Could Stanford be on its way back to the Pac-12?

Dylan Grausz | Sep 14, 2024

Nov 4, 2023; Pullman, Washington, USA; Stanford Cardinal helmet sits against the Washington State Cougars in the first half at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images / James Snook-Imagn Images

The Pac-12 may not be dead after all. On Thursday, the Pac-12 Board of Directors announced the addition of Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State to the conference beginning in 2026, bringing the conference up to six teams from the current two. But with the need to find two more teams to keep the conference as a viable FBS option, two familiar teams could be on the short list to join the expansion of the once historic conference.

Joining the ACC after spending its entire history in the Pac, both Cal and Stanford are rumored to be two teams being considered to re-join the conference, with Peke Nakos of On3 reporting that should a window open up, the logical option would be for the two schools to go back to where they originally started.

In the middle of a massive shakeup in college football that saw teams like USC, UCLA, Arizona, Colorado and Utah leave for the Big Ten and Big 12 respectively, Stanford announced that it planned to depart for the ACC last September. However, with joining the new conference, Cal and Stanford had to sign onto the ACC’s Grant of Rights, which extends through the summer of 2036 meaning that if the schools did end up trying to leave and go back to the Pac-12, they would have to go to court, according to Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports.

Re speculation about two schools the Pac-12 could go after next:

Source confirms to @FOS that all ACC schools have signed onto its Grant of Rights. That includes Stanford and Cal. So if they want to depart, they're going to have to make like FSU and Clemson and go to court.

— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) September 12, 2024

Rejoining the Pac would make sense for a multitude of reasons. First, both the schools would return to playing games in their geographic regions, once again playing games exclusively on the West Coast. This season, Stanford is slated to play teams like Syracuse, Clemson and Notre Dame on the road, making the travel schedule a very challenging one for them. Also, having college athletes, who have classes to worry about, travel to games across the country many times throughout the season could cause issues in terms of staying on top of their schoolwork. For prestigious academic institutions like Cal and Stanford, that could create some problems both on and off the field.

The ACC is pledging to charge schools that wish to leave the conference before the rights agreement is up a hefty fee, with it being reported by Ralph Russo of the Associated Press that it would cost Florida State $572 million, it still remains to be seen how feasible it will truly be to be able to go back.

In addition to Cal and Stanford, other schools mentioned as possible expansion schools include Memphis and Tulane.