Pac-12 Expansion: With UCLA leaving, what happens next?

AAU Member: No

Top 40 Revenue School: No (#58)

Top 120 Academic National University: No (#151 tied)

Top 30 tv/streaming market: Yes (#30)

San Diego is in a top 30 media market and the Aztect to the Pac-12 will help replace the void left in the southern part of California from the departures of both UCLA and USC. San Diego State is a great fit for the Pac-12 for numerous reasons.

SDSU is in a great location and in a major city in southern California. The Aztecs have proven to have a solid football program that has had five seasons of 10 or more wins since 2015 and has won four bowl games during that stretch of time. The men’s basketball team had a remarkable run in the 2023 NCAA Tournament when they made it all the way to the national championship game and they have since the 2013-14 season won 30 or more games three times and 23 or more games seven times.

San Diego is in a city that recently lost its NFL team as the San Diego Chargers moved to the city of Los Angeles after the 2016 season to become the Los Angeles Chargers. SDSU now plays its home games in its new stadium called Snapdragon Stadium which has a 35,000 capacity.

The addition of San Diego State would be a good addition to the Pac-12 conference for various reasons and the conference should strongly consider adding the Aztecs to their conference as it has been rumored and reported by numerous media outlets. San Diego has also notified the Moutain West that it plans on leaving the conference which appears to be evidence that the Aztecs could be joining the Pac-12 conference.

There is always a possibility that the Pac-12 and ACC conferences form an alliance or merge if both conferences have their anchor schools leave for the Big Ten or SEC but in the near future it looks like the Pac-12 will add two or maybe four teams in the upcoming years.