Pac-12 teams 2024: Updated list of schools after four teams join conference

On Wednesday evening, rumbles of the Pac-12 making major conference realignment and expansion moves started to be felt. On Thursday, the moves were confirmed. There is now an expanded list of Pac-12 teams with the arrival of Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and the highly marketable San Diego State.

The Oregon State Beavers and the Washington State Cougars are the only programs to have remained faithful to the conference after the departure of other members.

The current members of the conference are:

1. Washington State
2. Oregon State
3. Fresno State
4. Boise State
5. Colorado State
6. San Diego State

In a statement released after the moves were made official, commissioner Teresa Gould expressed her joy at the four Mountain West Conference sides joining her conference.

"For over a century, the Pac 12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics," Teresa Gould said in the statement. "We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes.

"I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today."

Pac-12 teams' updated list will incur expenses

The expanded Pac-12 teams list will not come cheap with the four programs poised to pay $17 million each to the Mountain West Conference as exit fees.

There is a pre-existing scheduling deal between the two conferences, which outlined an anti-poaching financial penalty. As a result, the conference will have to pay a total of $43 million, as per Action Network analyst Brett McMurphy.

The conference will be able to offset some of the exit fees incurred by the four programs due to withheld media rights money, forfeited by the departed members.

Commissioner Teresa Gould revealed to USA TODAY that the conference has a treasury of up to $265 million to facilitate such moves from the Rose Bowl and College Football Playoff pot.

The conference still has a long way to go to fulfill the minimum eight-member requirement laid down by the NCAA to become part of the FBS. It is currently under a two-year grace period until July 2026, by which time the conference will have to have at least eight members.

The Pac-12 teams' updated list growing to six still seems surprising for fans of the entertaining conference after the desolation of last year's mass exodus. With a two-year buffer until the deadline elapses, commissioner Teresa Gould is on the road to rebuilding the conference.