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Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

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Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?
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Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

2024-09-13 07:26 Last Updated At:07:30

Can't say the Pac-12 is making a comeback because it never really went away.

The Conference of Champions was certainly in critical condition, but Oregon State and Washington State stood fast after the league collapsed in 2023 and vowed to keep it alive if a power conference invite didn't come.

Now, the Beavers and Cougars will be joined by Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State in a reimagined Pac-12 in 2026.

The latest realignment aftershock makes it four straight years where the 10 major Division I football conferences have been shaken up.

Of course, more moves will now follow. The Pac-12 is still two schools short of what it needs to be a recognized conference by the NCAA in two years and the Mountain West is facing a future without four of its most valuable members, so shopping for replacements could be the next step.

Football is the easiest answer. Boise State, Fresno State and San Diego State have not only been three of the best programs in the Mountain West (nine conference championships combined since 2013) but three of the most consistent winners in the country outside those in power conferences.

Colorado State is the outlier. The Rams have had runs of success, but despite a relatively new stadium and other investments in football it has been a struggle lately. Colorado State has not had a winning season since 2017, but the school does have a foothold in the Denver media market and fields good basketball teams.

San Diego State has been a men's basketball powerhouse, with a Final Four appearance in 2023, and Boise State has made three straight NCAA men's tournaments.

This is not the promotion these schools had been hoping for. They have all angled for years to join a power conference, where schools get payouts upward of $30 million annually from multibillion-dollar TV deals.

Still, this is a step up. Between the Pac-12's strong brand value and aligning with a smaller group of schools that have traditionally fielded highly competitive sports programs, the hope is it will boost revenue and profile.

"The acceptance of this invitation to join and rebuild Pac-12 membership is a catalyst for our vision of being the most watched, most loved and most innovative program in the West," Colorado State athletic director John Weber said.

A Pac-12 that starts with these six teams could also be better positioned than the Mountain West to earn one of five spots guaranteed to conferences champions in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Oregon State and Washington State got most of the Pac-12's money and assets in the divorce with the 10 former members. School leaders have pushed back on referring to what they have access to as a war chest, but they have about $250 million at their disposal.

They will have to dip into that to extricate Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State from the Mountain West, probably to the tune of about $110 million.

Will they spend more on Mountain West schools or look elsewhere?

In the Mountain West, Air Force and UNLV could be next in line. Schools in the American Athletic Conference such as UTSA, Memphis and Tulane could be attractive and cheaper.

AAC bylaws require departing members pay a $10 million withdrawal fee and give 27 months' notice. That timeline doesn't work for a July 2026 entry to the Pac-12, so figure any school leaving the AAC would have to increase the exit fee by a few million.

The AAC currently has the best media rights deal among Group of Five conferences, helping the conference pay out about $9 million per school per year.

Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould told AP there was no target number in mind for new members nor any set hard timeline for making more additions.

“But what’s more important is that we get the right compilation of member institutions that kind of share our priorities, share our mindset around what we want the future of this conference to look like,” she said. “So we’re not by any stretch married to or focused on a specific number at this point.”

None of the schools that left the Pac-12 are coming back. Even with the uncertainty in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Stanford and California are locked in long term via a grant of media rights contract — unless the ACC is next to collapse.

The Pac-12 managed to land a deal with the CW and Fox to broadcast football games this year, but the conference has nothing beyond it. The hope is a streamlined, best-of-the-rest conference can garner a better or equal deal to the $1 billion, 12-year contract the AAC has with ESPN. With fewer schools to feed, the payouts could be better per school.

Barring more defections, the conference will still include UNLV, Air Force, Utah State, New Mexico, San Jose State, Nevada, Wyoming and Hawaii for football-only. Hawaii is otherwise affiliated with the Big West.

That's one member short of what is needed to be able to move forward as a conference that would qualify for automatic access to NCAA championships and the College Football Playoff.

As big an issue for the Mountain West, with its television deals expiring after the 2025-26 seasons, it is questionable whether that composition could replicate the $270 million, six-year deal with Fox and CBS it currently has.

Adding schools might not help that, but its best options might come in the second tier of Division I. The Big Sky, with Montana State and Montana, is arguably the best conference in the Football Championship Subdivision. Those school have resisted jumping up to the Bowl Subdivision before.

Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

FILE - The Pac-12 logo at Sun Devil Stadium during the second half of an NCAA college football game between Arizona State and Kent State in Tempe, Ariz., Aug. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso, File)

FILE - The Pac-12 logo at Sun Devil Stadium during the second half of an NCAA college football game between Arizona State and Kent State in Tempe, Ariz., Aug. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso, File)

Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

Why join the Pac-12? What schools could be targeted next? What's next for Mountain West?

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky turned down a final prosecution plea offer of 180 days in jail, risking the possibility of a guilty verdict and years in prison as jury selection began at his trial on Tuesday.

The agreement offered to the 36-year-old hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor was to plead guilty to one of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Los Angeles County prosecutors would also recommend a seven-year suspended sentence, three years of probation and the six-month jail term.

But Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, told a judge he respectfully declined.

He is accused of firing at a former friend near a Hollywood hotel in 2021, and could get a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Rocky's attorney Joe Tacopina also revealed for the first time in court Tuesday that the defense plans to call witnesses to testify that a firearm seen on a security video is a starter pistol that Rocky carried as a prop for security.

A panel of more than 100 prospective jurors were summoned to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom and packed into the gallery. Opening statements will come once 12 of them and alternates are seated. That won't be until at least Wednesday, when selection is set to resume. Cameras will be allowed in the courtroom starting with openings.

The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star's longtime partner is Rihanna, and the couple have two toddler sons together. Tacopina suggested that it's unlikely the pop star will show up in court.

Rocky has been named one of the celebrity chairs of the Met Gala in May, and has a major role in a Spike Lee-directed film with Denzel Washington to be released soon after. But his life could be upended with a conviction.

Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold has said he hopes to seat a jury quickly, and is keeping strict limits on how long attorneys can question prospective jurors.

“Mr. Mayers is an entertainer," Arnold told the prospective jurors. "His stage name is A$AP rocky. His life partner is also an entertainer. Her name is Rihanna. Because Mr. Mayers is an entertainer, a celebrity, that cannot harm him, and it cannot benefit him."

Of the initial 12 jurors questioned, four said they knew who Rocky was, and 10 said they knew who Rihanna was.

In 2023, another judge ruled after a preliminary hearing that Rocky should stand trial on charges that he fired a gun at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend who testified that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of Nov. 6, 2021. Ephron testified that bullets grazed his knuckles.

Initial questioning on Tuesday revealed that the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires have affected many of the potential jurors' lives, including one woman who is fostering many displaced animals, and at least one man who had to evacuate. The judge himself revealed he had to evacuate from his home for 11 days.

“Luckily the house didn’t burn down," Arnold said.

One man was excused early in the process because he said his anti-gun feelings were too strong for him to be fair.

Tacopina tried to explore the potential jurors' feelings about hip-hop artists and their music, and several said they had negative feelings, though not overwhelming ones. Some cited parenting as the reason.

“I used to love it but then I had a kid,” one panelist said.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, questioning for the prosecution, told those with negative feelings, “You will not be called upon to render a verdict on how you feel about rap music, do you understand that?" All said yes.

Tacopina, who like his client Rocky is from New York and has represented President Donald Trump, also asked whether anyone on the jury is rubbed the wrong way by New Yorkers, bringing laughs throughout the room.

“When I get up here with this ridiculous accent, which I try not to have but I do, is anyone going to have a problem?" he said. “I will point out that we gave you guys the Dodgers a few years ago.”

No one conceded any negative feelings.

“I love LA," the lawyer added.

FILE - A$AP Rocky, left, and Rihanna attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York on Sept. 13, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - A$AP Rocky, left, and Rihanna attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York on Sept. 13, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky at Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky at Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky appears in a Los Angeles Superior courtroom on Aug. 17, 2022, where he pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky appears in a Los Angeles Superior courtroom on Aug. 17, 2022, where he pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File)

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