The Pac-12 is trying to rebuild itself with Washington State and Oregon State as the back-bone, “heavy hitters” of the conference. The league is cobbling together teams who are interested in trying to make that next move up the college athletics ladder. You can’t blame them for doing that. But this week came another reminder that whatever new iteration comes out of this Pac-12, it will not be a Power conference on par with the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC.
This report came from Ross Dellenger on Thursday.
It is admirable that Sacramento State wants to get itself up to the “Big Leagues”, but the fact that they even think they can get there says more about the perception around the new Pac-12 Conference than it does anything else.
Pac-12 vs. Mountain West Saga
The Pac-12 has seven members set for 2026, adding five Mountain West schools to Oregon State and Washington State and still in need of at least one more. The remaining Mountain West seven stuck together, needing at least two more members. The two western leagues are now reportedly going to fight over schools like UTEP, Texas State and maybe even some schools from the MAC. The whole thing is so bizarre and ridiculous.
But the Pac-12 overplayed its hand after that. With six members, it thought the best of the Group of 5 would want to join. But several AAC schools said no thanks to the Pac-12, preferring to move forward with its current ESPN deal, rather than paying tens of millions in exit fees to jump into an unknown situation and increase their travel.
Pride, ego and money has gotten in the way, and caused more chaos at the Group of 5 football level than is necessary. Oh, and the Pac-12 has sued the Mountain West for over $55 million in poaching fees from a contract it signed less than a year ago.
So now, the Pac-12 continues to scramble, FCS teams claim to be most interested, and the Mountain West is in limbo as well.
It’s all been a mess, and an avoidable mess at that.
