Pac-12 isn’t what it was — but power of the brand is irresistible to Fresno State | Opinion

Never underestimate the power of an established brand.

If you’re wondering today why Fresno State and three fellow Mountain West schools would ditch their stable and comfortable home to join two universities nobody wanted when the Pac-12 imploded a year ago, there’s your answer.

The Pac-12, even as a two-member shell of itself, is a stronger brand with deeper pockets and more far-reaching resonance than the MW. In college sports, those things are all that really matter.

“There’s a lot of interest in having a high-level conference rooted on the West Coast,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould told Yahoo Sports in July. “A lot of people care deeply about the Pac-12 and Pac-12 brand. There is a lot of nostalgia about the possibility of a rebuild.”

Bulldogs fans who’ve waited decades to join the Pac-12 are, for the most part, elated. No reason not to be. This is an incredibly long time coming.

Still, reality differs from fantasy. It’s kind of like finally getting an invitation to an exclusive party, then arriving and finding out all the popular people left already and all who remain are the outcasts.

Besides the name and logo, the Pac-12 that Fresno State will join for the 2026-27 academic year is a zombie shell of the Pac-12 of the last century. There’s no Rose Bowl berth, nor guaranteed spot in the expanded College Football Playoff. No chance for the Red Wave to take over Cal and Stanford’s stadiums. No trips to Pauley Pavillion or the McKale Center for basketball games.

And after the reconstituted six-team league adds additional members – the FBS minimum of eight schools must be reached by July 2026 – the Pac-12 will have an even more familiar resemblance to the conference the Bulldogs are leaving behind. UNLV and Air Force reportedly top the list.

A necessary move

Despite that, Fresno State absolutely had to make this move. Credit president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and new athletic director Garrett Klassy for being proactive. Getting left behind in this round of conference realignment, like what happened when the MW originally formed in 1998, would’ve been devastating.

The financial challenges Fresno State faces to keep pace in the high-dollar world of college sports are no secret. Athletics revenues are tumbling despite high attendance for football games, and Save Mart Center faces balloon payments whose servicing university officials have yet to fully explain .

There’s also a not-so-little matter of the MW’s $17 million per school exit fee, a sum Fresno State will almost certainly need help to lift. The Pac-12 also must come up with $43 million for poaching the four MW schools (so far), per terms of a scheduling agreement each conference signed for the 2024 football season.

But thanks to the power of the Pac-12 brand – and the fact that Oregon State and Washington State legally maintained the conference’s assets when the other 10 split – there’s money to be had. Both now and in the future.

Last year, Fresno State received roughly $7 million in revenues from media rights and conference and NCAA distributions. Oregon State and Washington State, by contrast, each received in excess of $35 million.

While I’m skeptical the new-look Pac-12 approaches those numbers, there’s every reason to believe Fresno State and the other new arrivals will at least double what they’re currently getting.

Otherwise, no reason to jump ship.

‘It’s a national brand’

Oregon State and Washington State have a television contract with the CW and Fox for this football season and nothing beyond. Yahoo Sports, which broke the story Wednesday evening, reported the incoming members “were presented a plan that features a new media rights agreement worth more than the MW’s current or future television package, as well as the sponsorship potential of the Pac-12 brand.”

“The Pac-12 brand is a national brand. Just that name alone, it’s hard to quantify,” Klassy said Thursday during a conference call. “I know some of the teams have left, but those that are coming in, it’s our goal to compete and be as strong as the brands that are leaving.”

Fresno State enjoyed many great years in the Mountain West and will miss regular rivalries with San José State, Nevada and Hawaii. The fate of that conference, and the athletic programs of those schools, is uncertain even though the MW should end up a sizable war chest of its own once this is over.

Unfortunately, the realities of college sports don’t allow for sentiment and tradition. Only mercenary thinking prevails. It’s all about the power of the brand. And Fresno State, at long last, is a Pac-12 school.