The Pac-12's attempt to lure schools in the Mountain West is pointless

In the annals of absurdity, financial mismanagement and self-centered decision-making that have long been the hallmarks of conference realignment, Thursday’s announcement of a Pac-12 realignment sets a new standard for futility in college sports.

Oregon State and Washington State, which were abandoned a year ago when the rest of their league scattered to the winds, have convinced Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State to leave the Mountain West and join them under the Pac-12 banner in 2026. There will certainly be more additions—you’d think UNLV, Air Force and maybe New Mexico would be a start, depending on how big they want to get—but the end result is so inconsequential that you have to wonder if it’s even worth the effort.

By leaving the Mountain West, the Disloyal Four have simply joined a new league with an old name that will look almost exactly like the Mountain West.

And the costs for this step?

More than $100 million in exit fees and penalties are tied to the agreement Oregon State and Washington State signed with the Mountain West last year, an agreement that was expressly designed to prevent exactly this scenario in which the remaining Pac-12 schools destroy the conference that provided them with a temporary home for football.

A significant portion of that money will almost certainly come from the Pac-12’s war chest, which consists of much of the conference revenue the other 10 schools had to forego when they moved to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. And in turn, the Mountain West will use that money to bolster its remaining members and add new members to ensure its own survival. Given the small size of the pool at the end of conference expansion, the Mountain West will likely have to support some Football Championship Subdivision schools or join Conference USA, which had to do the exact same thing last year.

The cycle continues.

And for what? How can you convince any reasonable person that this kind of conference reorganization – which again involves transferring over $100 million from one group of mid-sized universities to another – is anything more than a simple pyramid scheme?

If you look really, really closely, you can kind of see how schools like Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State, which have some national prestige, convinced themselves that it would be beneficial to join forces with Oregon State and Washington State on a more formal basis and leave behind what they see as the baggage of the Mountain West.

After all, the new Pac-12 can now enter into its own media rights deal, and the six colleges can choose how many other partners – and which ones – will provide the most benefit. For a college president, filling out a spreadsheet with these hypotheticals is like catnip. They can’t resist.

But in reality, all they did was leave a conference that was competing with America for the title of fifth-best conference and join a league that was competing with America for the title of fifth-best conference.

That said, the difference in television money will likely be small. There will be no difference in access to the College Football Playoff, as no one with any real power in the sport will consider the Pac-12 a major conference. Ultimately, Boise State and the rest will be playing much of the same opponents they have for years, just with a different conference logo on the field.

And when you put all the nonsense aside, you finally realize what this is really about.

When it comes to conference realignment, sports officials and college presidents speak only one language: They think they are in the cool kids’ club or they are not.

If you look at the situation over the last few years, you can see that these decisions are not based on calculations, but only on ego – or even more than on money.

Why did Texas begin abandoning the Big 12 for the SEC? Because their football program had made a series of terrible coaching hires, and they blamed the recruiting failures that followed on being part of a mediocre league.

Why did Southern California plan a breakout from the Pac-12 for the Big Ten? Because their program was stagnating and the USC administration felt the Pac-12 wasn’t doing enough to help them return to national prominence.

Why are Florida State and Clemson suing the ACC to become free agents when it will cost a lot of money and there is no guarantee of a more lucrative seed? The reason is that they fear they will end up on the wrong side of a dividing line between elite and commoners that used to have six conferences at the top and now has just four.

This state of affairs has left college administrators feeling quite helpless, mere bystanders while the NCAA model is reshaped by lawsuits and threats that schools in the Big Ten and SEC will break away and do their own thing if they are not given the freedom they need to make rules and spend money that everyone else does not have.

Therefore, everyone else’s only goal is to get as close to that dividing line as possible – regardless of travel logistics, exit fees, or who gets ripped off in the process.

A year ago, Washington State and Oregon State were sympathetic players because nobody wanted them. Now they are predators sinking their teeth into the carcass-strewn Mountain West.

And what exactly do those who join them get? Oh, they’re going to have a big party in Boise, San Diego, and Fort Collins this week. They’ve finally done it!

But they made it into an imposter Pac-12 whose resurrection is less convincing than a Journey reunion tour without Steve Perry as lead singer.

Sure, Oregon State and Washington State got to keep the name and branding, but no one is fooled. What they’re putting together is more Parody Pac than Pac-12, but unfortunately, it’s just business as usual in college sports these days.

The Pac-12’s attempt to lure schools in the Mountain West is pointless

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