Conference Realignment

[eldonabe]

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2

So it begins. Perhaps the Dakota schools go to the MWC and the AAC gets raided as well. Will be interesting watching all this play out.

I assume the PAC-12 loses its P5 status officially now?

[e_parade]

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2

So it begins. Perhaps the Dakota schools go to the MWC and the AAC gets raided as well. Will be interesting watching all this play out.

I assume the PAC-12 loses its P5 status officially now?

It already did. The question will be does it slide into an "M" status or just become the top "G"

[stevemaz]

^
Apparently they are looking to add Memphis, Tulane, USF and 1 of the Texas schools from the AAC. Travel be damned.

They're looking to get a best of the rest to try and nab the #5 conference champ spot most years. It's not the worst strategy.

AAC and MWC are going to try to backfill from the CUSA and likely Sun Belt (maybe the MAC?). There's a chance schools like Delaware and Western Kentucky could end up in the mix for the MAC spot, if things keep going like they are.

Believe Delaware's next move will be the AAC being close to Navy, Temple, and ECU. Like WKU to the MAC being a strong basketball and football school.

Think James Madison and Liberty would make good backfills for the AAC.

Maybe Temple Army Navy to the MAC

[wmmmfan]

They're looking to get a best of the rest to try and nab the #5 conference champ spot most years. It's not the worst strategy.

AAC and MWC are going to try to backfill from the CUSA and likely Sun Belt (maybe the MAC?). There's a chance schools like Delaware and Western Kentucky could end up in the mix for the MAC spot, if things keep going like they are.

Believe Delaware's next move will be the AAC being close to Navy, Temple, and ECU. Like WKU to the MAC being a strong basketball and football school.

Think James Madison and Liberty would make good backfills for the AAC.

Maybe Temple Army Navy to the MAC

Delaware would be my top choice, good academics, growing population and appear to be doing things the right way with their move up.

[eldonabe]

So it begins. Perhaps the Dakota schools go to the MWC and the AAC gets raided as well. Will be interesting watching all this play out.

I assume the PAC-12 loses its P5 status officially now?

It already did. The question will be does it slide into an "M" status or just become the top "G"

What is M status?

[Steve81]

I assume the PAC-12 loses its P5 status officially now?

It already did. The question will be does it slide into an "M" status or just become the top "G"

What is M status?

First will reply, no to"M"status. No one wants to give them a piece of the CFP pie.

Eldonabe, The new CFP contract broke down the payouts, and could be a percent off, but 28% go to each of the Big 10 and SEC. The new middle is that the B12 and ACC each get 17%. The "M" is a new lower class of P4 conferences. The G6 combine receive 9% or 117M to split with the now 6 conferences. --

[eldonabe]

It already did. The question will be does it slide into an "M" status or just become the top "G"

What is M status?

First will reply, no to"M"status. No one wants to give them a piece of the CFP pie.

Eldonabe, The new CFP contract broke down the payouts, and could be a percent off, but 28% go to each of the Big 10 and SEC. The new middle is that the B12 and ACC each get 17%. The "M" is a new lower class of P4 conferences. The G6 combine receive 9% or 117M to split with the now 6 conferences. --

Thanks for clarification.

[stevemaz]

I wouldnt be surprised at all if our stay in the MAC is very short lived. Pac 10 may take back Stanford and Cal, Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 all go to 20. ACC is going to need replacements and UMass would make sense..

[Merlin Samuels]

I wouldnt be surprised at all if our stay in the MAC is very short lived. Pac 10 may take back Stanford and Cal, Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 all go to 20. ACC is going to need replacements and UMass would make sense..

I think it's more likely a few American Texas schools head to the MWC and Pac and it leaves a spot open in the American for us and Delaware.

[stevemaz]

I wouldnt be surprised at all if our stay in the MAC is very short lived. Pac 10 may take back Stanford and Cal, Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 all go to 20. ACC is going to need replacements and UMass would make sense..

I think it's more likely a few American Texas schools head to the MWC and Pac and it leaves a spot open in the American for us and Delaware.

That could happen too. It is very interesting to see what the Pac 12 does now..one possibility is taking 6 ACC schools and have a crazy East/West alignment. To me there will be 3 power conferences by the end of this academic year (SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12).

By the end of the decade colleges will be paying athletes and UMass will be a part of that mix. The highest paid state employee by 2035 (assuming no WW3) will be a QB.

[ZooMass84]

It already did. The question will be does it slide into an "M" status or just become the top "G"

What is M status?

First will reply, no to"M"status. No one wants to give them a piece of the CFP pie.

Eldonabe, The new CFP contract broke down the payouts, and could be a percent off, but 28% go to each of the Big 10 and SEC. The new middle is that the B12 and ACC each get 17%. The "M" is a new lower class of P4 conferences. The G6 combine receive 9% or 117M to split with the now 6 conferences. --

so 1.5% to a G conference? and the SEC and Big 10 get 28% or 18 times what a G conf gets?

[ZooMass84]

Believe Delaware's next move will be the AAC being close to Navy, Temple, and ECU. Like WKU to the MAC being a strong basketball and football school.

Think James Madison and Liberty would make good backfills for the AAC.

Maybe Temple Army Navy to the MAC

Delaware would be my top choice, good academics, growing population and appear to be doing things the right way with their move up.

I lived in Delaware very briefly and UD stadium is nice.

[Steve81]

What is M status?

First will reply, no to"M"status. No one wants to give them a piece of the CFP pie.

Eldonabe, The new CFP contract broke down the payouts, and could be a percent off, but 28% go to each of the Big 10 and SEC. The new middle is that the B12 and ACC each get 17%. The "M" is a new lower class of P4 conferences. The G6 combine receive 9% or 117M to split with the now 6 conferences. --

so 1.5% to a G conference? and the SEC and Big 10 get 28% or 18 times what a G conf gets?

More or less 1.5% of 1.3 Billion. It maybe 10% to the G5 and Independents. Notre Dame gets 7M and could be off a bit. UConn gets 350K and just for 2025 Washington and Oregon State get 3.2M each. Their share will go down and a few new FBS promotions from FCS will almost wash out. Then it is not strictly even currently as there is a G5 performance pool plus a base of a million per team up to 10 teams. Initially it was up to 12 teams but the G5 voted to increase the performance pool. It will probably up to the G5 how to split the money. Like the idea of 1.25M per team up to 12 teams and the rest go into a performance pool.

[Merlin Samuels]

I wouldnt be surprised at all if our stay in the MAC is very short lived. Pac 10 may take back Stanford and Cal, Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 all go to 20. ACC is going to need replacements and UMass would make sense..

I think it's more likely a few American Texas schools head to the MWC and Pac and it leaves a spot open in the American for us and Delaware.

That could happen too. It is very interesting to see what the Pac 12 does now..one possibility is taking 6 ACC schools and have a crazy East/West alignment. To me there will be 3 power conferences by the end of this academic year (SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12).

By the end of the decade colleges will be paying athletes and UMass will be a part of that mix. The highest paid state employee by 2035 (assuming no WW3) will be a QB.

ACC schools or AAC schools? No ACC school is leaving to join a conference for less money.

[stevemaz]

I think it's more likely a few American Texas schools head to the MWC and Pac and it leaves a spot open in the American for us and Delaware.

That could happen too. It is very interesting to see what the Pac 12 does now..one possibility is taking 6 ACC schools and have a crazy East/West alignment. To me there will be 3 power conferences by the end of this academic year (SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12).

By the end of the decade colleges will be paying athletes and UMass will be a part of that mix. The highest paid state employee by 2035 (assuming no WW3) will be a QB.

ACC schools or AAC schools? No ACC school is leaving to join a conference for less money.

ACC since i think they are going to lose several to SEC, Maybe Big ten, and Big 12. Florida St and Clemson are the dominoes. So if there is just Pitt, BC, Cuse, WF, Duke, and Ga Tech left i could see them merging with Pac 12