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It seemed like the Pac-12 was headed for extinction in the wake of the mass exodus that transpired earlier this year, but the conference didn’t hear no bell. What many people currently refer to as the Pac-2 quickly concocted a plan to stay alive, and we’ve gotten a glimpse at what could be in store thanks to a swath of trademark applications that were recently filed.
The most recent wave of conference realignment sparked a domino effect that reverberated across the college football world, but no party felt it harder than the Pac-12.
The collective that rebranded after expanding to a dozen teams in 2011 found itself in a very awkward situation after UCLA and USC announced they were fleeing to the Big 10 in 2022. That threw a major hitch into an already ongoing media rights negotiation where ESPN gained a ton of leverage and essentially marked what appeared to be the beginning of the end for the conference and the start of the P4 Era.
By the time the 2024 college football season started, Washington State and Oregon State were the only remaining members of what is still technically the Pac-12. However, things took an intriguing turn toward the end of September when it pillaged the Mountain West for six new members—Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State, SDSU, and Gonzaga—that will be officially welcomed in the fold in 2026.
That means the Pac-12 will meet the eight-school threshold the NCAA requires to be recognized as an official conference, but it will need to recruit another school with a football team (which Gonzaga does not have) in the next year-and-a-half in order for all of its members to keep competing at the FBS level.
There’s no telling what the final lineup will look like when everything is said and done, and it would appear the conference is keeping its options pretty open when you consider Sportico reports it has submitted a trademark application for every possible “Pac” variation between 8 and 14 with the six filings that were sent to the USPTO earlier this month.
As the outlet notes, it may also forgo the whole number thing entirely when you consider it’s also attempting to trademark “Pacific Athletic Conference” and “The PAC Conference.”
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out.