College football expansion: SDSU makes final decision on leaving MWC, per report

San Diego State appeared to be the next school on the move in college football expansion, but the Aztecs are changing course now

For a while, it appeared that San Diego State was about to make the next move in college football expansion and conference realignment, but now the school has reversed course and will not leave the Mountain West Conference after all, according to ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel.

That decision marks a major turnaround for the school only a few weeks after the university sent a letter to the conference saying that it intended to depart the league while also asking for an extension to give their formal notice.

Mountain West officials then rejected the request for an extension, which made it so that June 30 was the last day San Diego State could make it official.

If the school didn't meet the deadline of the last day in June, then their exit fee to depart the Mountain West could have more than doubled, from $16.5 million to around $34 million, an amount the school didn't doesn't want to pay.

And since the MWC denied the extension and San Diego State could not locate a new conference in time, it appears the school will stay put after all.

Pac-12 rumors

The news comes as San Diego State had emerged as a potential target for the Pac-12 to add after that conference loses USC and UCLA in time for the 2024 football season and clamoring for some stability as it scouts a new media contract and potential new members.

However, the Pac-12 is not believed to have extended an invitation to San Diego State or any other school at this time, according to media reports.

Pac-12 has been trying to expand

If it moved into San Diego, the Pac-12 would still not have been able to recover its lost territory in the highly-coveted Los Angeles media market, the second-largest in the country after New York.

But the league would have added a school that makes geographic sense and has performed well in the major revenue sports in recent years.

SDSU opened a new football stadium last season and won the Mountain West football title in three years recently, and the school's basketball team just posted a 32-6 record and played for the NCAA national championship, losing to UConn.

But that success is staying in the Mountain West for the foreseeable future.

(Thamel)

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