UNLV and Air Force have decided to remain in the Mountain West as the conference thwarted off attempts at further poaching by the Pac-12 and American Athletic Conference by offering financial incentives to its most prominent remaining members to stay, a person with knowledge of the decisions told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the schools had not made their intentions public. The Mountain West declined to comment on its internal discussions.
The Action Network first reported UNLV and Air Force had decided to stay in the Mountain West.
The Mountain West has already lost five members to the rebuilding Pac-12 over the last two weeks, including Utah State earlier this week.
Utah State’s departure came as Commissioner Gloria Nevarez was trying to convince her remaining members to agree to a multiple-year grant of rights that would bind schools together and to the conference through media rights.
That gave the other seven schools a chance to reconsider, but ultimately it appears Nevarez will be able to keep the Mountain West alive with the help of about $100 million dollars in exit fees expected to come the conference’s way from the departing schools.
The Pac-12 is suing the Mountain West over another $55 million in poaching penalties that were part of a football scheduling agreement Oregon State and Washington State entered into with the conference for this season.
The person said UNLV and Air Force have been offered signing bonuses of more than $20 million to stay put, and that was more than other conferences were willing to spend to lure them away.
UNLV had been targeted by the Pac-12 to become its eighth member. Mountain West schools Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State agreed two weeks ago to join Oregon State and Boise State in the relaunched Pac-12 in 2026.
Air Force was being courted by the AAC to join fellow service academies Army and Navy in a conference for the first time.
The other remaining Mountain West schools are San Jose State, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nevada and Hawaii, which is a football-only member. That leaves the Mountain West, like the Pac-12, still in need of at least one more member to be a recognized conference by the NCAA and College Football Playoff.
Phase two of the Pac-12’s expansion has not gone as smoothly as the the first. The conference had targeted AAC schools in the Central tme zone, including Memphis and Tulane, in an attempt to extend the league’s footprint and gather the top remaining non-Power Four football programs under one roof.
The Pac-12 also has had discussions with basketball powerhouse Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference, but that would still leave the league one football school short of the minimum.
Texas State of the Sun Belt could be next up for the Pac-12.
The Mountain West could find another member in Northern California, with Sacramento State leaders considering a move up from the Big Sky to Division I football’s top tier.
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
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