When will Utah State to Pac-12 happen? Closer look at latest conference realignment move

The Utah State to Pac-12 move became official on Tuesday, representing another move by Commissioner Teresa Gould on the Mountain West Conference. The program will join the conference for the 2026-2027 season and will become the seventh program in the rebuilt Pac-12.

“Utah State University unites alongside Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, San Diego State University, Oregon State University and Washington State University to kick off conference competition with the 2026-27 season,” the Utah State statement read.

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Utah State to Pac-12 triggers lawsuit against MWC

The Pac-12 and the Mountain West Conference had a scheduling agreement that allowed the former to operate as a two-program conference after being plundered last year.

The agreement included an anti-poaching clause that would see Commissioner Teresa Gould's conference pay up to $11 million in penalties for each program that they recruit. With the Utah State to Pac-12 move, the grand total owed to the MWC is $55 million which prompted the Pac-12 to sue the Mountain West Conference due to the steep penalties.

The Pac-12 conference filed a lawsuit in a federal court in the Northern District of California, releasing a statement after the Utah State to Pac-12 move was confirmed, which detailed the punitive nature of the penalties imposed by the MWC.

“The Poaching Penalty saddles the Pac-12 with exorbitant and punitive monetary fees for engaging in competition by accepting MWC (Mountain West) member schools into the Pac-12,” the conference wrote.

“The MWC imposed this Poaching Penalty at a time when the Pac-12 was desperate to schedule football games for its two remaining members and had little leverage to reject this naked restraint on competition. But that does not make the Poaching Penalty any less illegal, and the Pac-12 is asking the Court to declare this provision invalid and unenforceable.”

When Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State made the move to join the Pac-12 last week, MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez was adamant that all exit and anti-poaching fees would be paid by departing members.

The Mountain West Conference released its own statement accusing the rejuvenated Pac-12 of trying to back out of a perfectly legal arrangement between the conferences.

“The Pac-12 has taken advantage of our willingness to help them and enter into a scheduling agreement with full acknowledgment and legal understanding of their obligations. Now that they have carried out their plan to recruit certain Mountain West schools, they want to walk back what they legally agreed to. There has to be a consequence to these types of actions,” the MWC statement read.

Utah State to Pac-12 might not be the last move the conference makes on its sister conference, with the UNLV Rebels reported to be a prime target for Teresa Gould to break into the massive Las Vegas market.