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It will be interesting to see what their media deal will look like. Right now they have a **** ton of money that was forfeit by the schools that left and the PAC will be paying the bulk of the exit fees for the MWC schools, which I believe I read will be around $36M each because it will be less than 2 years notice. I'm sure that will end up being less, but the PAC is still looking at around $80M in exit fees for the four schools. How much are they covering and how much of that stockpile will that eat up?
I'm also not sure if the media deal will be enough to stretch to conference across the country. Remember, the PAC was abandoned because the media deal with all of the major schools in it wasn't competitive with the other P conferences. They're definitely not going to be getting more by adding the schools they're adding. I'm sure they still may end up making more than the MWC and AAC as a whole, but is it enough to warrant the potential travel costs associated with schools in the east? That, at this point, is very debatable. I was a little surprised they went as far as Colorado Springs to be honest. I figured they'd keep things a little closer to the coast and maybe add another California school or one of the Nevada schools instead.
They'll have to add at least two more before the 2026 season, unless they're granted some sort of extension as the 25-26 academic year will be the end of the two year window to get back to eight. I would think the most likely options would be one of the Nevada schools and possibly Utah State to get to eight, unless they want to add San Jose.
As far as the American goes, if they reach in I could see them target Rice.
As it stands right now, the MWC has remaining: Air Force, Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, San Jose State, Utah State, and Wyoming. So the MWC will be needing to add at least one school as it stands now. I don't see them being able to pull an AAC school, which leaves them to hold their nose and call up New Mexico State or UTEP or try and convince NDSU and SDSU to make the jump to FBS. I don't really see the MWC wanting FCS schools, but if you're to make an exception those are the two schools you make the exception for. I'm not sure if either of the Montana schools are in a place financially to jump up and I'm not sure the MWC sees them as attractive enough anyway. The other option would be to go after recent CUSA call up Sam Houston State which had a strong run in FCS but I'm not sure is ready for a jump to the MWC. Texas State out of the Belt would be another hesitant type of option if they wanted in Texas. I don't see any of the WAC FCS schools being tempting.
I'm also not sure if the media deal will be enough to stretch to conference across the country. Remember, the PAC was abandoned because the media deal with all of the major schools in it wasn't competitive with the other P conferences. They're definitely not going to be getting more by adding the schools they're adding. I'm sure they still may end up making more than the MWC and AAC as a whole, but is it enough to warrant the potential travel costs associated with schools in the east? That, at this point, is very debatable. I was a little surprised they went as far as Colorado Springs to be honest. I figured they'd keep things a little closer to the coast and maybe add another California school or one of the Nevada schools instead.
They'll have to add at least two more before the 2026 season, unless they're granted some sort of extension as the 25-26 academic year will be the end of the two year window to get back to eight. I would think the most likely options would be one of the Nevada schools and possibly Utah State to get to eight, unless they want to add San Jose.
As far as the American goes, if they reach in I could see them target Rice.
As it stands right now, the MWC has remaining: Air Force, Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, San Jose State, Utah State, and Wyoming. So the MWC will be needing to add at least one school as it stands now. I don't see them being able to pull an AAC school, which leaves them to hold their nose and call up New Mexico State or UTEP or try and convince NDSU and SDSU to make the jump to FBS. I don't really see the MWC wanting FCS schools, but if you're to make an exception those are the two schools you make the exception for. I'm not sure if either of the Montana schools are in a place financially to jump up and I'm not sure the MWC sees them as attractive enough anyway. The other option would be to go after recent CUSA call up Sam Houston State which had a strong run in FCS but I'm not sure is ready for a jump to the MWC. Texas State out of the Belt would be another hesitant type of option if they wanted in Texas. I don't see any of the WAC FCS schools being tempting.
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