San Diego State informs Mountain West of plans to leave conference

The ears of Pac-12 fans are perking up as SDSU is preparing to leave the MWC

With reports earlier on Friday revealing the fact that there is extreme confidence the Pac-12 will add San Diego State and SMU if they do in fact expand, we later learned that San Diego State informed the Mountain West that the school "intends to resign from the Mountain West Conference" according to ESPN.

In the letter given to the Mountain West, San Diego State also asked the conference for a "one-month extension given unforeseen delays involving other collegiate athletic conferences beyond our control." The reason for this of course being the fact that they do not have an invitation (yet) to join a Power 5 conference whether it be the Pac-12 or the Big 12.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, this letter isn't the official goodbye for the school and conference.

SDSU subsequently informed the league that the letter was "not the official notice of resignation," according to sources.

San Diego State would need to give a year of notice to withdraw next June. If it waits past June 30, the exit fee it would owe jumps from nearly $16.5 million to nearly $34 million.

The confusion of this whole report stems from the fact that San Diego State is planning to leave, but in a way wants the conference to work with them. Something that ESPN's report indicated that they will not do.

The Mountain West responded, informing the school in a letter Wednesday that the conference had accepted the letter of withdrawal and that the consequences of the move had begun. Those include that de la Torre's seat on the MW board of directors is being pulled and that under league policies, its financial obligation tied to withdrawal will be withheld.

San Diego State has long been viewed as a Pac-12 program in waiting, but at the moment there hasn't been an invitation sent out by the conference. The belief is that the media rights deal needs to be completed, or another Pac-12 program leaves the conference.

While we somehow are still sitting and waiting for the Pac-12 to do something, the gears are turning.