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The American Athletic Conference (AAC) is the latest conference that's reportedly interested in adding the four remaining Pac-12 schools.
The Pac-12 has been decimated by college realignment with eight schools deciding to leave in the last year.
The news has rocked the college football landscape, and since then, conferences have been looking to add the remaining four Pac-12 schools. Although the big conferences are the ones interested, according to reports, the AAC is the latest conference to express interest in adding the remaining four Pac-12 teams.
"New | The AAC wants the four remaining Pac-12 schools, according to sources. There’s one reason the conference believes it could convince them, especially Oregon State and Washington State. (Hint: it’s a four-letter TV network)"
If the AAC can add Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, it would be a big boost to the conference.
The AAC has 14 teams, so making it 18 would result in more in-conference games while also adding a new time zone, which would help their TV deal due to the possibility of adding a late-night game.
AAC hasn't publicly talked about expansion
Although reports have indicated that the AAC is interested in the four remaining Pac-12 teams, the conference hasn't come out publicly and said that they are interested.
However, with the AAC being a Group of Five conference, it's uncertain if the Pac-12 teams would join if Power Five conferences are also interested in them. Nevertheless, there's no question that Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State will have options if they're going to leave the Pac-12.
Will the Pac-12 be able to stay together?
After the Pac-12 was whittled down to four teams, the conference released a statement saying that they would look to expand and keep the conference together:
"Today’s news is incredibly disappointing for student-athletes, fans, alumni and staff of the Pac-12 who cherish the over 100-year history, tradition and rivalries of the Conference of Champions. We remain focused on securing the best possible future for each of our member universities."
However, recently, both Stanford and Cal released statements that they both would look at their future and explore the possibility of realignment.
If the Pac-12 wants to remain a conference, merging with the Mountain West seems like the best option at the moment.
