Two more programs emerge as possible Pac-12 expansion candidates, joining San Diego State and SMU

The Pac-12 expansion rumor mill has taken another unexpected turn

The Pac-12's past year has not been ideal after losing USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, and just a couple days ago we learned that their media rights saga will stretch past July and into August and maybe even September.

According to Sports Business Journal's John Ourand, the Pac-12 is expecting to know what their media rights deal will look like next month. Ourand also reported that by the time Labor Day rolls around, the Pac-12 will have an announcement. As you all know if you have been following the media right saga, in order for the Pac-12 to add other programs to the conference they have made it clear that they will be getting their deal done first. 

Something San Diego State maybe tried to test a bit, when they "unintentionally" alerted the Mountain West of their plans to depart, only to backtrack and find themselves in a compromising situation. Regardless of how that ordeal worked out, there are still expectations that San Diego State and SMU will end up joining the Pac-12, but according to longtime radio personality Dan Patrick there are two others teams in contention.

Sources say San Diego St. is still planning on joining the PAC-12. Conference also is hoping to add SMU with Boise St. and UNLV being long shot possibilities.

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 7, 2023

While we knew about the first two teams mentioned, Boise State and UNLV being viewed as "long shots" is quite surprising. They have both long been viewed as programs that wanted to make the jump but don't quite meet up to they standards of the conference. 

Instead, other programs such as Colorado State or even Hawaii have been considered to be better options by some. According to one oddsmaker, Boise State actually was viewed as having the worst odds to join the Pac-12 with programs like Fresno State being viewed as more realistic than them.

Despite there once being a belief that the Pac-12 could and should add up to four teams, there appears to be a concentration on San Diego State and SMU.