"It's a blank slate" - Days after Texas State's conference realignment, Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould makes feelings known on rebuilding

The Pac-12 concluded the first phase of its rebuild with the addition of Texas State late last month. Following the implosion of the conference in 2023, leading to the exit of 10 teams, the league proceeded with an expansion process under new leadership to ensure survival.

In its expansion efforts, the league added seven new teams, including six football-playing members to the duo of Oregon State and Washington State, who were left in the conference. With the new members, the league can now resume competing in sports like football in 2026.

The Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould appeared on SiriusXM with Jason Horowitz and Roddy Jones on Saturday to discuss the future of the conference, days after finalizing the addition of Texas State. She shared her thoughts on relaunching the league and the opportunities ahead.

“One of the real benefits we have and one of the things that I think situates us really uniquely is that we're starting over,” Gould said. “It's a startup. It's a blank slate. So we have an opportunity to start over and evaluate everything from how we do our business from a revenue generation perspective.

“We're really fortunate to own and operate Pac-12 enterprises. We are the only conference in the country that owns and operates anything like Pac-12 Enterprises, a for-profit commercial entity. So I think we have a real opportunity to differentiate ourselves with that in terms of student-athlete content and NIL and brand elevation of student-athletes.”

Teresa Gould discusses developing a new blueprint for the Pac-12

There's a lot that has changed in the college athletics landscape over the last couple of years. This has, in many ways, impacted how things are done within the realm. With this in mind, Teresa Gould believes there's a need to develop a new blueprint for the Pac-12 rebuild.

"I think we really have an opportunity to think about everything we do," Gould said, "whether it's scheduling, what services we provide, what commercial assets we own and operate from the center. Everything that we do will be evaluated to make sure that as we build a long something new and different.

“The new and different is appropriate given that everything around us in the college athletics landscape is different. We have to build a new blueprint and use a different playbook. We can't use the same playbook that we've used for over 100 years because everything around us is different now.”

The conference is one of the oldest in the world of college athletics, having been established in 1915. With NIL and the transfer portal reshaping the landscape, a strong blueprint is crucial to stay competitive.