Report: Pac-12 files new trademark applications from ‘Pac-8’ through ‘Pac-14’

Pac-12 has eight schools committed to join in 2026

The Pac-12 applied for seven trademarks as the league prepares to usher in six new members in 2026 / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Pac-12 conference has officially started the rebranding process in case the league — currently at two members with six more on the way in 2026 — eventually fields up to 14 schools in the future.

According to a report from Sportico, the Pac-12 filed seven applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the word marks “Pac-9,” “Pac-10,” “Pac-11,” “Pac-13” and “Pac-14.” The numberless word marks “Pacific Athletic Conference” and “The PAC Conference” were also pursued. 

The Pac-12 hadn’t filed for any trademarks in the wake of UCLA’s and USC’s announcement in 2022 that they would be joining the Big Ten, even while operating as just a Washington State-Oregon State entity since August, when eight more members departed for other power conferences. In fact, the “Pac-12” word mark was renewed just weeks before Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Cal and Stanford departed, according to Sportico.

The league rebounded in September, when it received commitments from Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State from the Mountain West Conference. Gonzaga signed on to join a few weeks later in October, giving the Pac-12 eight schools for the start of the 2026-27 athletics season. The conference will still need to add one more football-playing institution before 2026 to reach the NCAA’s eight-team minimum to qualify as an FBS conference. 

A handful of schools have been linked as a potential suitor for the Pac-12, including Memphis, North Texas, Tulane, South Florida and UTSA from the American Athletic Conference. Texas State of the Sun Belt Conference is reportedly an option as well, along with UNLV out of the Mountain West.

Sportico reported that the Pac-12 hired Cooley LLP to handle trademark applications, which apply to anything related to “publications, clothing, association services and broadcast or television programming.” It takes a “little over a year” for a successful trademark to be approved, according to Sportico, and it’s not a guarantee the league would use any of the aforementioned word marks anyway. 

In November, the Pac-12 announced a partnership with Octagon to work on the conference’s media rights strategy. Octagon has also assisted the ACC, Big Ten, West Coast Conference, Atlantic 10 and Conference USA in media negotiations.

The last time the Pac-12 went through a name change was when it moved on from the “Pac-10 Conference” word mark in 2012, after Colorado and Utah came aboard. Before that, it was the “Pacific-8,” or “Pac-8” for short, once Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. 

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