Pac-12 Conference adds four new members, so who could join next?

The crazy college football landscape rearranged by conference realignment (i.e. TV network greed) actually experienced a pleasant departure of logic and sensible thinking on Thursday.

The Pac-12 Conference — left for dead by the exodus of 10 schools for much greener TV revenue pastures last year — proudly announced that it will have four new members join Oregon State and Washington State for the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

RELATED: Josh Rosen, one of NFL's biggest QB busts, is preparing for success

And wouldn't you know it, they're all from Western states.

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State will leave the Mountain West Conference and increase the Pac-12 to six schools. The new members will officially join on July 1, 2026, and they will each pay a $17 million exit fee to the Mountain West, which will also receive $43 million from the Pac-12 for adding MWC programs due to the conferences' current football scheduling agreement.

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. ... An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”

The Pac-12 still has plenty of work to do to return to its previous state as a power conference.

It must add two more schools to reach the minimum of eight to meet Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) standards. A fully rebuilt Pac-12 would place it in the mix for one of the five automatic bids for conference champions in the newly expanded and very lucrative College Football Playoff.

So who are candidates for further Pac-12 expansion?

The most obvious options would be the conference's old Bay Area duo — California and Stanford.

Both schools were left scrambling to find a new home after USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington bolted to the Big Ten and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah joined the Big 12, but Cal and Stanford were fortunately rescued by the ACC despite the coast-to-coast travel woes. Their return to the Pac-12 would likely be fought in court, but Florida State is already suing the ACC to leave the conference.

Because of the potential ACC upheaval, Cal and Stanford are "at the top of the candidate list," according to longtime Pac-12 reporter Jon Wilner. For now, though, Wilner ranks Memphis (with its Central Time Zone appeal for TV scheduling) and UTSA (with the No. 31 media market in San Antonio in football-mad Texas) as his top-two choices. UNLV, another Mountain West member, is third on his list.

In the current wild, wild west environment of college football, though, those options make way too much sense. At least on Thursday, there was a momentary lapse of rational thinking by the Pac-12 to finally begin its long comeback trail to relevance and respectability.

CHECK OUT MORE TOP STORIES FROM THE BIG LEAD!
NFL: Jerry Jones hints Dak’s contract will lead to Super Bowl
NBA: Russell Westbrook’s 3-point shooting destroyed by analyst
Sports Media: ESPN and NBC expressing interest in hiring Charles Barkley
Golf: 9/11 group criticizes PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia meetings in New York on anniversary of September 11 attacks