The Pac-12 is back in business, and the new look is set. On July 1, the conference officially relaunched after a turbulent four-year stretch, with Oregon State and Washington State carrying over from the old league and seven new full-time members joining the mix.
Those additions are Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Texas State and Utah State. That gives the Pac-12 a fresh full-time lineup for the 2026-2027 academic year, which will be the first season under the rebuilt structure.
The league’s full-time members in 2026-2027 will be Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State and Washington State.
Gonzaga’s place in the group comes with a notable footnote: the Bulldogs have not sponsored varsity football since 1941.
The rebuild doesn’t stop there. The Pac-12 has also brought in 12 affiliate members across five Olympic sports, along with several existing affiliate members already in the fold.
Those affiliate additions are Air Force in wrestling; Arkansas-Little Rock in wrestling; Cal Baptist in men’s soccer and women’s swimming; Cal Poly in wrestling and men’s soccer; Cal State Bakersfield in wrestling; Dallas Baptist in baseball; North Dakota State in wrestling; Northern Colorado in wrestling; Northern Illinois in wrestling; South Dakota State in wrestling; Southern Utah in women’s gymnastics; UC Riverside in men’s soccer; and UC San Diego in men’s soccer.
The conference’s collapse started in 2022, when USC and UCLA announced they would leave for the Big Ten before the 2024-2025 season. Oregon and Washington followed them to the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah moved to the Big 12. Cal and Stanford landed in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Since then, commissioner Teresa Gould and the league office have pushed hard to rebuild, keeping Oregon State and Washington State in place while adding enough members to remain an FBS conference and preserve automatic bids in the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments.
In Other News...
Gonzaga Still Has One Roster Decision Hanging Over Year One In The Pac-12
Gonzagas offseason work is mostly done as the program builds toward its first year in the Pac-12, but there is still a little room left on the board. After bringing in a wave of transfers and recruits, the Bulldogs have one roster spot remaining to sort out before the 2026-27 season, and the final addition is likely to be shaped by fit as much as timing.
The staff is still weighing whether to use that opening on another perimeter piece, especially with the roster already leaning on a few new faces and some uncertainty around depth. A little more shooting and spacing would make sense for a team trying to keep its options open, and Gonzaga has been doing its homework on several available guards and wings who could help in that area. [Read more 🡒]
Pac-12 Just Set A Huge March Stage For Oregon State
The Pac-12s reboot has already started to reshape the March conversation, and for a league trying to reestablish itself after relaunching on July 1, 2026, the basketball tournaments are now set to be a centerpiece. In 2027 and 2028, both the mens and womens events will land in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, giving the conference a high-profile stage in a city built for postseason sports and a setting that should help the league sell its return to a wider audience.
The format adds to the stakes, with all nine full-time members in the bracket, play-in games for the lower seeds and byes for the top four teams. The title games are scheduled for March 13, 2027, and the winner gets the leagues automatic NCAA Tournament bid, which means every regular-season result will matter twice over as the Pac-12 tries to turn its new look into something that feels immediately relevant in March. [Read more 🡒]