Gonzaga have been in discussions about having the Bulldogs join the league, but a deal or announcement is not imminent, according to people familiar with the situation. The athleteGonzaga will not be counted among the eight players required for football by 2026.

The Pac-12, which includes 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 leagues’ relationship soured 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 into the Pac-12, looking to break away from the less invested Mountain West schools in hopes that the momentum would lead to a new conference with the best non-Power 4 schools.

But the big push east didn’t work out, and now the Pac-12 is looking to more Mountain West schools that weren’t on its initial plan. There was some animosity among the Mountain West schools after four of them defected two weeks ago, unexpectedly surprising the others. One reason the remaining eight schools had hoped to stick together was to hold on, either by receiving tens of millions of dollars in exit fees or by getting invited to join as a group. But Utah’s move could dash those hopes.

Adding Utah would increase the Pac-12’s poaching fee to the Mountain West to $55 million, while adding another Mountain West school would bring that to $67.5 million, plus about $18 million owed by each Mountain West school that leaves in exit fees. That’s roughly $150 million to recreate roughly the same league they were in just now.

That means if there is a Mountain West by the end of this year, it would take a two-thirds vote from the league to dissolve the conference, another quasi-merger possibility that would eliminate any fees owed by schools that leave the league, leaving the few remaining schools to look elsewhere. The Mountain West has discussed possible additions, such as the University of Texas at El Paso, but nothing will happen until its membership is secured.

This isn’t the first time Utah has been involved in a plan to destabilize the Mountain West. In 2010, Utah helped the Mountain West League spearhead “Project,” which would have had Brigham Young University leave the Mountain West to join the Mountain West League in non-football sports, and more Mountain West schools follow suit. (The Mountain West League itself was formed as a breakaway from the Mountain West League in 1998.) Instead, Commissioner Craig Thompson convinced Fresno State and Nevada to join the Mountain West League, setting in motion the events that ended the Mountain West League’s run as an FBS conference. Utah eventually joined the Mountain West League in 2013.

Utah was the unexpected upset this time, too. Now everyone is playing a numbers game with diminishing options. All for a league that isn’t expected to be much more lucrative than the current Mountain West. It was a day of action that left industry observers baffled. But reorganizing the conference amid an uncertain future for college sports has turned everyone and everything into a game of desperation, for fear of being left behind in some way. More discussions, and possibly decisions, are expected Tuesday.

(Photo: Chris Gardner/Getty Images)