Caleb Yum, Austin American-Statesman
| Hearst – Austin Transition
As the Pac-12 continues its revival, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel reports that Texas State is a “heavy favorite” to be the next school invited to join the conference.
The university’s rising enrollment (over 40,000 students), location in fertile recruiting ground and improving football program (head coach G.J. Kinne led the Bobcats back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2009) are cited as primary reasons for the interest in Texas State. The buyout for the school to leave the Sun Belt conference for the 2026-27 season rises from $5 million to $10 million on July 1, per Thamel.
A Texas State athletics employee did not immediately return a call Monday afternoon seeking comment on the report.
“While sources stress there has been no formal invitation yet for Texas State, the move has reached the point where the Sun Belt is preparing for a departure,” Thamel reported Sunday. He said other schools are being considered as well, but Texas State has “clearly emerged at the forefront of that group.”
The Pac-12 splintered prior to the 2024 season as 10 of their 12 teams left for other conferences, with just Oregon State and Washington State remaining. Last September, it was announced that Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State would be joining as six new members.
However, a league needs eight members with football teams to qualify as a Football Bowl Subdivision conference. Gonzaga does not have a football program, meaning Texas State’s inclusion is necessary for the new Pac-12 to come to fruition fully. A television deal involving at least three partners is in the works for the coming weeks, Thamel said, but the inclusion of an eighth member is not necessarily tied to that deal.
Thamel also reported that Texas State turned down a “verbal offer” to join the Mountain West last year.
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