From the Brink of Extinction to a 9-Team Revival
Reports of the Pac-12’s death were greatly exaggerated. After getting carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey during college football’s realignment bloodbath, the conference that everyone left for dead is officially back in business.
What once stood as a proud 12-member league got gutted down to just Oregon State and Washington State by 2023. But those two schools refused to wave the white flag. Now, as 2026 kicks off, they’re welcoming seven new programs to the fold—six of them playing FBS football. That’s right, the Pac-12 is alive, kicking, and ready to compete again.
Sure, the math doesn’t exactly check out anymore (nine teams in a conference called the Pac-12), but when has conference naming made sense lately? The Big Ten has 18 schools. The Big 12 has 16. At this point, who’s counting?
How Oregon State and Washington State Refused to Go Quietly
When the exodus happened in summer 2023, it was brutal. Oregon and Washington bolted to the Big Ten in a single day. Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State jumped ship to the Big 12. Stanford and Cal made their way to the ACC. That left the Cougars and Beavers staring at an empty conference office and a mountain of uncertainty.
But instead of folding, they fought. They sued the conference office to secure control of league assets—including a cutting-edge production facility in California and about $100 million in exit fees from the schools that abandoned them. They landed interim media deals with The CW, CBS, and ESPN to keep their games on television.
Then came the aggressive rebuild. In fall 2024, they poached five Mountain West schools: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State. They added basketball powerhouse Gonzaga. Most recently, they brought Texas State into the mix. Eight FBS football members means NCAA compliance is locked in. Automatic bids to March Madness? Check. College Football Playoff access? Still in play.
Media Rights, Legal Battles, and What’s Next
The new Pac-12 isn’t banking on Power 4 money, but they’ve assembled a respectable media package. CBS signed on as the anchor partner for five years, with marquee games landing on CBS and Paramount+. The CW extended its deal for football and basketball coverage. And Versant’s USA Sports joined the portfolio last month.
The league hasn’t publicly disclosed the total value of the package, and it’s not going to rival the SEC or Big Ten. But Pac-12 Enterprises—the league’s own production arm—will handle much of the content creation, and they’re set up to contract with other local teams and leagues to generate additional revenue.
There’s still legal drama brewing with the Mountain West over poaching penalties from their scheduling agreement. But that’s just background noise now. The Pac-12 survived the impossible, pulled off one of college sports’ most stunning resurrections, and will field nine teams this year.
They didn’t just stay alive. They came back swinging.
