In a week with a flurry of conference realignment activity expected, the Mountain West is attempting to execute a plan to keep its eight remaining schools together.
Sources told ESPN that the Mountain West is amid a significant push to solidify its future by offering guaranteed money to the schools, including one-time payments to formalize their status as league members going forward. Those include large payments to both UNLV and Air Force to stay in the league and also significant payments to all the other remaining members.
Part of the Mountain West pitch is that they’d guarantee no schools take a step back in media distribution, which is an example of guaranteed money compared to the projected money that the Pac-12 has presented to some schools.
The other remaining Mountain West schools that would join UNLV and Air Force are Hawaii, Utah State, New Mexico, Nevada, San Jose State and Wyoming. The league would then potentially add schools off that core of eight.
The decision to stay in the Mountain West would also allow the schools to avoid exit fees. The Mountain West is slated to bring in more than $120 million in revenue from the departures of Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State to the Pac-12.
Right now, Mountain West schools are making nearly $6 million annually in overall payouts and nearly $4 million of that is from pure media value. There’s uncertainty in what the Pac-12 will be earning when the conference is reformed in 2026 as it only has six members and the league hasn’t taken the product to market. The Pac-12 needs to get to eight to be recognized as an official conference.
What’s happened on the Mountain West landscape is part of a fascinating high-stakes stare down between the Pac-12, Mountain West and American Athletic Conference. The center of much of the intrigue remains with Memphis, which looms as the Pac-12’s most important target.
The ripples from Memphis’ impending decision would potentially reverberate through the AAC. The issue for the Pac-12 is that it is projected to cost more than $27 million for Memphis — and other AAC schools — to depart the AAC between exit fees and nearly $2.5 million in lost revenue.
The buyout cost and lack of a guaranteed television number from the Pac-12, which has projected an estimated revenue of more than $12 million annually to schools, looms large over the decision making.
