New Pac-12 schools sign membership agreements, media deal expected soon

San Diego State will be part of reconfigured Pac-12 starting in 2026

The Pac-12 Conference logo. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

San Diego State thought it was going to be moving up in stature during a wild summer of conference realignment two years ago, only to have to retreat and stay in the Mountain West.

After many twists and turns, the Aztecs have finally taken a solid step toward their long-time dream of joining the Pac-12. 

SDSU and the other seven members of the reconfigured Pac-12 have signed their grant of rights and membership agreements. The Pac-12 hopes to announce a media rights deal in the coming days and, since Gonzaga doesn’t play football, find at least one more football-playing member by July 1 to receive certification for the College Football Playoff starting in 2026-27.

“Broadly, it’s nice to have some clarity knowing the model,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said during a video conference call with reporters on Monday. “We’ve been in this weird, in-between place.

“I’ve been saying all along that as we got close on the media rights, we would pivot and get out there and start identifying new members,” Gould added. “We’re at the point that we know enough to move forward and start engaging prospective members.”

Monday’s move came just days after a U.S. District Court judge approved the settlement terms of a $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit that allows schools to pay athletes through licensing deals, further reshaping college athletics. 

The Aztecs played for decades in the shadow of the Pac-12 (and before that the Pac-10 and Pac-8), with USC and UCLA just a few hours up the freeway. The Aztecs and their fans felt they belonged in the venerable conference, and took great delight whenever they beat a Pac-12 team, particularly in football and basketball.

After USC and UCLA announced in 2022 that they were leaving for the Big Ten effective in 2024, SDSU thought it finally had an opening.

SDSU was so sure it was on its way to either the Pac-12 or Big 12 in June 2023 that it notified the Mountain West it intended to “resign” from the conference. But with no invitation forthcoming, and its exit fee about to double, it informed the MW it was not leaving. 

A month later, literally overnight, the Pac-12 fell apart. Oregon and Washington joined USC and UCLA in moving to the Big Ten, Cal and Stanford bolted for the ACC, and Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado joined the Big 12.

Last fall, SDSU and fellow MW schools Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Utah State announced, along with Gonzaga, that they were joining holdovers Washington State and Oregon State in reforming the Pac-12 effective July 1, 2026.

SDSU athletic director J.D. Wicker said recently at a fan event that things weren’t moving as quickly as he’d like, but that the Aztecs were “very pleased with where we are from a Pac-12 standpoint. Obviously, we have to add another team. That will happen. 

"TV, I have a good idea of what our TV (deal) is going to look like with the Pac-12," Wicker added. "Right now, we're trying to wrap up various items around that, but we have a really good idea of what that's going to be and we're pleased with what that is going to be."