As of July 1, Fresno State officially became a member of the new Pac-12 Conference after competing in the Mountain West for the last 14 years.
The move was originally announced on Sept. 12, 2024, in statements from University Communications and Fresno State Athletics, where Garrett Klassy, Fresno State’s director of athletics, called the move a “transformative moment for Fresno State.”
For decades, the Pac-12 was seen as a Power Five conference and widely regarded as one of the most prestigious conferences in college sports due to its history of producing national champions and Heisman Trophy winners.
However, by the summer of 2023, the conference that was once home to powerhouse programs like the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Washington had seemingly collapsed.
USC and UCLA began the domino effect on June 30, 2022, when they announced their move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. After losing arguably its two biggest programs and the Los Angeles viewer market, the Pac-12 rapidly began falling behind conferences like the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Big Ten in terms of both talent and finances.
According to longtime Pac-12 conference reporter John Canzano, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff spent months trying to secure a new television deal for the conference, eventually landing offers with ESPN and Apple TV.
ESPN had reportedly offered $30 million per school, while Apple TV offered $25 million. Conference leaders declined offers believing they could negotiate more lucrative deals.
Then, on Aug. 4, 2023, the Pac-12 empire came crumbling down.
The University of Oregon and the University of Washington accepted their individual invitations to join the Big Ten.
A few hours later, the University of Arizona, Arizona State, the University of Utah and the University of Colorado Boulder moved to the Big 12.
Finally, Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley fled for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), leaving Oregon State and Washington State as the conferences only remaining Pac-12 members.
This massive move forced the Pac-12 into a rebuilding phase. Despite losing major programs and television deals, they managed to retain the rights of the conference and its trademarks, presenting a massive opportunity to programs looking to align themselves with a historic conference.
On Sept. 12, 2024, Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State would all be stepping away from the Mountain West and join the Pac-12 beginning July 1.
Utah State and Texas State would be next to join while Gonzaga University joined the conference as a non-football member and Dallas Baptist University became a baseball-only member.
The announcement indicated a new chapter for the conference. However, it came with its own set of issues.
The Mountain West claimed that the departing programs owed millions of dollars in conference exit fees, as well as seeking an additional $55 million from the Pac-12 for a scheduling agreement signed under a “poaching penalty” clause.
The clause was made for the Pac-12 to compensate the Mountain West if it recruited and added Mountain West programs to rebuild their own conference.
The legal dispute led to multiple lawsuits between the Pac-12, the Mountain West and several departing schools over exit fees.
Eventually, in May 2026, the Pac-12, Mountain West and the departing programs reached a settlement, clearing the final hurdle for the new programs to join the newly retooled Pac-12.
Now, the Pac-12 is set to kick off their first official season with brand new faces in nearly 12 years.
Fresno State’s first nonconference Pac-12 game will come Sept. 4 against a familiar name, the USC Trojans.
The Bulldogs will travel to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to face the Trojans, one of the two schools whose departure to the Big Ten in 2022 helped jumpstart the new Pac-12. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
