Pac-12 Conference Has Interest In Tulane, One Other AAC School: Report
Just a couple of days after the Pac-12 Conference announced that was inviting four Mountain West Conference schools for the 2026-27 season, the Tulane Green Wave may be on the conference’s list next.
Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported during Big Noon Kickoff that "sources tell me that the Pac-12 has some interest in Tulane and Memphis from the AAC."
Feldman did not report a timeline for any additional expansion decisions, though he mentioned that the Pac-12 must have eight members by July of 2026 to meet the minimum number of schools for an NCAA conference.
Right now, the Pac-12 is operating under a two-year grace period given it by the NCAA. The Pac-12’s two remaining schools — Oregon State and Washington State — have a one-year scheduling agreement for football with the Mountain West and an agreement to play its basketball in the West Coast Conference.
But it’s now clear the Pac-12 intends to figure out a way to make itself a standalone league by 2026.
Earlier this week, Matt Brown at Extra Points, a newsletter devoted to the business of college sports, wrote that Tulane was one of three American schools he was aware of that had hired a consulting company or a third-party firm to help prepare them for potential realignment in the Pac-12 or other conferences.
So the Green Wave appear to be planning for a move if the opportunity comes. But Feldman cautioned that for any school considering joining the Pac-12 would need to determine if the move was worth it.
Tulane joined the American Athletic Conference in 2022. Per The Athletic, the American’s television deal with ESPN pays members about $7 million per school. If the Green Wave were to leave the league, it would owe a $10 million buyout on 27 months’ notice. UConn negotiated an exit of $17 million to leave sooner when it returned to the Big East.
Plus, Tulane will likely owe the Pac-12 an entrance fee.
The Pac-12 may be considering schools outside of the Mountain West, it’s closest geographic neighbor, for financial reasons too. Adding the four Mountain West schools will be costly.
In the scheduling agreement the Pac-12 signed with the Mountain West for the 2024 football season, the Pac-12 agreed to pay buyout fees and poaching fees for any Mountain West school it lured away. Per Pro Sports, the Pac-12 must pay $110 million in buyout fees and $43 million in poaching fees.
The Pac-12 has a considerable war chest from winning its lawsuit with the former Pac-12 schools, but it isn’t infinite. Plus, bringing in schools like Tulane and Memphis puts them in a different time zone and opens up areas of the country the Pac-12 isn’t in right now.
MATTHEW POSTINS