The Pac-12 and Mountain West have been at the center of the most recent wave of conference realignment, after a friendly relationship turned sour in just a matter of weeks.
The two conferences, now rivals, have been racing to add members so they can both maintain their FBS status. Conferences need eight full FBS football–playing members, according to NCAA rules.
On Tuesday, both conferences announced their latest moves. The Mountain West will add UTEP from Conference USA in 2026–2027, with a formal announcement expected sometime later in the day, a source confirmed to Front Office Sports. The Pac-12 will add Gonzaga, the conference announced.
As of now, the Mountain West has secured seven full members beginning in 2026. Last week, six schools (and football-only member Hawai‘i) signed a memorandum of understanding to stay put until the end of the 2031–2032 season. The schools agreed to multimillion-dollar signing bonuses derived from exit fees and damage payments from the Pac-12, which are currently the subject of a new lawsuit. The Mountain West is on the hunt for at least one more school; the University of Texas at El Paso is its first school in the state of Texas.
The Pac-12, which has poached Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and Utah State from the Mountain West over the past few weeks, has been looking for one more full member. Gonzaga has been flirting with leaving the West Coast Conference for years, and it has even had discussions with the Big East. The Zags will join the Pac-12 as full members.
However, the Pac-12 will still need one more FBS football–playing member if it wants to maintain FBS status, given that Gonzaga does not have a football team at all.
The move is a clear moneymaker for the conference, however. Gonzaga, as a perennial contender in men’s March Madness, will likely rake in millions in NCAA men’s tournament “units” in the years to come. The strong women’s program will contribute financially as well, given that the NCAA is intending to implement a smaller $25 million units program to begin this year.
As both conferences look to add at least one more football-playing member, they also have each other to contend with.
Last week, the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West over the “poaching fee” part of the football scheduling agreement between the two conferences. In December, the two-member Pac-12 signed a contract that would allow Oregon State and Washington State to be slotted into Mountain West football conference play. The agreement, however, included a stipulation that the Pac-12 would owe the Mountain West around $10 million for each school it tried to poach in the event it wanted to rebuild. The Pac-12 currently owes the Mountain West $55 million, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by FOS.
