New Pac-12 Conference officially launches

From news services

Seven new full-time member institutions officially joined the Pac-12 Conference on Wednesday — Gonzaga, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State and Utah State. 

They join holdovers Washington State and Oregon State.

With the additions, the new Pac-12 features nine full-time members and is set to compete in its first season with the 2026-27 campaign.

The league also officially welcomed 12 new affiliate members Wednesday across five Olympic sports, including baseball (Dallas Baptist), men’s soccer (Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, UC San Diego), women’s gymnastics (Southern Utah), women’s swimming (Cal Baptist) and wrestling (Air Force, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, South Dakota State).

The league also made a series of other announcements related to its basketball tournaments, its official sports sponsorship and championships and a special edition content series in promotion of its first football season.

PAC-12 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS RETURN TO LAS VEGAS

The Pac-12 announced details for its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, returning to Las Vegas and the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons.

Set to tip off on Tuesday, March 9, 2027, both men’s and women’s postseason events will take place on the same days as part of two eight-game tournaments held over five days.

All nine teams for both sports will participate in the tournaments, beginning with a play-in game on the first day between the lowest two seeds, as set by regular season performance and any necessary tiebreakers. 

The tournaments will continue on day two with the first round featuring two games for both the men’s and women’s tournaments, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship rounds. 

No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receive a double-bye into the semifinals on Friday, March 12, while the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds receive a single-bye into the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11.

Both championship games will take place on Saturday, March 13.

For each day and round, the women’s tournament games will take place ahead of the men’s, all at MGM Grand.

As previously announced, the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament will see its first seven games and four rounds broadcast nationally on USA Network in partnership with USA Sports, ahead of the title game also being broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. 

The Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament will also be featured on national television with broadcast coverage on The CW for its semifinal round and title game, with broadcast information and details of the first five games and three rounds to be announced at a later date.

The Pac-12 previously held its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in Las Vegas in partnership with MGM Resorts and LVCVA. The men’s tournament previously took place in Las Vegas for 12 seasons from 2013-24, including at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for four seasons from 2013-16. The women’s tournament was held in Las Vegas for six seasons from 2019-24, including at the MGM Grand Garden Arena twice in 2019 and 2024.

NEW PAC-12 SPORTS SPONSORSHIP & CHAMPIONSHIPS

The new era of the Pac-12 will see sponsorship of 10 women's sports and nine men's sports, providing championship competition across the fall, winter and spring seasons in 18 of those 19 sports, including the first-ever championship events for men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball in the league’s 110-year history.

NEW PAC-12 MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS

The new Pac-12 launches with CBS Sports, USA Sports and CW Sports as its media partners for all league-controlled football broadcasts as well as the vast majority of its regular season men’s basketball home games and 20-25 women’s basketball home regular season games.

Across the three partnerships, the Pac-12 will see 100% of its football slate featured across national linear television, including national over-the-air broadcasts and wide-reach cable television, culminating with the Pac-12 championship game on CBS and Paramount+.

The Pac-12 and its broadcast partners also feature a fan-friendly slate of scheduled kickoff times for the full season, as announced in May.