San Diego State notifies Mountain West it’s leaving

The Aztecs, four other MWC schools plan to join WSU, OSU and Gonzaga in reconstituted Pac-12

Oct 5, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs huddle before the game against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Snapdragon Stadium. | Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images

San Diego State’s goal of joining the Pac-12 Conference is getting closer to reality.

SDSU and four other schools from the Mountain West Conference have submitted their notifications of departure, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune and Albuquerque Journal. They had to formally notify the MWC of their decision by June 1 to keep their $18 million exit fee from doubling to $36 million.

The schools joining SDSU in submitting their paperwork were Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State. They announced in September that they will join a reconstituted Pac-12 Conference effective July 1, 2026, along with Pac-12 leftovers Washington State and Oregon State, and basketball powerhouse Gonzaga.

San Diego State fans have long wanted to join the Pac-12 and took great delight whenever the Aztecs beat a team from the more prestigious conference, whether it was against Stanford and Arizona State in football, and finally, against UCLA in football and basketball.

SDSU felt it could hold its own against USC and UCLA, but then those two universities announced they were leaving for the Big Ten, and then the Pac-12 fell apart literally overnight. Washington and Oregon joined the Trojans and Bruins in fleeing to the Big Ten, and California and Stanford joined the ACC, allowing those conferences to stretch from coast to coast. Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado bolted for the Big 12.

While it won’t be the traditional Pac-12, the Aztecs will still be stepping up in the ever-changing world of college athletics.

Gonzaga doesn’t play football, so the Pac-12 needs to add an eighth full member by July 1 to receive certification for the College Football Playoff starting in 2026-27.

Two pending lawsuits challenging the exit fees and “poaching fees” from WSU and OSU are in global mediation.

“I’m very pleased where we are from a Pac-12 standpoint,” SDSU athletic director John David Wicker told boosters at a recent athletic department event, according to the Union-Tribune. “Obviously, we have to add another team. That will happen. I have a good idea of what our TV is going to look like with the Pac-12. Right now, we’re trying to wrap up various items around that. But we have a really good idea of what that will be, and we’re pleased with what that is going to be.

“It feels like the next four or five weeks, there’s a lot that’s going to happen that’s going to help dictate what we’re doing moving forward.”