Pac-12 Realignment Update: Essential Changes Explained

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00:00Let's talk realignment in college athletics. I want to go back to the Pac-12. This is a

00:06conference that it looked like it was on life support. It was on life support at some point

00:11last year. All of the major programs, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, they fled to the Big Ten. We

00:19were left with Washington State and Oregon State. They were left to hold the fort down. They've done

00:25a good job over the past 12 to 18 months. The conference is still alive. So I wanted to give

00:31an update as to what has happened in the past and where are we moving forward as it pertains to the

00:37Pac-12. So we're down to two teams, as most people know, Oregon State, Washington State. They'll play

00:43again two times this year, but the conference has gone ahead and poached from the Mountain West. There

00:50was a time, Scott, where I thought it would have made sense to simply have a merger between these

00:54two conferences, rebrand under the Pac-12, regroup and see what happens. That didn't occur. They

01:00weren't able to come to some kind of an agreement. In fact, those two conferences are still going

01:05through some legal wranglings and mediation because the Pac-12 has poached five programs,

01:12Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State, and San Diego State. Your son's school will be

01:20members of the Pac-12 beginning in 2026. Now, Teresa Gould, the commissioner, did a really nice job of

01:28also getting a basketball-only program in Gonzaga, leaving the WCC, going to the Pac-12. So there'll be

01:35a very strong basketball presence. I think the Pac-12 is also going to take a look at St. Mary's once

01:43things settle down to beef up that basketball presence. But here's where we're at with the Pac-12.

01:49We still don't know about a media rights deal. That is in limbo. We haven't gotten an announcement.

01:54The mediation that I discussed still has to be figured out. And the biggest thing right now is

02:00who is going to be the eighth program in the Pac-12? They currently have seven in 2026. You need eight

02:07by NCAA standards in order to have an FBS conference. And they're just not that attractive

02:14right now. There was a time that it looked like it would be UNLV. The rebels want to be one of the

02:19flagship programs of the Mountain West. They're staying put. There were schools in the AAC like

02:25Tulane or Memphis or UTSA out of San Antonio. They are staying in their conference. So the favorite

02:31right now, believe it or not, to be that eighth program is Texas State out of San Marcos, Texas,

02:37Sunbelt Conference program, small exit fee of just $5 million. So it's going to be interesting

02:44this summer to see how things shake out from a media standpoint, but also that eighth program,

02:49the favorite right now, Texas State to be number eight in the Pac-12 next year.