It’s official. Boise State is joining the Pac-12.
The university confirmed the move Thursday morning after media reports surfaced Wednesday evening that the Pac-12 was rebuilding its ranks by poaching four teams from the Mountain West.
Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State will officially join incumbents Oregon State and Washington State in the newly imagined conference in July 2026.
The Pac-12 Board of Directors unanimously approved the addition of Boise State, according to a press release from the university. The only hurdles left are paying the Mountain West exit fee and getting full approval of the deal by the Idaho State Board of Education, neither of which are likely to be a problem.
“What a great day to be a Bronco!” Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said in a statement. “We evaluated this move from many angles and considered it with our head and our heart, and most importantly, with our 350+ student-athletes in mind. When it came down to making the final decision, we chose this path because it puts Boise State in the best position for success, and is in the best interest of this university and community.”
Better Late Than Never
Ask any Boise State fan and they’ll tell you the Broncos should have been in the Pac-12 a couple decades ago. It should have happened when the program was routinely rolling out undefeated seasons and winning New Year’s Six bowl games, which is something the Broncos haven’t done since beating Arizona in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.
It should have happened when former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore was busy racking up his 50-3 record between 2008 and 2011 and the Broncos were busy putting together one of the top winning percentages in college football history.
There is no shortage of reasons why Boise State should have already been added to the Pac-12, but it wasn’t. Whether that was because of the size of its TV market, a lack of fundraising, or the university’s failure to earn an R1 research designation will forever be up for debate.
The fact is it finally happened. Boise State can officially claim its rightful spot in one of college football’s elite conferences. It may not be the Pac-12 of old, which was highlighted by national championship runs by USC and a slew of mega talented players from Oregon, UCLA, and Washington, but the Broncos can finally proudly wear that Pac-12 patch on their jerseys.
Why Now?
According to Boise State, the Pac-12 evaluated each incoming school using five metrics: academics and athletics performance; media and brand evaluation; commitment to athletics success; geography and logistics; and culture and student-athlete welfare.
The Broncos checked each box.
Academics And Athletics Performance
Boise State set an athletic department record last year with a cumulative grade point average of 3.42.
On-field success hasn’t been a problem. The football team won its conference-record fifth Mountain West championship last fall. The men’s basketball team made the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, and the Broncos have been more competitive in several Olympic sports in recent years.
It probably also helps that the football team has a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender taking the field this year. Running back Ashton Jeanty has received heaps of praise from all over the country after racking up 459 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season.
He’s the first player to score nine rushing touchdowns in his first two games since former Texas running back Ricky Williams did it in 1998. Williams won the Heisman that year.
Having a Heisman contender may not directly correlate to conference realignment, but all the attention that comes with it is sure to improve TV viewership numbers, which factor heavily in a conference’s decision to add teams.
Media And Brand Evaluation
The Broncos’ football team set a home attendance record last season after selling an average of 35,867 tickets for its six home games. The program’s average home attendance numbers ranked No. 2 in the Mountain West last year, right behind Fresno State, which averaged 39,939 fans.
Boise State was also among the Mountain West leaders in TV viewership numbers last season. The Broncos averaged 769,500 viewers in 10 publicly rated games, which ranked No. 3 in the conference behind UNLV and Air Force. Viewership numbers are not available for games broadcast on CBS Sports Network, which carries most of Boise State’s road games, and most streaming services, including the Mountain West and Pac-12 networks.
Commitment To Athletics Success
The Boise State Athletic Department has set fundraising records three years in the row. It brought in $20.8 million in donations and commitments in the fiscal year 2024, $26.1 million in 2023, and $24.1 million in 2022.
The department has received 14 donations of at least $1 million dollars from 10 different individuals, families, or corporations since Dickey was hired in 2021, and Boise State’s Lyle Smith Society has grown to 250 members. Membership begins with a minimum pledge of $50,000 over five years or an annual donation of more than $50,000. The society has raised more than $30 million since its inception in 2020.
That influx of money is being put to good use at Boise State. Much of it has been used to fund 50 different facilities projects, and the university is set to break ground next year on a $65 million renovation to the north end of Albertsons Stadium.
Geography And Logistics
This is an easy one. Boise, Idaho, is centrally located among all members of the newly imagined Pac-12. The Broncos have played five of the six members in recent years, including a trip to Corvallis, Oregon, to face Oregon State in the 2022 season opener. The only team the Broncos haven’t played recently is Washington State, but Boise State hosts the Cougars and the Beavers this season.
Travel will be cheap and efficient in the new conference. Flights to San Diego State, Fresno State, and Colorado State all take around two hours, while flights for games against Washington State and Oregon State are only about an hour long.
Culture And Student-Athlete Welfare
Boise State showed its commitment to culture and student-athlete welfare when it hired Spencer Danielson as its football coach last year. Danielson is open about his faith and the love he has for his players, and those players love him in return. They play hard for him and trust him, which was evident when the team was relatively unscathed by the transfer portal following a tumultuous couple of years under Andy Avalos.
Boise State doubled down on its investment in the future by giving Dickey a contract extension earlier this year.
Boise State also recently invested in nutrition centers for all of its athletes and established a program called Bronco Life, which focuses on athletes’ mental health as well as their growth on and off the field.
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What About The Exit Fees?
Boise State and the rest of the departing schools will have to pay the Mountain West about $17 million to leave by 2026, per the conference’s bylaws. The Pac-12 is also on the hook for about $11 million for each team because of “poaching penalties” spelled out in the scheduling agreement Oregon State and Washington State signed with the Mountain West late last year.
That’s not an insignificant amount of money, unless of course the people paying the bill recently won control of a $255 million war chest in court.
The Pac-12 basically dissolved after last season when most of its members jumped ship. USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington left for the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah split for the Big 12, and Stanford and Cal both joined the ACC.
Last year, Oregon State and Washington State reached a settlement with the 10 teams that left, which guaranteed them control of $190 million in future conference revenue and $65 million from the departing schools.
It will cost about $68 million to pay exit fees for the four departing Mountain West teams. That’s a bill the Pac-12 is likely more than willing to pay, given what it hopes to make by becoming the fifth Power Five conference once again.
Is UNLV Next?
The Pac-12 has to get to eight members by July 1, 2026, to meet the NCAA’s minimum requirement to maintain its status as an FBS conference.
The most logical move may have been to add UNLV to its list of new schools. The Rebels’ donors have deep pockets, they’ve been successful in football and men’s basketball in recent years, and they’re among the most-watched Mountain West programs. UNLV football averaged a conference-best 1.46 million viewers in five publicly rated games last season.
That didn’t happen, though. Maybe the Pac-12 felt like it didn’t have a travel partner to pair with UNLV. Nevada certainly doesn’t move the needle enough to warrant an invite. Neither does any of the remaining Mountain West teams for that matter.
UNLV could still get an invite. The Pac-12 may also be holding out hope the chaos surrounding the ACC gives them a shot at bringing Stanford and Cal back into the fold. Maybe SMU goes to the Pac-12 as well.
The conference could also look to add other top Group of Five programs, such as Memphis, Tulane, UTSA, or USF.
Whichever route the conference goes, it needs to make a decision sooner rather than later because the next item on the agenda is securing a long-term TV deal. The CW and Fox currently hold the rights to Pac-12 games, but that deal expires after this season.
