Is Pac-12 expansion possible? Exploring the possible alternatives for rebuilding the conference

The future of the Pac-12 is uncertain but there are ways for the conference to survive.

The Pac-12 has seen eight of its 12 schools leave and the future of the conference is unclear. Commissioner George Kliavkoff has vowed to keep the conference intact and there has been talk of merging and adding teams.

According to one CFB insider, OS_Beaver, four American Athletic Conference schools will join the Pac-12 in 2024 and four Mountain West Conference schools will join the Pac-12 in 2025.

The report states that SMU, Memphis, Tulane, and USF will join the Pac-12 in 2024. In 2025, San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State, and Fresno State would leave the MWC to join the Pac-12.

Also, the report states that Oliver Luck, father of former Stanford quarterback Andrew, would become the new commissioner of the Pac-12.

Adding teams from AAC

The most logical option for the Pac-12 is to add schools from the AAC as there have been talks of a merger for some time.

USF athletic director Michael Kelly said the conference has made it clear that it is exploring options.

“We’ve had a handful of meetings throughout the week,” Kelly said at USF’s kickoff luncheon. “Just our commissioner keeping us up to date with the best information he has and even evaluating if there’s something we’d want to do with the people who are now available to bring into our conference.”

As of right now, the Pac-12 is yet to officially merge with the AAC.

Pac-12 to merge with MWC?

The other option for the Pac-12 is to merge with the MWC or just add specific teams from the conference. The MWC and the Pac-12 were the first two conferences that were linked with a potential merger.

MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez said to ON3 that a merger is not off the table.

“It’s not off the table, but we have a lot of questions,” Nevarez said. “It is like buying a house. You wouldn’t buy a house without a complete inspection. So, there’s just a lot of questions, and they’re the type of questions that I think the Pac-12 or the remaining schools in the Pac-12 need to have time to figure out.

“Then also questions for us about assets and liabilities and fit and what’s really there. But certainly – absolutely everything’s still on the table.”

Currently, if the Pac-12 is going to remain a conference, merging or adding schools from the AAC or MWC makes the most sense.