The Pacific-12 Conference is expected to continue expanding following the addition of four teams from the Mountain West Conference, and teams from the American Athletic Conference are now likely to make the move as well.
The Pac-12, which currently includes only Washington State University and Oregon State University, has spent the past year evaluating ways to keep the conference intact following the departure of 10 teams for other conferences this past season.
In response to the 10 universities fleeing for other opportunities, the Pac-12 announced the additions of Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, and Fresno State to the conference beginning in the 2026-27 season, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Now, the Pac-12 is reportedly looking to create a “Best of the Rest conference” by adding the top schools from non-Power Five conferences, according to The Athletic.
This endeavor has included the Pac-12 reaching out to discuss potential conference realignments with Memphis and Tulane, which are expected to be the conference’s top targets over the next few months.
Other potential targets from the American Athletic Conference (AAC) include the University of Texas at San Antonio, North Texas, South Florida, and Texas State to discuss possible moves from the AAC into a new conference, per The Athletic.
Although many believe the Pac-12 is still looking to add more universities before the conclusion of the 2024 football season, it will still have until July 1, 2026, to reach the eight-school minimum to be considered a conference by the NCAA, according to Bleacher Report.
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said that the conference has avoided setting a “soft or a hard timeline at all” because officials want to “see what opportunities might unfold, but also being aggressive enough to create opportunities on our own,” according to The Associated Press’ Ralph Russo.
The Pac-12 is currently set to pay the Mountain West Conference more than $100 million to account for the movement of the schools and poaching fees. However, whether the conference will have to pay fees to add other universities remains unclear.
