Update: This story was updated at 2:09 p.m., June 28 to clarify the details of Texas State’s media share.
By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
The Pac-12 Conference has it’s eight football member, but the league is likely not finished expanding.
The announcement of Texas State’s move to the Pac-12 will become official Monday.
The Texas State University System Board of Regents have called a special meeting for 9:30 a.m. Monday to vote to accept a membership invitation from the Pac-12.
The Bobcats will become the conference’s eighth football member and ninth overall, joining Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Gonzaga as new members beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Texas State is expected to initially receive a partial share of the conference’s media revenue and gradually increase to a full share by 2031, a source told the Austin Sports Journal. Exact percentages are not public information.
Under the new Pac-12 media rights deal, schools are projected to receive $8 million to $15 million, which is a drastic increase from the $2 million annually Texas State gets from the Sun Belt Conference.
With the conference now at eight football members, the Pac-12 meets the minimum and will maintain its Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) status and keep its eligibility for the College Football Playoffs.
Yet, in the era of college football super conferences, it’s a safe bet the Pac-12 is eyeing further expansion and won’t stop with the addition of Texas State.
So, who are the potential expansion candidates?
Rumors are circulating that the Pac-12 is targeting mid-major basketball power Saint Mary’s as a potential member.
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Saint Mary’s makes geographical sense for a conference spread along the west coast.
Like fellow West Coast Conference member Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s doesn’t field a football team but fields 16 other varsity sports. The addition of the Gaels would strengthen the Pac-12 basketball conference but doesn’t add any football presence.
Sacramento State could be a long-shot after the NCAA denied the school’s waiver request earlier this week to move up from the FCS to the FBS as an independent. Sacramento State is transitioning from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West in all non-football sports in 2026.
According to a CBS Sports report, a group of Sacramento State boosters formed a task force to raise money to improve the school’s athletic facilities, reach $50 million in NIL funding and secure fees needed for realignment.
Sacramento State joined the FCS/Division I-AA in 1993 and made the FCS playoffs for the first time in 2019. The Hornets have made four appearances total in the FCS playoffs but have only advanced past the second round once in 2022.
While St. Mary’s and Sacramento State would expand the conference’s West Coast presence, the two schools won’t help the Pac-12’s goal of elevating back to a Power Five conference status.
Should the Pac-12 further expand for football, the conference may return to Texas.
UTSA and North Texas would further expand the conference in one of the country’s high school recruiting hotbeds. College baseball power Dallas Baptist has also been mentioned; however, DBU doesn’t field a football team.
If the Pac-12 wants to regain football prominence, it’s going to need schools with established football programs.
UTSA makes the most sense, but there are challenges.
Like Texas State, the Roadrunners are an up-and-coming football program. UTSA plays home football games at the Alamodome, a 34,984-seat stadium in downtown San Antonio. It’s also 18 miles from the main campus.
UTSA has invested nearly $40 million in upgrading their athletic facilities. The 95,000 square-foot Park West Athletics Complex opened in 2021.
The facility includes academic spaces, a sports medicine center, two football practice fields, a 7,500 square-foot football locker room, coaches and administrative offices and a weight room.
UTSA broke ground in December on a $35 million basketball and volleyball training facility.
Not to mention, the addition of UTSA would add a regional rivalry to a conference that’s known for being home some of college football’s best rivalry games – Washington-Washington State, UCLA-USC, Cal-Stanford, etc.
However, UTSA faces a few challenges should the university decide to join Texas State in the Pac-12. One of them is the American Athletic Conference’s exit process.
The AAC requires 27-month notice and a $10 million exit fee for schools to leave the conference. Schools can leave earlier than 27 months, but the exit fee is then negotiated. SMU paid a $25 million exit fee when it moved from the AAC to the ACC in this past year.
UTSA would be a viable option for the Pac-12 and give the conference another up and coming football program, but the cost of switching conference may not be in the cards.
However, there is another AAC school that no one is talking about could emerge as a good candidate – Rice.
Like SMU, the former Southwest Conference member has enough big money donors that would make moving to the Pac-12 from the AAC less of a financial burden, should they wish to leave before the 27 month window.
Rice also has good on-campus facilities, including the 47,000-seat Rice Stadium. The Owls would also bring a TV market in the nation’s fourth largest city.
Academics is also a selling point for the Houston college of 5,400 undergraduate students. The university has had a 30% growth in enrollment since 2929 and ranks #18 in the nation for academics out of 486 colleges and universities, according to U.S. News.
Rice could be a viable option for the Pac-12 – which historically values academics – if the conference wants to expand its footprint in Texas and add a tradition-rich football program.
